Good 210 for 4x5??

[Christianganko]

New to LF

I am sure its been discussed so please feel free to point me in the right direction.

Looking to get a 210

I see a wide variety and not sure if the difference is noticeable ?

Theres a fujinon W, a symmar, a Kreuznach TECHNIKA, so many choices it gets mind dumbing.

Should i avoid older lenses? Besides the possibility of wear etc?

Any and all help greatly appreciated as I have a smallish 250 budget.

Thank you

[Peter De Smidt]

I would get any multicoated 210 in good condition from any of the major manufacturers. Personally, I have a Fuji.

When you say: "Kreuznach TECHNIKA" I expect that means a Linhof select Schneider Symmar.

[GRAYnomad]

I have a Schneider Symmar-S, works a treat but so would any of the main contenders I think.

[Christianganko]

I would get any multicoated 210 in good condition from any of the major manufacturers. Personally, I have a Fuji.

When you say: "Kreuznach TECHNIKA" I expect that means a Linhof select Schneider Symmar.

I am not sure. Wouldnt know myself. If so would they still be good lenses?

[lassethomas]

I can vouch for the Schneider G-Claron 210 f/9. Very sharp and perhaps the best option if weight and size is a priority.
Only single coated though but I've never had any problems with flares.
Also covers 8x10 from what I've heard

[Peter De Smidt]

I am not sure. Wouldnt know myself. If so would they still be good lenses?

Yes.

[Ben Calwell]

I have a Caltar 210 f6.8 (I think it's a re-branded Rodenstock) that does a great job. It's light and small. You can find good ones on the used market.

[Christianganko]

Just checking out the technika.

Looks pretty worn both elements

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[Chauncey Walden]

Another plug for the Rodenstock 210mm f/6.8. A late design triplet and multicoated that will be found in a newer shutter for a low price. Great performance at f/8 and smaller and lightweight.

[grat]

I have a Caltar-S II which is a Schneider Symmar S in disguise. Note that the Caltar II S is a different lens, so no confusion there....

[Kevin Crisp]

Any multicoated f:5.6 version from Nikon, Schneider, Rodenstock or Fuji would be fine. Buy on condition and a shutter that works now. A Copal or Compur shutter would be my choice. There are lots of these around and should be within your budget. The MC version of the Schneider "S" lenses are excellent but some "S" lenses are single coated. (But still excellent) Don't buy any lens with a dented filter ring. That makes it hard to service it and get haze out of it if you find that. Avoid any lenses with fungus issues, even if professionally cleaned out.

If size and weight are extremely important to you, the f:6.8 single coated lenses are fine. A more exotic choice like a R Claron 210 (typically in a compur shutter) is really small and light with decent coverage for 4X5. These are radioactive and have tea-colored glass in them but a treatment with UV light will take care of that. I use my R Claron the most.

[Vaughn]

A 210 f6.3 Computar Symmetrigon if you happen across one would be an excellent lens -- they were sold with a metal lens shade, nice if it still has it.

PS -- this is not a plasmat, nor a process lens. It has four elements, air-spaced, designed in the USA for pictorial use, manufactured in Japan. Relatively light (compared to 6-element plasmats) and I find it quite sharp and good contrast. About 72 degree coverage.

[Drew Wiley]

It won't make a lot of difference. All the modern 210's plasmats from the big four (Fuji, Nikon, Schneider, and Rodenstock) are excellent. I'd be more concerned with condition if buying used; it is an abundant focal length, and relatively pristine examples should be easy to find. Among non-plasmats, and tessar design instead, if you want something even more compact, there is the 200 Nikkor M and 210 Fujinon L. And the compact f/9 plasmat G-Claron has already been mentioned.

[cjbecker]

New to LF

I am sure its been discussed so please feel free to point me in the right direction.

Looking to get a 210

I see a wide variety and not sure if the difference is noticeable ?

Theres a fujinon W, a symmar, a Kreuznach TECHNIKA, so many choices it gets mind dumbing.

Should i avoid older lenses? Besides the possibility of wear etc?

Any and all help greatly appreciated as I have a smallish 250 budget.

Thank you

What will you be using the lens for? Landscape, portraits, backpacking, tabletop?

[neil poulsen]

I have a Caltar 210 f6.8 (I think it's a re-branded Rodenstock) that does a great job. It's light and small. You can find good ones on the used market.

Is this a Tessar? I think that the Nikon 200 M is a Tessar; not sure about the Fujinon L.

