8X10 Lens advice required

[antonroland]

Hello everyone

I am toying with the idea of building a 8x10 view camera but I would like to put the best possible lens in it for landscape and similar work.

IF various lenses would be an option that would be great but I am looking for something reasonably wide...about 24mm - 35mm perspective in 35mm terms and if I could make it work with the possibility of fitting a second lens with roughly 75-85mm perspective in 35mm terms that would be the ultimate.

Am I asking for too much? Should I build the camera to work with only one lens and therefore build two cameras?

Then, what lenses can you recommend?

Maximum image quality is what I am looking for...Scneider? Rodenstock?

Thanks very much!

[Peter De Smidt]

You might start with a lens in the 240mm range, such as a G-claron, Fujinon A, Doktor Optic Germinar.... For longer lenses, Fujinon Cs, whether 450mm or 600mm, would be good choices.

[John Kasaian]

Super wide lenses on 8x10 are kind of an enigma. In the bargain basement there is the 159mm WA and EWA Wollensaks. Slow as a constipated snail and forget about movements, but they are lightweight and tiny. Then in the penthouse suite there is the 165 Schneider SA and Nikor 120 SW , which are huge heavy pieces of glass. There are a few other esoteric lenses scattered about out there----the old Angulons, Cook WAs, and the like. Any of them should get the job done, but you'll always be giving up something----speed, movements, lots of hard earned cash, something...
For me, a moderate wide like a 240 G Claron and/or 10" WF Ektar carefully employed see far more use than the Wolly, but of course YMMV.

I'd think that to get the most flexibility from your camera, bellows that accommodate lenses all the way out to a 24 inch Artar would ideal, but I've only got about29" of bellows on mine so 19" is the maximum long lens I shoot with.

I do have a fixed lens 8x10 (Gowland) with a 300 Nikor f9 up front. It sees limited use, obviously, but works well in certain scenarios (aerial work, quick:rolleyes: and dirty night photography) where a conventional 8x10 camera would present issues.
Enjoy 8x10!

[Brian Ellis]

I owned two of the 159mm WA Wollensaks John mentions - both of them were the f/12.5 version rather than the wider f/9.5. With a lens that wide on 8x10 extreme movements are seldom necessary but FIW I don't recall any severe limitations with movements when stopped down a few stops at least. I thought they were real bargains. As John says, they're lightweight, tiny, and used to cost in the $300 range, which is dirt cheap for an 8x10 wide angle. The prints I made from photographs from that lens were excellent but then I was only contact printing 8x10, not sure how good they'd be when enlarged.

My preferred wide angle lens for 8x10 was the G Claron 240 f/9 which also used to be inexpensive. Coverage was o.k. when stopped down a little despite the Schneider coverage numbers which would lead you to think it wouldn't even cover 8x10.

All of this is from fairly distant memory, like 10 years, so if there's anything incorrect feel free to correct me.

[Jon Shiu]

Check out the Schneider 150 XL, very highly regarded lens.

Jon

[Bernice Loui]

The 75-85mm perspective is not too difficult as there are a good number of 19" / 480mm lenses that fit this requirement.


On the 24-35mm perspective, the choices and problems becomes significant. Light fall off becomes a serious consideration for any lens in this range. The best ones are modern like 120mm & 150mm SW Nikkor, 155MM 200mm Grandagon, 120mm & 165mm & 210mm Super Angulon, 150mm XL and others all are BIG exception of the 150mm XL.

There are older designs like the 165mm Angulon, 6 1/2" WA dagor, Protar, 190mm & 250mm Wide Field Ektar and others.


"Max image quality" = Max cost. IMO, if this is what you're after, consider the 200mm Grandagon or 150mm XL or 210mm XL. With the correct center filter.

The choice depends on your specific image making needs and what is affordable.



Bernice




Hello everyone

I am toying with the idea of building a 8x10 view camera but I would like to put the best possible lens in it for landscape and similar work.

