I've got both the 240/6.8 Caltar Type Y and the 250/6.3 Fuji W. The Caltar Type Y is much smaller. I use it on a 5x7 Canham Traditional camera with lots of bellows. The Fuji stays at home mounted on a board for my monorail studio cameras.
I've got both the 240/6.8 Caltar Type Y and the 250/6.3 Fuji W. The Caltar Type Y is much smaller. I use it on a 5x7 Canham Traditional camera with lots of bellows. The Fuji stays at home mounted on a board for my monorail studio cameras.
well since no else mentioned these options, how about 250mm Fuji soft focus or a 250mm Imagon? Of course you have the option to go sharp or soft with either of these lenses.
Another vote for the Heliar. I just got mine with a custom flange from SK Grimes to make sure it clears whichever camera's lensboard locking mechanism I choose to mount it on - I have a Canham 5x7 wood field and a vintage Seneca whole plate that was adapted to take the Linhof Technika boards. I haven't put it on my Shen Hao yet, which also takes the Technika boards, although I think it would handle it, but the front struts might not clear the Compound shutter without applying a bit of rise.
This lens is also compact, fitting in a No. 1 shutter. And it is recent enough for a modern shutter--mine is mounted in an older chrome-ring Copal--but any No. 1 shutter would work.Originally Posted by Steve Goldstein
It is not large and heavy at all--a trade-off for the slightly slower speed.
If you don't mind older, the Ilex Paragons were faster (f/4.5) and came in 8-1/2" (215mm) and 10" (254mm) focal lengths. They are mounted in large Ilex No. 4 shutters, but will mount easily on any camera. I have an 8-1/2" f/4.5 Paragon on a Pacemaker Graphic board at the moment, and I have also mounted it on an old Calumet CC-400 with a 4x4" board.
None of these will cost more than $200-300 in good condition. All are tessars, and provide the typical tessar look. All are coated, too, and are quite decently sharp when appropriately stopped down.
Rick "who wants portraits to be sharp, at least in the focus plane" Denney
I had one of the Ilex Paragons that Rick mentions on a twin lens 4x5 camera, the 10" if memory serves me rightly. It was a very good performer.
“You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know
I just did a shoot with my tiny and light 240 Apo-Ronar. It's F9, and hardly what one thinks of when they think of a portrait lens, but I like it:
More here.
This message is shamelessly self-aggrandizing, but being a gear hound myself I know it's always nice to see real-world examples. These scans are just quick Epson 4990 "sitting right on glass, still in the sleeves, and at 800dpi" jobs, but I've posted them good and large so you can peep at 2048px anyway.
Several others have chimed in regarding the Fujinon 250 f6.3, I just wanted to add that the f6.7 version of that lens is even better.
It has an image circle of 400mm, sharp as hell, and sits on a Seiko shutter, just slightly larger than Copal 1.
I've used it on a Wista field and Toyo monorail with equal ease.
I have a Fujinar-SC 250mm f/4.7. I got it from Kumar. Definitely an interesting lens. I haven't used it very much at all, but it's nice and bright.
This is really the only photo of note that I've used it for (on 5x7). I was worried it would not be sharp, but this was pretty close, in pretty low light, and it's one of my sharper negatives:
ps I don't get the feeling that there are a ton of them out there.
APO Ronars, like other process lenses (APO Nikor for example), are symmetrical designs with 4 elements. They don't open as wide as some designs - and they don't have the wide coverage of other designs - but they have extreme sharpness and wonderful blur rendition. Best of all, they perform superbly at close distance. That they are small and light, is icing on the cake.
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