Heliar for 8x10

[Two23]

I've been thinking of buying a Heliar for 8x10 portraits. I've always loved them. I have a 150mm I use on 4x5 in Compur. I just bought a 240mm barrel to do portraits on 4x5 tin type and maybe groups shots on 5x7. I'm thinking of 8x10 now. I was looking at 360mm but I already have a 14 inch Darlot Petzval. Any thoughts on the 360mm or 420mm Heliar for 8x10 tin types? I don't think I want the universal as that's running into a whole bunch of money.


Kent in SD

[Hugo Zhang]

42cm for head/shoulders and 36cm for whole/half body.

[Tin Can]

I truly regret not buying on eBay when 42cm Helier Universal was way cheaper

[cuypers1807]

The 420mm Universal is an amazing piece of glass. If you don't need the soft focus feature, just get a regular Heliar. Weight is definitely something to think about. My 420 universal weighs in at around 11 lbs.

[Rick L]

the Century 9a studio camera I just picked up has an early 420 Heliar, with the 8x10 back I can get full body images with head and foot room on the ground glass at 11 feet.

I have looked for one of these cameras for a while- the lens on this one is a major reason I didn't let it get away.