which lens would you choose and why?

**Robert Fisher** · 23-Nov-2009, 12:24

Jim, your application for the 270 G is?

**Jim Galli** · 23-Nov-2009, 12:43

Originally Posted by Robert Fisher

Jim, your application for the 270 G is?

Sharp pictures on 8X10. Recently replaced with a Computar, but that was just because I could.

**Diane Maher** · 23-Nov-2009, 18:36

Are you going for strictly head and shoulders shots?

**ronald moravec** · 23-Nov-2009, 19:36

The G Claron is a great lens with big image circle and is sharp from infinity to 1:1. In fact it is a repro lens that happens to work well at infinity. Not all do. It has a flat field also. My bag has 210 and 300 G Clarons.

The Claron is a lesser lens not of the same quality.

I am not a fan a Fuji lenses. I would pick a German design, Schneider or Rodenstock, over a Fuji.

**Brian Stein** · 25-Nov-2009, 16:08

Thoughts:

1. Although some folks are not fans of .... lens, equally many are!

2. All things being equal (see below) I doubt I could tell the difference between the two in a blinded study. Others might disagree...

3. In their new form both would have been very sharp lenses (your primary choice feature), but chance, use, and other happenstances are likely to influence the individual lens you are looking at more than anything else (look at Chris Perez's lens tests to clearly see the variation between examples of the same lens). If you have the luxury, get both, try them and sell the one *you* find to be less sharp

4. As regards tessars, plenty to choose from. My 210 Fuji L covers 240 mm by specs (although some sources suggest this is a dialyte not tessar), so no drama for 5x7. The paragons as mentioned can be nice, and there are many others eg eddie on the flog pages has a neat f3 210 tessar in barrel up for grabs...). Buy, try, and sell is my mantra (Im just weak on the sell part.....)

**Kirk Fry** · 25-Nov-2009, 22:41

12 inch Commercial Ektar???? More than a few folks made a living with these.

**Dirk Rösler** · 30-Nov-2009, 00:24

I'm on 8x10. I have the Fuji and like it a lot. Have not done many portraits with it but the OOF areas seem very pleasant.

Nice photo example here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blixpho...7594151354778/

I also have the 305/9 G-Claron and that seems a lot sharper, so not sure if it would my first choice for portraits. The Fuji seems 'warmer' somehow, whereas the Schneider has more of a sharp bite.

**archer** · 8-Dec-2009, 00:56

Thank you all for your help. In the last three weeks I've done nothing but test lenses and in order they were Symmar S, Fuji 250 6.7, Sinar N and G Claron 270 f9 and here is what I found: The Symmar S was very nice but big and noticeably softer than the G Claron overall, The Fuji was pretty much the same as the Symmar S though slightly sharper in the center but even softer at the edges, the Sironar N was as sharp as the G Claron in the center and the edges were very nearly as sharp but not quite and it is very heavy. All the lenses were very good and nothing to fault optically. I did notice the brighter focusing image of the faster f5.6 and 6.7 lenses but surprisingly the G Claron's F9 did not present any limitations for me. All the lenses were softer wide open but even here the G Claron was the sharpest and amazingly, the out of focus highlights were as beautiful as my old collapsible 50mm Summicron. I guess you can tell which lens I bought, the 270 f9 G Claron in a brand new Compur black face #1. The lens is as new and it is blazingly sharp, corner to corner. I could not be more pleased. Now all I have to do is overcome this damn knee injury and actually shoot some pictures and not just test charts. Thanks again everyone.
Denise Libby

**Lynn Jones** · 9-Dec-2009, 15:08

The Repro-Clarons are 4 element airspaced Artar type APO lenses covering between 35 and 45 degrees, although truly excellent in performance. The Fuji f 6.7 is a wonderful wide field lens covering 80 degreees with conventional coating. The later Fujinon f 6.3 with multli-coating covered only 64 degrees. Personally, there is no way that I would trade the f 6.3 Fuji or the Repro-Claron for the f6.7 Fuji. I have used all three of them and the above earlier lens was so good that Fuji had to bring it back to the market
because it didn't cover enough for 8x10 cameras.

Lynn

**archer** · 10-Dec-2009, 00:18

Dear Lynn;
I haven't had a chance to try the Repro Claron but it is my understanding from what Jim Galli and others have written that the 270 f9 G Claron, which is the lens I have, will easily cover the 8X10 format and even the 11X14 with slight movements. As I wrote, I did try the Fuji 250 f6.7 and it was a very nice lens but I found the G Claron to be just slightly sharper and at full aperture the out of focus highlights were just beautiful and that really sold me on the lens. The G Claron is a 6 element lens while the Repro Claron is a 4 element lens with much less coverage.
Denise Libby