The Fujinon 240 A is an absolute gem of a lens. Sharp and light and huge coverage. It is on my camera more than any other lens I have.
The Fujinon 240 A is an absolute gem of a lens. Sharp and light and huge coverage. It is on my camera more than any other lens I have.
Is that a relatively scarce lens? I have not come across one on the sites that I usually look for lenses. Also you have some beautiful images on your website.
There were two of them for sale here recently. They are not scarce.
You can purchase them new at Badger Graphics.
Some people can tell the difference between 210 and 240. I have both and prefer 210 because of the way that it renders space. Another way of saying that, is that with a 210mm lens, we are at an ideal distance from the subject: the sense of compression is ideal (to me). If you like I can provide some sample images which illustrate what is otherwise difficult to convey with words. It is a matter of taste, and nuance is one of the reasons that many of us are on this forum and not elsewhere.
The problem with most 210mm lenses (in my humble opinion) is that they are large: plasmat designs which open to f/5.6 and take large filters compared to the Fujinon A which takes only 52mm filters. The Nikkor and Fujinon 210mm lenses are the smallest of the bunch, taking 67mm filters, while the Rodenstock and Schneider plasmats take even larger filters.
Another lens worthy of consideration - but a bit harder to find - is the Nikkor 200M. It's even smaller and lighter than the Fujinon 240A, and in my tests, every bit as sharp, even at fairly close range. It's so small and light that it can be stored inside a closed Tachihara Field camera (me), a Linhof Technika (John Sexton), and other similar cameras.
For landscape photography, small and light is very good.
I've focused on acquiring lenses that have relatively even spacing between focal lengths. I decided on the shortest and longest lenses I'd ever want and evenly filled the gaps. However, I made my decisions based one only two criteria... 1. lightest/smallest lenses that will allow enough movements on given formats, 2. Sharpest contrastiest lenses that fit criteria #1.
However, I'm having regrets that I didn't include other criteria also. I know for a fact that I'll run into situations where I'll want a different look than sharp-and-contrasty. Recently I've been looking for lenses that express different (dare I use this word?) bokeh. I think I'll be buying a set of Fujinon SF lenses to satisfy that desire.
Your 135mm has ~70% of the angle of view (48 degrees - long side of the film) your 90mm has (68). If you keep that ratio you want something with and AOV of ~33 degrees. A 180mm is 37 deg, 210mm is 31 deg and a 240mm is 28 deg. Go with a 210 if you like that spread.
I personally use 90, 150, 250, 400
John's FL spread is very evenly-spaced. Very slightly wider than I prefer but very good, IMHO. His would make a very nice lens kit for sure. But... I'm only getting back into LF after a VERY LONG hiatus so please take my opinion with a grain of salt.
Thanks all, Ken you have been really helpful. If you have an example of the sort of compression rendered by the 210 I would be really interested in seeing them.
Thanks for the comment!
The 240A is not available new, but as Ken pointed out, they pop up here occasionally.
I used to have the Nikkor 210m. It was a nice sharp lens, but is huge compared to the 240A. I favor smaller lenses, less weight and bulk to haul around in a pack. If you are in a studio, then that is not a factor. In the field, it is very important to me.
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