Looking for a nice portrait lens for 12x16 inch / 30x40 cm

[Luke79]

Greetings to all

I got me a nice old 30x40 camera and would love to Start making some portraits with it

Mainly looking for a head shot, shoulder portrait shoot Lens with nice Fall off and rendering , smooth and creamy

I would be happy for any Suggestions

Best Regards
Luke

[Steven Tribe]

Welcome to the 30x40cm (and 15x12"!) club!

I, personally, think that you have to stick with the RRs and Aplanats that were made for this size in the late 19th century.
Many UK RR's were made for 15x12" are usually marked on the barrel (Dallmeyer and "Optimus" are quite common). Many large french Aplanats (and Busch and Suter) were made, but you will have to translate size no. to specific coverage and focal lengths. Sizes around 6 and 7 would probably be OK for your purposes. Looking at the Derogy catalogue, I can see that the no.6 (68cm) covers 30x40, whilst the no. 7 (81cm and which I have) covers up to 40x50cm. Euroskops are also available, but at a price!

[studiochrom]

if youre looking for landscape work an RR (aplanat) or some other process lenses will work.

if youre looking for portrait work on the other hand i would suggest something with an aperture of at least F6 or faster. There are the Voigtländer Heliars, i would suggest a 420mm focal lenght, and there are also the Euryscope series IV, i would start with No. 5 or 6 which gives you even more room for movements.

there are also some big projection lenses out there, if youre the experementing type of guy.

[Luke79]

Thank you very much for your help and Suggestions. I will have a look if I can find something
Luke