What is a Wide Lens for 14x17 besides Dagor?

[wfwhitaker]

...what might be a slightly wide or moderate wide angle lens that will cover the 14x17" format?

I'll second Kerry's last suggestion for the 450 M-Nikkor. When I was using 14x17 that was the first lens I'd grab (aside from some portrait softies). The perspective is pleasantly wide, but not excessively so. The focal length is the long side of the format, a rule of thumb I've long found useful (on formats other than panoramic) to describe a pleasing (to me) wide-angle focal length. 60mm on the Hasselblad, 120mm on 4x5, 10" WF Ektar on 8x10. The Nikkor fits 14x17 the same way.

A note for Kerry's benefit (since I know he has this lens) is that the 12" Wray wide-angle will just cover 14x17. In searching my own emails (I can't even remember what I've written - now I have to search for it) I found this bit which I'd written to someone:

"Wide open... [the Wray 12" wide-angle] illuminates the corners [of 14x17] at infinity although the aperture is a pretty severe cat's eye. At f/22 the full aperture is visible from the corners, so looks like stopping down is in order to use it on that format. But max is f/6.3 which makes it much nicer for composing than a Protar V."

Oh, yeah. Now I remember! So I did try that lens on 14x17! Never made an exposure with it, though, so all I know is that it does illuminate to the corners. (Actually I recall thinking that f/16 would probably be usable). Don't count on much movement, however.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Wouldn't most [all?] the multicoated Fujis be the later CMW model?

No.

The original Fujinon-W series was single coated and introduced in the early 1970s. These are easy to identify as they use what I call "inner lettering" for labeling the lens. Here's an example of a 150mm f6.3 Fujinon-W with "inner lettering":



Starting in the late 1970's Fuji began multicoating the Fujinon-W. In some literature, they refer to these lenses as NW or NWS, but the lenses themselves are labeled simply Fujinon-W. The difference is these multicoated lenses use "outer lettering" to label the lenses. Here's an example of a 360mm f10 Fujinon A that uses "outer lettering":



I don't have all my Fujinon literature in front of me, but I do know that the 360mm f6.3 Fujinon-W is listed as EBC multicoated in a brochure published in January, 1979. This version of the Fujinon-W series continued to be offered until the early 1990s. Again, I don't have it i n front of me, but I believe the last brochure I have that lists this version of the Fujinon-W was from around 1994. That makes sense as the 360mm Fujinon CM-W was introduced in that same year.

So, the EBC multicoated Fujinon-W was in production for at least 15 years from 1979 to 1994, and during at least 10 of those years, Fujinon had an official North American distributor (D.O. Industries) that actively advertised and promoted their lenses. During that time, they were available from most major photo dealeras, including B&H and Calumet.

D.O. Industries ceased to be the Fujinon North American distributor around 1990, and Fujinon hasn't had an official distributor, or advertised their large format lenses in any North American photo publications since. Thankfully, they are still available through a couple of dealers who import them directly from Japan. As a result, the 360mm f6.5Fujinon CM-W is much less common on the used market than the multicoated 360mm f6.3 Fujinon-W.

The CM-W line is easy to indentify as they are clearly labeled CM Fujinon-W ("outer lettering"). And, in the case of the 360mm focal length, the maximum aperture is f6.5 rather 6.3.

Kerry

[Nick_3536]

I've always assumed mine was single coated. Haven't really had the time to look too closely at it plus until I decide to get an 11x14 won't really need it.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

A note for Kerry's benefit (since I know he has this lens) is that the 12" Wray wide-angle will just cover 14x17. In searching my own emails (I can't even remember what I've written - now I have to search for it) I found this bit which I'd written to someone:

"Wide open... [the Wray 12" wide-angle] illuminates the corners [of 14x17] at infinity although the aperture is a pretty severe cat's eye. At f/22 the full aperture is visible from the corners, so looks like stopping down is in order to use it on that format. But max is f/6.3 which makes it much nicer for composing than a Protar V."

Oh, yeah. Now I remember! So I did try that lens on 14x17! Never made an exposure with it, though, so all I know is that it does illuminate to the corners. (Actually I recall thinking that f/16 would probably be usable). Don't count on much movement, however.

Will,

Thanks for the info. It would be great if the 12" Wray Wide Angle would cover 14x17, as that would offer another affordable option in this focal length. I don't yet have a 14x17 camera to try mine one, but I have put it on the 7x17 and it appears to cover with a lot to spare.

The biggest complaint I've heard about the Wray wide angles is that they have rather low contrast. This is especially true of older, uncoated samples. I got lucky with mine as it's multicoated. I'm pretty sure a previous owner had this done, but I recently learned that Wray was still making large format lenses in the 1970s. So, it is possible (but unlikely) that it was factory multicoated.

Kerry

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

I've always assumed mine was single coated. Haven't really had the time to look too closely at it plus until I decide to get an 11x14 won't really need it.

Nick,

Multicoated Fujinons make some nice, pretty, colorful reflections:



But, even without looking at the reflections, it's easy to tell by the location of the lettering: "inner letter" = single coated; "outer lettering" = EBC multicoating.

Whether yours is single, or multicoated, it should make a very nice lense for 11x14.

Kerry

[otzi]

Interesting. I have in my havnd a Fiji SWD 65. Reflections show cyan and magenta, thou mostly cyan. The lettering is, as you put it, Inner ring. I thought SWD was a later rendition.