20x24 diffused focus lens:

[Pfeiffer Duckett]

Does anybody have any recomendations for a verito / v.q. or some such pictoral lens that'll cover 20x24? And where to find such a beast?

For rent?

[David A. Goldfarb]

If you are at portrait distances, I suspect the 18" Verito will cover.

[Pfeiffer Duckett]

portrait as in face only or could I get away with shoulders or maybe half a torso?

[erie patsellis]

how soft do you want? A 4" or so magnifying glass or simple meniscus should cover, with lots of "character".

[David A. Goldfarb]

20x24" shots of a face only would be kind of odd looking in general. I suspect it should cover a waist up or maybe even a 3/4 length portrait. I think that if you take off the front element, you get a 22.5" lens or thereabouts, so that's another option.

[BarryS]

The 18" Verito converts to a 30" lens with the front element removed. It seems like it should cover with just the rear cell.

[eddie]

i have two aplant type old brass lenses that are 25 inch FL and should cover 18x22. so i would guess they will cover 20x24.

when i can get to it i will try them out on my friends camera......

eddie

edit....sorry, i just read SF. these do not have SF adjustments at all...(but neither do the veritos)

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Pfeiffer,

B&L Universal Portrait can convert the front cell to the rear at about 1.6X fl and has a nice look to it.

Goerz Dogmar came in 420, 480 and 500mm and is triple convertible at 1.5x and 1.9x fl. Very nice look complete, the rear cell is almost 'pictorially' soft till stopped down, the front cell may be too 'swirly' and soft until stopped down. Both conversions are very adjustable by focus and f/stop.

Voigtlander did make some really large Portrait Euryscops, have fun finding one.

[erie patsellis]

maybe too sharp, but I think a 19" artar will cover (more like illuminate) at portrait type distances (I can't check at the moment, as I have the 16x20 back on my camera), and convert to something quite a bit longer as well.

erie

[Really Big Cameras]

The 48cm Universal Heliar should cover at 1:1 (life size).

The nice thing about the Universal Heliar is you can stop down to get the depth of field you want in then dial in the diffusion to get the degree of softness desired. There are a few other portrait lenses with this feature (some of the Cooke portrait lenses, one of the Wollensak Velostigmats and I think the Graf Variable). Most other portrait lenses lose their softness as you stop down so you have to make a choice of VERY shallow depth of field with diffusion, and more depth of field with little or no diffusion.

Of course, you may WANT shallow depth of field to go along with the diffusion, but the Universal Heliar (and others with variable diffusion) gives you that choice, too.

Kerry Thalmann
Really Big Cameras (http://reallybigcameras.com)

[Monty McCutchen]

Dallmeyer 8D if I'm not mistaken. They come around about as often as Hens teeth and when they do they are taken up by collectors. I shoot 20 x 24 and bid on one last year. It got too rich for my blood at 3500 but hey maybe next time we can split and share it for half the year. It also is about as big as a medium sized parking lot so there's that to deal with. Would be sweet to shoot though. Keep you eyes open who knows....

Monty

[Pfeiffer Duckett]

I did a little research on the 18" verito and the catalogue from way back lists it as covering 11x14. Who thinks it might cover close up anyway? And taking the front element off to make it a 30" - it was my impression that converting lenses this way didn't increase the image circle too much and makes image quality crap the bed- I have an oppertunity to shoot 20x24 but the deadline is the 18th of November so I would need something that's relativly accessable.

Thanks for all the help so far!

[David A. Goldfarb]

If it covers 11x14" at infinity, then you should be able to get a head and shoulders portrait on 20x24" at least. Converting a lens does increase the coverage substantially, and it's a diffuse focus lens to begin with, so you get a different effect, but not necessarily a bad effect that way.

I'd confused the 18" with the 14.5", which converts to around 22.5" with the rear element. I have the 14.5" and the 11.5", but I haven't experimented with converting them enough to say one way or the other whether it's worth doing.

[Tracy Storer]

Hey there all:
the 18" Verito, converted to 30" DOES cover 20x24, at least at half-length portrait distance.....however, finding the right aperture to focus and shoot at is another matter...I have tried it twice, and have been too pressed for results to experiment further. (Portrait commissions with the Polaroid and the MUSH I was getting with it totally failed to impress the client, surprise)
I am still holding out hope that the 30" (18") will at some point reveal it's secrets and shine for me, maybe Pfeiffer will figure it out and share.
UN-Converted at 18", it is just too wide to render a nice "drawing" of a person at close distance in my opinion. (and doesn't cover)
There is a rare 22, or 22.5" conversion front cell for the 18", a friend has one, and we tried it on 20x24....it covered well enough at portrait distances (waist up) but again, I found it too short to offer a nice view of the model. (Think 210 on 8x10, not quite Bill Brandts wide angle nudes, but on the off-ramp to go there)
Best,
Tracy

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Pfeiffer,

How soft do you want the look?
How far away will you be shooting?
How much bellows draw will you have?

Voigtlander Euryscopes convert to 2X, just remove the rear cell, a 14" becomes 28" and looks to cover 20x24.

Goerz Lynkeioskop converts to 2x, just remove the rear cell.

Zeiss Unar converts to a pictorial dreamscape, just remove the front cell, 16.5" looks to cover 20x24.

Goerz Dogmar 420 and 480 triple convert, the 500/4.5 does not appear to convert (aero recon lens).

Tessar 500mm is rated for 14x17 at inf, will cover at portrait distance.

Dagors and Collinears convert to 2x.

Hope you have 50" of bellows to play with.

Good luck with the hunt.

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Pfeiffer,

Gee, thanks for starting this, like I had nothing else to do.:D

With all the converting I decided to play and found that putting the front cell of a 14x17 Tessar IIb on a 10x12 Unar Ib it becomes a 38 - 40" f/13 hotrod. I'll have to wait for the sun to rise to check focal length at inf but it will DEFINITELY cover 20x24 at inf. but may need 6 ft. of bellows at portrait distance. :eek:

whodathunkit

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Hi all,

the B&L hybrid works out to 33" f/11, does fit on a 6x6" lens board and I can get it down to 16 ft on a Calumet C-1 so 4 ft of bellows should work well at portrait distance. It does have a nice look to it, now to get new bellows for the 5A, maybe for Christmas.