If your interested in camera movements, I would not get a Tessar and would look torwards the Plasmats. The W lenses by the four primary manufacturers are all Plasmats.

With 72 degree coverage, the Computar sounds like an interesting lens.

The G-Claron is optimized for closer work, but when stopped down, is good at long distances.

[Bernice Loui]

Much like the 90mm question, any known good condition modern f5.6, 210mm from Schneider, Nikkor, Rodenstock, Schneider in a proper good shutter works. 210mm is such a common focal length a good example should be easily had for well under $250.


Bernice


New to LF

I am sure its been discussed so please feel free to point me in the right direction.

Looking to get a 210

I see a wide variety and not sure if the difference is noticeable ?

Theres a fujinon W, a symmar, a Kreuznach TECHNIKA, so many choices it gets mind dumbing.

Should i avoid older lenses? Besides the possibility of wear etc?

Any and all help greatly appreciated as I have a smallish 250 budget.

Thank you

[Iga]

"Any good modern lens is corrected for maximum definition at the larger stops. Using a small stop only increases depth..."
Ansel Adams, June 3, 1937, in a reply to Edward Weston asking for lens suggestions, page 244 of Ansel's autobiography.

[Tin Can]

I buy almost anything on reputation of seller

Bargains can be a nightmare

Shutters matter

Too

[lenicolas]

I have two :
Nikon W 5.6/210
Docter Tessar 4.5/210

I like them both for different reasons.

[William Whitaker]

I would get any multicoated 210 in good condition from any of the major manufacturers.

+1.
Personally mine was a Nikkor W. It was wonderful.

[Bernice Loui]

As previously mentioned many times, modern view camera lenses from the big four Fujinon, Rodenstock, Nikkor, Schneider were all intended for the working photographer market. Majority of these folks back then understood well what LF was about and demanded a given level of performance from their lenses. None were bargain priced lenses back then, all were more similar than different. While there are differences between brands, these days IMO, those differences are not relevant or that significant. Any of these four brand of lenses will do the job. re-branded lenses like Caltar is much identical the same.


Bernice

[John Layton]

I'd bargain to guess that there are more "good to great" 210's, in both variety and sheer numbers (and for very favorable prices) - than there are of any other FL's...perhaps followed closely by 135's/150's and 300's. But this is just a hunch!

[Daniel Unkefer]

I bought a chrome barrel 210mm Schneider Componon yesterday for $90. Comparable to my 210mm chrome Symmars in about every single way. If you don't need a shutter barrel lenses are great deals. BTW front and rear groups come out in solid cemented blocks with all the Comps, and even thick milkiness can be cleaned away with dishwashing soap and warm water. Then you have a "best possible" Componon. I was taught this trick by repair Guru Ken Ruth, right before he retired.

Ken said "Don't be afraid. Just do it, anyone can do it"

[drew.saunders]

A quick check of ebay for "210 5.6 large format" gets 155 results, most under $400, a few under $200, a few for disturbingly large amounts of money, and a few with cameras attached. At least one of those will do!

[Drew Wiley]

Somewhere on the web I've stumbled onto a list of the many various Caltar lenses over the years. These were common lenses rebranded for Calumet. I know they offered both a 2105.6 plastmat which was simply a so-called "Apo" Sironar N in later years, and a less expensive tessar-style design, perhaps a 210 Schneider Xenar. The Fujinon 210 L is a thick-element single coated tessar. The 200 Nikkor Q evolved a bit towards the thinner element style but remained single-coated, and the Nikkor M 200 is the most modern tessar design, being thin element as well as multi-coated - it has LOTS of extra wiggle room for 4x5 applications; don't listen to those old generic stereotypes about tessars. We're not talking about a 135 or 150 here; a 200 has a significantly larger image circle. The advantage of tessars is that with only six air/glass interfaces, they give exceptional hue and contrast rendition. And the Fuji L has a little gentler rendering once prized by portrait photographers, but don't mistake that fact for thinking it is somehow unsharp!

Likewise, I preferred the older Schneider Symmar S 210/5.6 plasmat for portraits over the newer ultra-crisp ones; but that doesn't mean it is unsharp either - I've got a several 30X40 inch Cibachrome prints in the house printed from 4X5 chromes taken with that very lens, and nobody would call those unsharp in any manner! It's just a bit differently nuanced look between these various lenses. When it comes to sheer compactness for sake of long backpacking trips, I carry the 200M. If I wanted optimal near-macro performance, I'd get a 210/9 G-Claron. But it's hard to go wrong with any of them.