Wide angle on 8x10 (Used 210 XL tough find)

[tim atherton]

240 Caltar II covers 8x10 without a hitch ( lots of movements ). Super sharp and easy to find. Not very expensive either.

yes - there a certainly more easily available (and affordable...) lenses for 8x10 in the 240/250mm range than in 210mm

[André Thomas]

Dear Ramaka,
I tried the Super Symmar HM 210 first and had permanent problems with vignetting. I like the 210 mm focal length for 8x10" a lot so I moved to the Super Symmar XL 210 last year. It will be offered 2-3 times a year at ebay - I brought my lens used and IMHO it is well worth to wait for this lens.
Best regards,
André

[Brian Ellis]

The 210 G Claron stopped down to f16 will cover 8x10, as you continue to stop down from there the coverage continues to increase. At about f32 you'll get a fair amount of front rise and f64 will give you quite a lot. The 159mm f9.5 Wollensak is a pretty nice 8x10 lens and also has room for movements. Both are small and light, easy to backpack. I've used both of these lenses for 8x10, both have worked very well though I haven't made any big enlargements from negatives made with the Wollensak.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

They are not very common, but I use a 210mm f9 Computar on both 11x14 and 8x10. They are tight with 11x14, but cover 8x10 with huge movements. I really like mine, but these lenses have recently become cult items and sell for absurd prices.

[Diane Maher]

However, if you can find a Kowa Graphic 210mm f9 in barrel on ebay it can be easily put in a copal 1 shutter and is an excellent lens. very sharp and with about 2.5" - 3" of rise/fall. And it becomes a 6.8 (?) lens once it's in the shutter

Tim,
How can you tell if the Kowa Graphic would become a f/6.8 (or whatever) lens once it's in the shutter? Is this limited to only Copal 1 shutters? Mine is in a Polaroid press shutter, so I am curious.

Diane

[Mark Sawyer]

Just to eliminate a couple of candidates, the 210mm f/6.8 Dagor and 215mm f/4.8 Acuton/Caltar both cover 8x10, but with little left for movements.

[tim atherton]

Tim,
How can you tell if the Kowa Graphic would become a f/6.8 (or whatever) lens once it's in the shutter? Is this limited to only Copal 1 shutters? Mine is in a Polaroid press shutter, so I am curious.

Diane

Diane,

Here's the original post from Jim Galli

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...20&postcount=6

I found this to be so with my Kowa 210 at about the same time Jim posted that. Once it was in a shutter (which was stolen from a G-Claron 210) and re-mounted/checked out, I found with the aperture at f9 that the blades weren't completely open - there was room to open it what looked like close to an extra stop.

The barrel mount restricts the aperture to f9, but in the copal you get the extra aperture.

As for the Polaroid shutter, I'm not sure how different the dimensions are - if at all? (Jim may actually be able to answer that, as he's the Polaroid shutter king...)

I've compared my Kowa 210 with a Kyvytar 210 that came mounted in a shutter and is engraved as 6.8. They appear to be identical.

(note, most of the Computar 210's are slightly different. I think they do give the 6.8? But they also give quite a bit more coverage 420mm or so vs about 390mm (I think - going from memory) - which bumps up the price more than the Kowa)

[squiress]

I have a 210 Wollensak WF that I'm pretty sure covers with room to spare.

Stew

[Ralph Barker]

FWIW, facing the same decision, I opted to go with the 150mm SS XL, as the 210 is such a monster. Plus, I already had a 240mm G-Claron. Even the 150 is pretty large, though, and might be wider than you want.

[james zhou]

I wish Schneider could make a 210 SSXL f8 or f9 that uses a 105mm filter, while building another wide lens such as a 300mm SSXL f9 that uses the current 135mm (127mm?) filter. It is a dream of course.