Lens recommendation for 4X5

[crowgraphy]

Hello All,

I am new to large format photography and I have just ordered Tachihara 4X5.
I am looking for few lenses for portraiture and landscape. I would appreciate if someone can recommend few lenses.


Thanks in advance.

[John NYC]

Since you said portraiture and landscape, I would start with a 210mm. Get any one from the big four (Rodenstock, Schneider, Nikon, Fuji) used.

If you had not said portrait, I would have said start with a 150mm... Same advice on what kind.

Check the classifieds here and KEH.com. I would stay away from eBay until you know your way around LF a bit.

[crowgraphy]

Thanks John.

I was also looking for 150mm. So you are suggesting 210 over 150 mm for portraits?


Thanks
Girish

[John NYC]

Thanks John.

I was also looking for 150mm. So you are suggesting 210 over 150 mm for portraits?


Thanks
Girish

Yes, 210 makes a nice portrait length on 4x5. You can use a 150 with good effect for a more environmental style portrait. If your camera has the bellows to handle it, a 300mm will get you closer to a headshot.

But portraiture works a little differently in LF than in smaller formats. The 210 is a nice length.

[crowgraphy]

Thanks John, appreciate it!

[BrianShaw]

What John said.

I use a 150 and 135 nearly interchangably. The 300 is really good for head-and-shoulders.

[Alan Gales]

What John said.

I use a 150 and 135 nearly interchangably. The 300 is really good for head-and-shoulders.

I agree that normally a 300mm is great for head and shoulder shots. Unfortunately, a Tachihara has only 12 1/2" of bellows draw so to be about 5-6 feet away you don't have enough bellows to focus a 300mm that close. A 300mm does make a great landscape lens on a Tachihara. I own a Nikkor 300mm f/9 M and I highly recommend it. Very lightweight and sharp as a tack. Unfortunately, it's a bit expensive.

If you really want to do portraits then I suggest buying a cheap monorail to compliment your nice Tachihara field camera.

[jwanerman]

I have used a Caltar IIN 150mm F:5.6 on my Crown Graphic and Wisner Traditional for about 20 years. It is made by Rodenstock and is much cheaper on the used market. This lens gives about 215mm of coverage, which is plenty for the intended purpose. I doubt that a Tachi will handle a 300mm, although I am sure that the Wisner handles my 273mm Artar comfortably.

[Alan Gales]

I have used a Caltar IIN 150mm F:5.6 on my Crown Graphic and Wisner Traditional for about 20 years. It is made by Rodenstock and is much cheaper on the used market. This lens gives about 215mm of coverage, which is plenty for the intended purpose. I doubt that a Tachi will handle a 300mm, although I am sure that the Wisner handles my 273mm Artar comfortably.

I own a Tachihara and a 300mm lens. I read somewhere that you could focus a 300mm down to something like 16'. I never measured it myself. I always focus mine on something a lot further away. So the answer is yes you can use a 300mm on a Tachihara but with the above limitation.

[Matus Kalisky]

Tachihara was my first (and so far only camera). I was starting in a very similar fashion like you are starting today, so let me share some experience.

My first lens was Rodenstock Geronar E 210/6.3. it is a tessar design what limits the coverage a bit (still plenty for most 4x5 work). Advantage is it is smaller and lighter and cheaper than 210/5.6 plasmats. It performs very well too. I do not have the lens anymore (I went with 75, 125, 240, 400/tele setup in the course of the years), but would not hesitate to use it.

Somebody above mention to start with 210 lens. A good idea to my opinion. It is a bit longer than "normal" (which would be around 150 - 180) and that makes composition easier than with wider lenses (simply eliminates more from the scene). But surely 150 lens would be as good to start with. Should your taste later develop in a different way you will have no problem to sell the lens for about the same as you paid for it. But it is a good idea to use just one lens for some time - there are many things to learn and you rather invest the money to film. You will be surprised how much you will spend on little things - I know I was.

Now a few general comments for Tachihara. It is a nice camera, lightweight, but has of course its limitations. It does not really enjoy long and heavy lenses like 240/5.6 or heavier. Small compact lenses are not a problem of course (Nikkor M 300/9 or Fujinon C 300/8.5 or such). I do use the Osaka 400/8 which is a tele/design (requires only 260mm bellows draw), but wuth the weight of 500g it is on the edge. The 240 I use is Fujinon A 240/9 (small and great lens) is no problem at all.

Also Tachihara is not the best choice for lenses wider than 90. It can be done (I do use 75, but on a recessed lens board a bit of PITA), but the compressed bellows limit the movements more than pleasant. In fact I keep telling myself to sell tha Tachi and get some compact monorail, but somehow do not find the time to do that

I hope you will enjoy the Tachi post some results once you get there.