600 mm on 8x10 cameras

[John Z.]

I have both the Artar and the Fuji C, and think they are both great lenses. The advantage of the Artar is that it can be found fairly inexpensively in a barrel. The Fuji on the other hand is more compact, and is typically mounted in a modern shutter. In side by side contact prints I thought the Fuji was slightly sharper, but only very very slightly; the Artar is a great lens too, a work of art, with a certain beauty mounted on a wooden board.

My personal preference in the field would be the Fuji; lighter weight, and a modern shutter; every ounce can matter when carrying a heavy backpack!

[merlo.luca1961@libero.it]

Sorry for the late reply but I could not get access to Internet in the last two days. Thanks to all for the kind suggestions. I think I will get the Fuji 600 C. By the way, any suggestion for a 8x10 wide angle wider than the 210 I own ?

Best regards from Italy

Luca

[Ole Tjugen]

How modern do you want your wide angle lenses?

I use a 165mm f:6.8 Angulon and a 121mm f:8 Super Angulon. And a 11cm Weitwinkel Aplanat of unknown age and origin if I want even wider than that.

[merlo.luca1961@libero.it]

Ole,

Thanks for the suggestions. I think that a 121 Super Angulon should do it fine but several people say it does not cover ..........

Then how much shall I expect to pay for such lens in good/exc conditions ?

Ciao

Luca

[Dave_B]

Luca:
The Nikkor SW 120 f8 is a very fine WA lens. Its IC is 312mm. I find the images it produces to have nice contrast with good colors, at least for my taste. One can find them in a variety of places and prices seem to be reasonable especially in comparison to the modern ~150mm WA lenses for 8x10 which lately have been through the roof.

Ole:
Does the Schneider Super Angulon 121 f8 cover 8x10? The published IC is 288mm. Is that too conservative?

Thanks,
Dave B.

[Ole Tjugen]

Come to think of it now, my camera is a 18x24cm and not 8x10".

But the 121 SA covers the full 300mm needed for that format, at least. I'll put it on a bigger camera tomorrow to have a look at the full image circle - in daylight.

[Chauncey Walden]

The 121 SA will cover 8x10, but only if perfectly centered and therefore with no movements. It was such a hassle to set up that I made a box 8x10/4x10 for it where it is permanently mounted at infinity in a two position lens board. On the other hand, my 165 Angulon looses it before it gets to the corners of 8x10 so it has a home in the 5x7 bag and the 159 Wollensak that I was testing it against stayed with the 8x10.

[Dave_B]

Ole:
Did you ever do the test on the Schneider Super Angulon 121? Were you able to confirm that it does not really cover 8x10?
Cheers,
Dave B.

[Ole Tjugen]

Dave -

I plain forgot about it! I'll see what I can see tomorrow. The lens is dim, I'm after the edge of the image circle which is even dimmer, and the ground glass on my 24x30cm plate camera is not the brightest. So I need good light outdoors and a good dark cloth in a dark room to be able to see anything at all - and the bellows on that camera has too many holes for a test exposure at f:32!

[Andrew O'Neill]

I have this lens and use it a lot. It comes out of the bag everytime I go out photographing. I guy I photograph with sometimes (he is a lurker of this site but won't ever write anything...right John?) has the same lens too.