IF various lenses would be an option that would be great but I am looking for something reasonably wide...about 24mm - 35mm perspective in 35mm terms and if I could make it work with the possibility of fitting a second lens with roughly 75-85mm perspective in 35mm terms that would be the ultimate.

Am I asking for too much? Should I build the camera to work with only one lens and therefore build two cameras?

Then, what lenses can you recommend?

Maximum image quality is what I am looking for...Scneider? Rodenstock?

Thanks very much!

[Jac@stafford.net]

You got good technical advice. Let me add just one personal observation. Wide-angle on the 8x10 or 4x5 'feels' wider than equivalent angle-of-view lenses in 35mm. It is due to the aspect ratio. For landscapes you might discover why 4x10 is popular. Too much sky in the normal 8x10.

[antonroland]

Thanks for all the responses folks.

It will take me a while to get my head around all that...I am new to LF and hearing all those names are utter Greek to me.

In principle I like to buy from closer to the penthouse suite but that obviously also means more patience. NOT one of my greater virtues.

I appreciate the comment about 4x10 but as I scan my negs I could easily crop to that or any other wide format....


It just dawned on me that a good 8x10 could kick 6x17 butt...although I simply HAVE to own one sometime...

Thanks again folks, as soon as I have some expendable cash I would like to know more...in the mean time I need to get a camera going first...kind of pointless having kick-ass glass and no way of using it...

[Ian Greenhalgh]

Hi Anton

Which side of the pond is your penthouse? If it's the European side I have a suitable lens I don't want a great deal for.

[John Kasaian]

It just dawned on me that a good 8x10 could kick 6x17 butt......
That depends on the butt that's being kicked. IMHO content always trumps format :)

[Carsten Wolff]

MAKING a properly aligning and adjusting 8x10 may actually be your weakest link....

[John O'Connell]

For me, 159mm feels about like a 24mm equivalent. So any of the three modern wides with 400mm coverage will work for you, or the 150 SSXL. (For me, though, that's barely wide enough.)

From 165mm to 210mm, you're looking at some rare classic lenses that I believe barely cover the format. Once you hit 210mm, ordinary plasmats barely cover, and the SA, the Grandagon, the SSXL, and the Computar all cover in spades. I think 210mm feels like 30mm-equivalent in small format.

I've never used a 240, but it seems like a reasonable focal length to work with.

Long lenses will determine your bellows draw. I think you want a 600mm to be an 85mm-equivalent, and if I was going to shoot that length again I'd go with a telephoto again. Otherwise you need gorilla arms to see your front movements in closer compositions. Consensus of those who've shot both in the archives is that the Schneider tele is better than the Nikkor at 600mm, but you're talking expensive lenses here. I was happy with the Nikkor at 600mm.

If you're really going to build a camera, and intend to use short and long lenses, build it so it focuses on both standards to avoid future pain.

[antonroland]

Hi Anton

Which side of the pond is your penthouse? If it's the European side I have a suitable lens I don't want a great deal for.

Hello Ian

The bottom tip of Africa is my side of the pond...I would love to know more though...

[antonroland]

Check out the Schneider 150 XL, very highly regarded lens.

Jon

Thanks Jon

Googled it, saw the price...nearly started crying...LOL

[Ole Tjugen]

A 121mm Super Angulon is inexpensive, superwide, and just barely covers straight on. A 165mm Angulon is inexpensive, very wide, and covers at small stops - with soft corners, but not that you would notice on a contact print.

[IanG]

The 159mm Wollensak is definitely small, I've yet to use mine but if it performs well it's a fraction of the size and weight of my 165mm Super Angulon and ill be useful. I bought it to use the shutter with a Turner Reich.

Ian

[Steven Tribe]

I am toying with the idea of building a 8x10 view camera

Yes, there are people who have made attractive, well functioning cameras.
But not many. This one area where DIY is not the most sensible use of time unless you have access to all the materials and necessary tools.