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Thread: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

  1. #1
    Founder QT Luong's Avatar
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    New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    A new article by Jeroen Bruggeman has just been posted:

    http://www.largeformatphotography.info/portrait-lenses/

    Please feel free to leave comments here.

  2. #2
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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    Bruggeman says that the Fujinon f8.5 300C is a Tessar design, being that it's a four element lens.

    However, when I refer to that lens as a Tessar, on this forum, I get corrected and told that it's not actually a Tessar

    The Nikon/Nikkor f9 300M is a true Tessar design. I understand that the Fujinon 300C is not a true Tessar design, although it has four elements.

    What is it?

  3. #3
    Drew Wiley
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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    All four elements being airspaced would classify it as a dialyte. The tessar Fujinon lens was
    the L series, similar to the Nikkor Q (the single-coated predecessor to the M).

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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    The appeal of large format is the combination of high resolution and beautiful tonality.
    Had me....

    Moreover, 5x7” (and larger) negatives make possible breath-taking contact prints on baryte paper, too, far superior to crummy digital “baryte” prints.
    Lost me. How can I take the article, or author seriously after this introduction?

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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    Oh well I guess you take what you can. Beyond that I quite enjoyed the article.
    *************************
    Eric Rose
    www.ericrose.com


    I don't play the piano, I don't have a beard and I listen to AC/DC in the darkroom. I have no hope as a photographer.

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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    Excelent well balanced article by someone who actually makes portraits, of more than one person too. Find the authors work on Flickr.

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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    Drew,

    In other words, Bruggeman was incorrect when he stated that the four element Fujinon f8.5 300C is a Tessar.

    The way I understand it, Fuji was able to eliminate the problem of internal flare from air to glass interfaces with their new improved EBC coating.

    They began using air spacing between the lens elements instead of cementing them. That helped to eliminate the problem of lens separation.

    The latest Fujinon lenses, the "CM-W"s', are air spaced. Obviously, the "C"s' are also air spaced.

    Therefore, even though the 300C is four element lens, the air spacing changed its classification from a Tessar to a Dialite.

    Correct?

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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    ^^^ Not from every single reference that I've read, no. All Fujinon-C's are modified dialytes. Modified to offer slightly wider coverage than older dialyte designs. But... I'm just a novice who's reading as much as he can....

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    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Rose View Post
    Oh well I guess you take what you can. Beyond that I quite enjoyed the article.
    I agree, Eric. It's a problem with too many online article -- no editors. Any half decent editor would have handed the article back to author and asked, "Why do you want to shoot yourself in the foot like that?" and then ordered, "Fix it". Maybe the author thought he'd be endearing himself to like-minded readers (or maybe he was just venting), but LF photographers -- some quite accomplished -- are embracing digital printing in ever growing numbers. It just happens I came on this article after reading this one:

    http://theagnosticprint.org/art-and-craft/#more-230

    Maybe I overreacted. I didn't meant to offend the author who did write an otherwise very nice article with lots of useful information included.

  10. #10

    Re: New article: Large format lenses for portraits

    As I said in the first sentence, I tested a series of lenses "towards their usefulness for portraits in the broadest sense". Disassembling them to verify if, say, a 300mm Fujinon-C is a Dialyte or a Tessar was not part of my tests, and information on lens types I collected on the Internet. However, if somebody can prove me wrong, e.g. by showing an official Fuji document rather than speculating, I will correct my text (after a month or so to give others a chance to react as well).

    To Jay's comment on my comparison of baryte prints with digital prints: I do make and like digital prints a lot (anything to be printed large), but my point was that if you make a contact print and put it side by side with a same-size digital "baryte" print of the same negative, then the latter looks rather sad. This is why collectors pay so much more for contact prints of large negatives!

    Jeroen Bruggeman.

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