210'ish lenses for my 8x10

[Peter De Smidt]

You're right. The Symetrigon is a different lens which doesn't have near the coverage.

A 210 G-Claron, Graphic Kowa, Computar... all cover about 80* at F45, which gives some movement on 8x10. Note that not all versions of these lenses screw right into copal shutters. Be careful!

[Ole Tjugen]

I've managed to got outside the image circle with a 210 angulon on 8x10", but it took some work: http://www.bruraholo.no/images/Senja...70713-0003.jpg

Shooting uphill, maximum front rise on a Gandolfi Traditional, portrait orientation, and insisting on keeping the film plane vertical.

I have a Symmar, a G-Claron, and (just received) a Rodenstock Sironar-N. as well as a small stash of 5x7"-210mm lenses, and various barrel lenses. But since I knew what the landscape was like here, I brought the one with most coverage.

[Brian Ellis]

The 240mm G Claron is a great choice for 8x10. But mine and all the ones I've seen come in a shutter and perhaps cost more than you want to pay. Using a lens cap or something similar instead of a shutter is going to be limiting. You'll need exposures of at least a half second, preferably longer, which means that in any kind of bright light you'll be stopping down a lot which means little chance of isolating a subject against a background, also means everything in the photograph will have to be perfectly still, etc. etc. It's doable but not something I'd want to do.

[ericantonio]

The 240mm G Claron is a great choice for 8x10. But mine and all the ones I've seen come in a shutter and perhaps cost more than you want to pay. Using a lens cap or something similar instead of a shutter is going to be limiting. You'll need exposures of at least a half second, preferably longer, which means that in any kind of bright light you'll be stopping down a lot which means little chance of isolating a subject against a background, also means everything in the photograph will have to be perfectly still, etc. etc. It's doable but not something I'd want to do.

I'm starting to think, in the long run, a shutterless lens will probably cost a lot more in time, money and resources for me. I might as well look in to a lens in the 210mm-240mm. I'll look for the low cost Fuji (single coating is fine cause I mainly shoot B&W). I think I heard good things about the G Claron too.

[Henry Suryo]

Ole, nice scenery. I do believe the bottom cut-off was the result of bellows vignetting, I've experienced a similar thing with a 6.5" lens on the 8x10 when I use extreme movements on the compressed bellows. I do believe the Angulons don't have a field stop so eventhough the image circle is quite large, it goes noticeably soft at the extremes but not an abrupt cut-off like on the bottom of your image.

[sanking]

I have a 210 Computar Symetrigon. I guess its not the same lens

The Computar Symetrigon is not the same lens as the Computar f/9. It is a good lens, but does not cover as much.

For coverage the Computar f/9 is one of the best combinations of size and coverage around. 210 covers 11X14 (barely), 240 covers 7X17, 270 covers 8X20 and 305 covers 12X20.

The performance of the Computar is similar to that of the G-Claron, but it covers a lot more at no greater size or weight. The 210 Computar would be a great light weight wide angle lens lens for 8X10, if you can find one.

Sandy King

[John Kasaian]

I got my G-Claron as a barrel lens and later mounted it in a shutter. Its a great lens for 8x10. In barrel form they aren't very expensive and press shutters (copal and prontor with a 127mm Tominon or Ysaron on board) occassionally show up cheap.

[Ole Tjugen]

Ole, nice scenery. I do believe the bottom cut-off was the result of bellows vignetting, I've experienced a similar thing with a 6.5" lens on the 8x10 when I use extreme movements on the compressed bellows. I do believe the Angulons don't have a field stop so eventhough the image circle is quite large, it goes noticeably soft at the extremes but not an abrupt cut-off like on the bottom of your image.

That's correct: The softness at the top is the end of the image circle; the dark bit at the bottom is bellows vignetting. I could have reduced the softness a little by stopping down to f:64 or so - this was shot at f:22. The uncoated pre-WWII angulons have a smoother sharp/soft transition at the edge of the image circle than later models, although those have a slightly larger sharp coverage at wider stops. i believe that with a newer lens the sharp zone would have gone a little bit higher up the mountain, but the very top would have been much softer 8at the same f-stop).

[tim atherton]

A 210 G-Claron, Graphic Kowa, Computar... all cover about 80* at F45, which gives some movement on 8x10. Note that not all versions of these lenses screw right into copal shutters. Be careful!

The Kowa and the Computar will give far more coverage than the G-Claron and both cover 8x10 with plenty of movement at f22

The Computars have coverage of about 95 degrees. The Kowas around 85+ degrees. And the G-Claron seems about right at 80 degrees

[ericantonio]

The Kowa and the Computar will give far more coverage than the G-Claron and both cover 8x10 with plenty of movement at f22

The Computars have coverage of about 95 degrees. The Kowas around 85+ degrees. And the G-Claron seems about right at 80 degrees

There is a Kowa now on viewcamera magazin web site for sale ad. I've seen g-clarons on ebay go for affordable to "what are you nuts!". I'll keep an eye out on them

I just saw a fuji 210mm but the guy said the image circle is 352. Not sure that is enough though. I'm pretty sure my Korona can't do much shifting and tilting anyway!

I don't know how much is "a little movement" is. One's little movement is a lot for someone else.