Angulon 90mm 6.8

[scrichton]

It's probably been asked many times before, but I just picked one up for a steal.

£40 ($60) with a box of 64T polaroid and a polaroid back. Plus the shutter was serviced 2 months ago, was pretty chuffed at that.

Ok, so what are the general opinions of this lens, I'll more than likely be using it with no intentions to shift or tilt as the bellows draw on my arca at infinity is less than an inch (stupid sexy pokey out graflok back riser). Overall though is it good with color (it's a single coat on it) plus what are they like flare wise and contrast wise.

I think color stuff will be mainly cross-processed Velvia 100 as a I have a bucketload of quickloads. Black and white will be ERA 100 dev'd in Diafine.

All responses will be great.

Oh on a weird offshoot, anyone ever tried hand-held shooting with a monorail?

[Frank Petronio]

That is a steal indeed.

Those lenses can be just as sharp as anything out there. You just need to stop down to f/22 to get there.

They were made from the 1930s to the 1970s, with quality control and lens coating technology steadily improving in the Schneider line. A late model -- 8 million or higher serial number -- is a very nice lens. The older Linhof-selected ones are usually very good as well. The really old ones > 2 million serial # -- are probably also showing signs of age -- haze and scratches -- but in general they will be softer at the edges and vignette more. The old ones just vary more....

If you stop down and shoot closer than infinity you can get reasonable movements, or accept that your edges will be a bit softer and darker (which isn't a bad thing in most landscape/skies).

Bob Salomon often mentions some nut who mounted a handgrip onto his Linhof Technikardan. Perhaps you could come up with a grip or a brace and it would be great for lanscapes in good light? Compressed to a 90mm a monorail isn't all that bulky, especially if you can find a short rail and folding focusing hood.

[Ole Tjugen]

The design was tweaked several times during the long period of production. The older ones have a slightly curved image field, so that sharpness falls off very gradually. The newr ones have flatter field within the design coverage, whereafter they drop off much more rapidly.

Light fall-off should be the same for all versions.

I did a comparison of two Angulons at http://www.bruraholo.no/Cameras/Angulon/index.html - the flare is from stupidly moving the camera five cm forwards and getting sunshine directly on the lens. Also note that I did this on 5x7" film, to see the full extent of coverage.

[scrichton]

Thanks for the responses guys. Looks like it's 1960 according to the Schneider dating charts (totally forgotten about that one!)

Frank, On the handheld at infinity thing, I have been thinking about hacking the ends off the rail as with a 127mm and 90mm I have more concerns over getting the standards close enough to get infinity. So my thought is to use the mamiya pistol grip and DaiYa 5x4 viewfinder which are in the spares box. Then tap the rail section that is lost in the cutting to make the poorest man's sinar handy you have ever seen :)

If anyone has a sinar handy or a focus helical going begging ... let me know :)

[Frank Petronio]

Sinar Handy's suck actually. They require three hands to use handheld*, I scratched that itch and realized that millions of press photographers weren't wrong when it came to handheld 4x5 -- use a Crown Graphic. It only takes two hands.

*It is really hard to insert a film holder when you are holding a camera by a pistol grip. A robust side mounted grip like the Linhof, the Crown's simple strap, or the CamboWide's bracket is much better.