Suggestions: Short Tele lenses for 4x5

[Gene McCluney]

Most simply put, a standard 300mm LF lens (for example) requires 12 inches of bellows draw to focus at infinity, and more for closer distances. A "true" telephoto design lens in 300mm by design requires much less bellows draw. They give the same angle of view on the negative. Hence, those of us who like to use compact cameras with limited bellows draw, such as the Crown Graphic style of press cameras prefer "telephoto" design lenses for focal lengths longer than about 210mm, rather than "standard" design lenses. A true telephoto design will not have as wide a circle of coverage, therefore will have more limited movements possible, but a Graphic type of camera only has limited movements anyway.

[Gene McCluney]

Lens suggestions would be the Wollensak Tele-raptars, the Schneider Tele-Xenars, or Tele-Artons. Most of these can be found for reasonable prices, as well as the Komura Tele lenses.

[Armin Seeholzer]

The Rodenstock Rotelar 270 mm was build for portraits and is quite good up to 1:2.
Hope it helps, Armin

[Joseph O'Neil]

A true telephoto design will not have as wide a circle of coverage, therefore will have more limited movements possible, but a Graphic type of camera only has limited movements anyway.

-snip-

Well put. I had a Komura 300mm Tele that (from memory here) did not require much more belows draw than a 210mm.

Nice sharp lens, but I missed the extra movements when I went from my Crown to my Tachihara. The Tachi still does not have the range of movements as some other field cameras I looked it, but it does seem to have more than my old Crown.

Specifically in my case my current "tele" lens is a 270mm G-claron, which does require a lot of belows draw, but I find is still very manageable on the Tachihara, while on my Crown Graphic the 270mm pulls the belows to petty much it's limit. I doubt I would be able to easily use a 300mm G-claron (or similar F9 lens) on my Crown, but I would be able to on my Tachi, but that would be the limit I think.

the flip side is my old Tel-Raptar which is - oh about 375mm - is a big heavy lens, and I find the front standard on my Tachi too light (at least for my liking) while the Crown is a very sturdy camera.

The advice others gave about belows draw at different focal points - such as close up, portrait, etc, all bear out too. In my case, 90% of what I shoot is focusing at or near infinity, so bbear that in mind when I talk about how much bellows draw I personally want/need.

For what it is worth, a good used Wollensak Tele-raptar is a nice lens to use.

joe

[seawolf66]

Go to this site: and check out the lens he has for sale: http://www.cameraeccentric.com/index.html
got a 400mm focus to 6 inchs:

[Mark Fisher]

I have a Tachihara and settled on a 240mm f9 G-Claron in a copal 1. It is a little shorter than you mentioned, but I think it would serve you well. I like to do tight compositions of small stuff and it works well for that. I decided on that focal length because I love my 85mm on my 35mm and 240mm was pretty close to that.

[Arne Norris]

Thanks for everyone's response. I think I'm clear on what I want to do, now I just need to find the lens, which will be a 5.5/270 Tele-Arton, a later version. I understand these versions were made into the early 1980's from feedback of owners. If anyone has one for sale let me know.