Noobie lenses

[radchad]

I am looking for a noobie lens oh KEH, and was hoping for a $200-250 range lens. Most dont have any stats on them. I have googled them and used the lens comparason chart on the main Largeformat website. I have also mailed them to ask more, but they haven't replied. I was wondering what would be a decent lens in this price range?
Chad

[Bob Gentile]

Which format? 4x5? 5x7? Other?

And... what kind of lens? "Normal?" Wide? Long?

[David Karp]

Call Jim at Midwest Photo Exchange (not on Thursday, he is not there) and tell him what you are looking for. If you are not sure, describe what kind of photography you intend to do with the camera. He is a straight shooter and usually has a good stock of used lenses in great shape. Get the number at www.mpex.com.

[John Kasaian]

What Bob Gentile said. If you don't mind old glass there are plenty of nice lenses covering 4x5 in that price range.

[Gene McCluney]

Maybe get yourself a 135mm Optar. Razor sharp, cheap.

[GhoSStrider]

I bought a 150mm Symmar Convertible from KEH as my first lens, and I've loved it so far. They're cheap, and in a pinch, you can convert it if you need a little more reach and don't have another lens handy!

My second lens was a 90mm f8 Super Angulon. Don't know if you need wide stuff or tele stuff, but the SA is a great, cheap lens, too.

Good luck!

[Uusilehto]

Exactly. The old single-coated convertible Symmars are great if you're on a small budget. Especially the 240/5.6 is a useful lens as you can remove the front cell and use it as a 420/12, although you do have to stop down a bit to achieve acceptable sharpness.

I'll be receiving a 121mm f/8 Super-Angulon next week. Massive coverage for 4x5 and cheap(ish). Usually between $200 and $300. Will do a quick report on the performance as there isn't too much info available for this lens.

[Ole Tjugen]

The odd thing is that 121mm f:8 Super Angulons tend to go cheaper than 120mm f:6.8 Angulons...

I have both, and tend to use the plain Angulon on 4x5" and the Super on 5x7" and 8x10". The performance, IMO, is exellent - even on 8x10".

Same with Symmars - I like them, and use them in 180, 210, 240, 300 and 360mm. I had a 150mm too a while ago, but sold it after comparing six different 135-150mm lenses: The Symmar was overall decent, so I kept an Apo-Lanthar (great), a Heliar (smooth), a Xenar (sharp, but limited coverage) and a chipped Eurynar (crap, but nice crap - thanks to the missing chunk of glass).

[riooso]

I second the Schneider 150mm convertable, being new myself. I really like this lens. Been using it for about a year and it is my favorite even when I bought some other focal lengths. It is sharp, bright and easy to use. Shop around and you will find one in really good shape for the price range you put out.

Take Care,
Richard

[E_Aiken]

My favorite "cheap" lens was my Schneider 150/5.6 APO-Symmar (pre L version) that I paid $200 for because it had a bent filter ring. Couldn't attach anything to it but the glass is superb and it had to sell cheap because of the defect. If you don't need the filter ring, you can get lenses with dents there for a couple hundred bucks less than usual. If you buy from a reliable good retailer like KEH (mine was from the Shutterblade store on the 'bay) you've got the assurance too that they're not selling a totally busted dropped lens and you can return it if the damage is more than what you felt was detailed.