Fast lens

[Chauncey Walden]

I have an Aldis-Butcher 178mm f3.4 that was quite inexpensive (read "dirt cheap") when I found it. There must be some more of them kicking around in Jolly Olde.

[ceebdub]

Hey thanks for all of your help,
I am in negotiations with some of the lens sellers...

[eddie]

You might also have luck finding a cheap (<$250) 16.5cm f2.7 Zeiss Tessar.

do you have any photos of this lens?

isnt there a real fast cooke that is like f 2ish....they always get bigger money but a nice lens....may not cover 4x5 though

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I can try to take an image later in the week Eddie. (PS welcome back!)

The Cooke Series 0 (AKA Lee Opic) is, I believe, a f2, and came in several lengths appropriate for LF. I think it is a six-element lens, like the early Planar or the Dallmeyer Super-Six. Probably very expensive, if you can find one.

[Corran]

Schneider 150mm f/2.8 Xenotar but it won't be cheap (about $400-$800? top price w/ shutter)

Last one on ebay went for almost $2,000 actually.

You might also have luck finding a cheap (<$250) 16.5cm f2.7 Zeiss Tessar.

Last one on ebay was almost $600


Super-fast lenses have really come in vogue so the prices are very high on ebay. Even Xenotar 135mm f/3.5 lenses are $500-$800 or more.

However, here's a suggestion: The Schneider Gottingen 12.5cm f/2 lens almost covers 4x5 (and does at portrait distance I believe) and can be had for $400 or so. I think they are still somewhat unknown.

[cyrus]

Last one on ebay went for almost $2,000 actually.

Wow. Just...wow.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Last one on ebay was almost $600

I will quibble with this, since I bought one two months or so ago on eBay for $250 or thereabouts. Regardless, fast lenses are expensive.

[Corran]

If you did you got a deal. Another Xenotar 150mm f/2.8 ended a few hours ago at over $1,000, a lot less than the other I watched. Probably too rare to get a large enough data pool for a general price.

[Dan Fromm]

I can try to take an image later in the week Eddie. (PS welcome back!)

The Cooke Series 0 (AKA Lee Opic) is, I believe, a f2, and came in several lengths appropriate for LF. I think it is a six-element lens, like the early Planar or the Dallmeyer Super-Six. Probably very expensive, if you can find one.

Jason, OPICs are like hens teeth. I don't know why, but is seems that most OPICs and derivatives -- familiar TTH names like Lee and Warmisham patented many variations and assigned the patents to Kapella, Ltd, not to TTH -- made were no longer than 4". Cine lenses, mainly. Panchros, Speed Panchros, Deep Field Panchros, ...

I have a 1950s-vintage TTH son-of-OPIC four incher that covers 2x3. It was made for a couple of aerial cameras that shot 6x6 on 70 mm film. One recently brought $2,800 on eBay.

Dallmeyer Super Sixes are sort of in the same family, came to market after the OPIC. Long ones are relatively gigantic. I had a 6"/1.9 for a while. It weighed 3 1/2 pounds. Years ago I saw an 8"/2.0 on offer. I didn't have the heart to bid on it. I now have a 200/2 S.F.O.M. that weighs around 7 kg; it was made for an aerial camera that shot 114 x 114 on 5" roll film.

There are two 6"/2.8 Elcans, one for 6x6 (serial number begins 138-), the other for 114 x 114 (s/n begins 180-). The big 'un weighs 6.6 pounds.

Long fast lenses that cover larger formats are usually too damn much.

[Thebes]

If you don't require an aperture then get a projection lens. I have a Buhl 200mm f/2.8 on my desk (in an ugly anodized red) that cost me ten bucks plus shipping. It illuminates to the corners on 4x5 when I hold it up, but I haven't mounted it. Most of these lenses are triplets and you'd probably need 178mm or longer to cover 4x5 at infinity, faster ones seem to have a larger circle of illumination, they often have a focusing barrel for a projector which needs to be unscrewed, not all can be made to cover, ymmv.