Advice on longer lenses please

[Ole Tjugen]

I've never really got the hang of that "selling" bit, but apart from that I agree with Barry.

[mrladewig]

I'm like Ole, in that I agree with Barry except for the selling part.

I've got a 65, 125, 150 and 210. I plan to add a 90 and 180.

So no, I don't think that 150 and 210 are too close and the 210 I recently purchased has quickly become one of my favorite focal lengths.

I backpack and day hike with my gear, and when I do, I'll only take 3 lenses at the most. If I need something in between, I'll crop, but this way I can have the best match for the scene that I anticipate I'll shoot. I use my topo application to figure out which focal lengths I'll need in advance.

[Ralph Barker]

I agree that these "favorite" threads tend to be circular in nature, because everyone "sees" slightly differently. The OP needs to sift through the opinions and then guess about which group he or she might fall within.

That said, my experience was that after I bought a 210/5.6, the 150/5.6 saw little use. Then, I bought a 240/9 G-Claron for use on both 4x5 and 8x10. The larger, heavier 210 now mostly stays at home, sorrowfully wishing it could feed on a few photons.

[mrladewig]

Ralph, you're right that many people will have different views on this. I think some background information on both how he wants to use a lens and how we use our lenses would be most helpful to him.

While I don't feel the same about cropping a 4X5 shot as Eric, I also shoot landscapes, also have limitations to the "zoom with your feet" paradigm. I also feel that having the "right" field of view for a shot you've envisioned is extremely helpful. I'm my opinion, the normal 30mm steps in 4X5 lenses are not too close together, but I will not carry every lens I own on every trip, its just too much weight. I think it would difficult to justify 10mm differences from a field of view perspective, but 30mm is acceptable and meaningful separation for me and the difference between 150mm and 210mm is significant.

In 35mm, I shoot with a zoom lens for landscape shots. I know what focal lengths I tend to use most often. I also know that from my own photography, I wouldn't have much need for a 4X5 lens longer than 210mm, so a 240 or 300mm lens is pretty far down on my list.

[newmoon2night]

A broad base of opinions can be confusing, but in this case I find isn't a bad thing. Maybe in time I end up getting two or three lenses ... something like a 210, 240 and 300 ...I don't know at the moment.
I think my course of action will be to shortlist three or so lenses that I'm interested in, and the first good one that comes up at a decent price will be the one I start with.
Ralph mentions the 240mm G-Claron, which by coincidence I was offered by the person from whom I 've just bought the SV45-TE. He wants £260 ($520) for it ... does that sound reasonable? He says he's had it from new and little used.
The Ebony I bought from him doesn't look very used at all, with just some scratches on the tripod plate. That was until I very carefully unpacked it and the focusing glass protector plate fell off and a corner broke off! It's plastic and the newer ones are metal now ... a replacement will cost me about £10 from Robert Whites, but it will be a few weeks before they get them in. Does anyone know anyone else who stock them?After that I took fright and will have a proper look at the camera when I have quiet and peace! I've printed of the instructions from the Ebony website in the hope that I don't break it in opening it the wrong way!

[thetooth]

i have a 250mm 6.3 fuijinon that i am very happy with . so that makes my list 90mm , 150mm , 250mm . the 250mm was the right price at the right time so that made up my mind for me .

good luck in your search

tim

[Brian Ellis]

"Does anyone know anyone else who stock them?"

I don't know whether it's feasible for you to buy from the U.S. but Calumet and Canham both make ground glass protectors. I didn't have an Ebony protector for my SV45 TE so I don't know how the ones from Calumet and Canham compare but I've owned both and prefer the one from Canham (which can be ordered from Badger Graphic) just because it seems a little more sturdy and maybe offers better protection than the one from Calumet.

[newmoon2night]

Yes, perfectly feasible to order from US, I do it regularly, and got my spotmeter from Calumet, and Nikon 90mm from B&H (in both cases literally ordered online Friday evening and they arrived Monday morning!).
I'll check those out.

[John Kasaian]

The 240 G Claron is a fine lens! How long you want to go depends to a great amount on how much bellows you've got to work with. Happy hunting

[newmoon2night]

[QUOTE=mrladewig;317266]

... and the 210 I recently purchased has quickly become one of my favorite focal lengths.