I am in the market for a tele lens. Does anyone know what is the longest lens i can use on a 4 x 5 Calumet with rail about 490mm long? Thank You
I am in the market for a tele lens. Does anyone know what is the longest lens i can use on a 4 x 5 Calumet with rail about 490mm long? Thank You
It depends on how close you need to focus, and that depends on what kind if work you intend to do.
Mainly studio work from face close-up to full body. (Oh yes--a very small studio). I like about 135 in 35mm so I assume the same would be about 400mm in 4 x 5. Sorry I wasn't more specific in the first place.
You need to consider both your maximum bellows draw and rail length. Both need to be sufficiently long. But, assuming a 400mm lens and a 490mm rail I came up with a minimum focusing distance of about 7 feet, or about 2.25 meters (so your subject will have to be at least 7' from the camera lens to be in focus).
Technically, the longest lens you can use is 490mm, but that is only focused at infinity -- no close-ups allowed. If you want to focus between infinity and 1:1 reproduction you will need rail and bellows that extend between the length of your lens and 2x the length of your lens. In other words, there is an inverse relationship between how close to your camera you want to focus and how much bellows/rail you need. The closer to the camera the subject is, the more bellows and rail.
I don't know about the Calumet, but with many monorail cameras you can get rail extensions and long bellows for this sort of thing.
I don't think there is a longer rail available (nor are the bellows removable) o n old Calumets. Nonetheless, thank you for the info.
Some people didn't read the question. You will be limited to about 7' with a 400mm long-focus lens (~1:5 I:S ratio). If you use a TELEPHOTO as you had asked, a 360 - 400mm telephoto will have a short enough back focus to allow you to get to about 1:2 - with a correspondingly short lens to subject distance.
That's what I needed to know. Thank you very much.
My bad. I did read the question but didn't realize there was a difference in focusing distance between a tele lens and a regular lens. I knew if I screwed up someone would show up to correct me.
Wish I knew how to paste these things correctly. Anyway, the Schneider site lists the backfocus for their 400mm tele at 265mm - much better than the ~400mm of a "long-focus" lens. Other "tele" lenses should have similarly short back focus distances.
Wayne
http://www.schneideroptics.com/photography/large_format_lenses/apo- tele-xenar_hm/56_400/apo-txr5,6-400p1.htm
One possible way to use a long focus lens such as a 480 Ronar with this bellows might be to mount the lens in a short extension tube to gain the additional distance between the film plane and the lens. This would be more useful for distant subjects rather than closeup work.
There will be a modest loss in the front movements possible but these shouldn't be too restrictive with a relatively short (say 6") tube.
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