A lens, to be used for portraits, in the 300mm range. Something that's easily mountable on a modern shutter. If you know the going price for said lens, please linclude that.
Also looking for something in the 600mm range for my 8x10.
Thanx all
A lens, to be used for portraits, in the 300mm range. Something that's easily mountable on a modern shutter. If you know the going price for said lens, please linclude that.
Also looking for something in the 600mm range for my 8x10.
Thanx all
"Something that's easily mountable on a modern shutter."
Something already mounted on a modern shutter - or - currently in barrel but easily mountable on a modern shutter ?
Well, you say easily mounted in a modern shutter. I have absolutely NO experience in using the old brass lenses and wouldn't even know where to start so, unless it comes already mounted, I would say I'm forced to stick with something that's already mounted.
just to name a few...
Kodak Portrait in Ilex #5
Commercial Ektar in Ilex #?
Imagon in Compound or Copal shutter
Can you be more specific? Do you want soft, sharp, or something in between? Modern? Coated? $200 or $2000? Also, 600mm is a bit long for an 8x10 portrait lens. How much bellows do you have?
I would look for a 300 mm Imagon with the disks. I think this is one of the last BEST deals out there. This lens suffers from the "Kuhn Bug" when reflective surfaces are in the seen and your using the disk. If your careful you can make some stunning diffused images with the disks you just need to keep shinny surfaces and light points out of the image area.
You do NOT have to use the disks and in this case you have a achromatic soft focus lens that the diffusion can be controlled by the built in shutter iris . Much like a Kodak Portrait but more diffusion out of the gate.
The 300mm f4.8 Kodak Portrait lens is fantastic as well but it's harder to get one for under $800- $1000. You can still find a deal on the Imagon in # 5 Compound w/ disks . I just picked up a sweet 300 complete for a good bit less than $500. This was a very good price though. Usually between $500-$1000.
One the 18" portrait lens. You will need a big front board but the 18" Verito can't be beat. You could also go for the 14 1/2" Verito Which when converted gives you a 30" diffused focus lens as well as the doublet 14 1/2". It is also in a smaller( still big) #4 Studio shutter.
Any true Portrait lens of 18" FL will NOT be a modern shutter. One this one your looking at Studio shutter or a Packard shutter and lastly a large LUC shutter. The LUC shutter in the larger sizes is very hard to find.
Hope this helps
I'm trying to emulate portraits I used to get with my Canon 85 1.2L. I really liked the Brokeh. I really liked the speed which allowed me to use natural light. It was sharp when I needed it and I could use a diffusion filter if I had to also. I liked the focal length on 35mm film for H&S and headshots.Originally Posted by Jason Greenberg Motamedi
dude--what's the max bellows you got and what magnifications are you interested in....that will determine what you need....what is available will determine what you will use.
you want tight faces at 1:1---you'll need DOUBLE the bellows of the focal length...so if you got 30" bellows you'll need 15" lens and no more
I like just looking through the portrait threads in the image sharing area here. Then I can go lookup the lenses at ebay or www.antiquecameras.net to learn more.
If you are not looking specifically for soft photos, any tessar will do very well. This includes the commercial ektar, B&L and Zeiss tessars, schneider xenars, fuji fujinars, These would be all pretty cheap with the com.ektars being the most expensive. I've done a bunch of portraits with 210mm lenses, which I can use on a speed graphic for lenses with no shutters. 300mm might be too much length for a speed graphic at portrait distances. 210 shuttered lenses are very common though. The 203mm optar and ektar are very nice too and may have flash sync if you use strobes.
For a tiny bit soft, but not super soft, an old triplet is good. I'm using a 210mm meyer trioplan right now on my speed graphic (as the lens doesn't have a shutter) It gets sharp if you stop it down. http://www.f64.nu/photo/tmp/lff/img428.jpg shows what you might be after; sharp eyes with hair (on the side) going out of focus. This is at 5.6
For real soft focus, I have a 300/4.8 kodak portrait which comes with a decent shutter, and works with 4x5 and 8x10. Soft focus lenses aren't cheap, and most don't come with a valuable shutter if at all. This kodak does, and it's a good lens with a good shutter for the same price or less than other soft focus barrel lenses. It gets less fuzzy as you stop down too.
You might want something longer for 8x10 individual portraits, but it's not necessary, and 600mm might be too long. Unless you are contact printing, you might find a 4x5 back on an 8x10 camera will let you do what you need. I do this when I want 4x5's from my kodak portrait as it's a little long for my speed graphic.
Aha. That's good information.
I knew were more than just another Chicago photographer.
thanx buddy.
Can't remember what they are on my Eastman 2D but, I'll certainly check when I get home. I'm pretty certain they're over 30" though.
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