Nikkor W - Sries lenses any good? and Wide Angle lens for Super Speed Graphic

[Omega]

Well the title say quite a lot, dosnt it. I am looking for a lens to replace the Rodenstock Optar 1000 Lens that came with my Super Speed Graphic. This is due to me wanting to use the Lee filter system (grad filters) on my 4x5 for landscape photography.

The thing is, the Rodenstock lens dosnt have a filter threid on it.
Thats why i need to replace it with something more modern.

I was looking around ebay for lenses, and came across a (cant remember exactly, im tired from work) 120mm i think. I alredy heard that the 135 Nikkor W lens was bad, but what about the others? Would they work for landscape photography?

Also i would like some sugestions for wide angle (>=135mm) that work on the Super Speed graphic. Prefurably with a filter thread that still exists.

I was also looking at a Schneider 100mm lens, but i forgot to check when the biding ends. And well i didnt get it.

[Dan Fromm]

The thing is, the Rodenstock lens dosnt have a filter threid on it.
Thats why i need to replace it with something more modern.

Learn about series filters and series adapters.


I was looking around ebay for lenses, and came across a (cant remember exactly, im tired from work) 120mm i think. I alredy heard that the 135 Nikkor W lens was bad, but what about the others?
This is news to me, probably to everyone else here. Why do you believe that LF Nikkors are bad?


Also i would like some sugestions for wide angle (>=135mm) that work on the Super Speed graphic. Prefurably with a filter thread that still exists.

I think you meant <= 135 mm. 135 isn't very wide on 4x5. You have the wrong camera for wide angle lenses. With some (all?) 90 mm lenses, the front standard sits on the bed hinge when the lens is focused at infinity, making dropping the bed impossible. Result? End of bed in frame. And since the Super Graphic's inner bed rails are fixed focusing a lens shorter than 90 mm (a) can't be done with the rangefinder and (b) requires manually sliding the front standard in and out on the inner bed rails.


I was also looking at a Schneider 100mm lens, but i forgot to check when the biding ends. And well i didnt get it.

Be happy. It doesn't cover 4x5

[jon.oman]

I have that Nikkor 135mm W lens. It is a sharp lens. It is also one of my favorite lenses.

[Sal Santamaura]

...I alredy heard that the 135 Nikkor W lens was bad...Perhaps you're referring to the test report on a sample of that lens included here:


http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/testing.html

Over the years, every time someone has seen those results and commented about that lens, people here jump all over them. I'm not sure why, but speculate that depressing the resale market for it concerns them. I have one; it is indeed far less sharp at the edges of a 4x5 frame (even without movements) than in the center or middle areas. On 6x7, it's quite a good medium telephoto. That's what I use it for, having turned instead to a 135mm Apo Sironar N for 4x5.

Urban legend has it that there's a "sweet spot" focal length in every lens design series and that some other focal lengths may perform significantly less well than the optimum one. I don't know what the best-perfoming Nikkor W focal length is, but I've owned and used several others, including 150mm, 210mm and 300mm, which were excellent throughout their rated image circles. The 135mm appears to be that design's low water mark. I'd not hesitate to purchase any of the others that meet your needs, especially if you get a good deal on one.

[Omega]

Thank you for clearing my misconceptions about the Nikkor W series lenses!

I will defiantly consider getting one now.

Can anyone link a full size scan (1200dpi would do), so i can check the detail of the Nikkor W 135 Lens?

[Omega]

Also how would the Nikkor W 135mm/F5,6 compare to a Schneider Symmar-S 135mm f5.6?

[jp]

The Nikkor W is great; the Fuji is as well. Can't go wrong.
For wider, I have the the 90 SW. The 75 is a little extreme for a speed; no idea how it would fare on a super speed, probably not much different.

[Dan Fromm]

The Nikkor W is great; the Fuji is as well. Can't go wrong.
For wider, I have the the 90 SW. The 75 is a little extreme for a speed; no idea how it would fare on a super speed, probably not much different.

jp, most 75s should work well on a 4x5 Speed Graphic, whose minimum extension (depending on version) is no more than 66.7 mm.

I've never been able to find good, as in believable, data on the Super Graphic's minimum extension. I've found one claim that it will focus a 65/6.8 Angulon, not a lens for 4x5, to inifinity and another of "around 70 mm." No matter, neither the Super Graphic nor the Super Speed Graphic (= Super Graphic with a 135 Wolly in a leaf shutter, highest speed 1/1000) is the right camera for short lenses.

[jp]

I've used a 75 on my pre-anniversary, but can't use the gear focusing as the standard has to jump track slightly to go from inside the body track to bed track, and at 75mm it's more in the body than on the bed. Newer speeds will do a 75, but it doesn't work very versatile compared to camera built to handle that.

[Sal Santamaura]

...On 6x7, it's quite a good medium telephoto...I frequently say "words have meaning." In this case, I misused the word "telephoto." Since it's too late for editing, please note that I should have posted:


"On 6x7, it's quite a good moderately long focal length lens."

[Sandy44]

Does the Rodenstock have a lens hood?- just twist the lens hood gently counter-clockwise and unscrew the lens hood. There is a space which will accommodate a Series VI lens filter. Drop it in then screw the lens hood back on. Several manufacturers made threadless auxiliary filters to make it easier to adapt the same filters to different cameras. Series IV,, small, V, bigger, Series VI (fits the Rodenstock) bigger. Make sure to buy good quality clean glass. Zeiss made good lenses. Look for Leica Ernst Leitz Wetzlar Series VI. Kodak Series lenses perform just as well and sometimes you can pick up a full set for very little $$. Other cameras may take a different adapter, but it was a universal size and the filter typically has the size imprinted on the side.