What is the longest lens for this 8x10?

[John Brady]

Hi LF friends, I need some recommendations for the longest lens I can use on my camera.

I have an Ebony 810slw and a 5 inch extension back for it. The manufacturer states the longest usable lens for this camera as 360 mm. The standard set up has 400 mm of bellows draw and by my calculation the extension back brings it to 527 mm of draw.

So what do you think my options are and what price range do they fall in?

Thanks in advance for your help.
John
www.timeandlight.com

[Walter Calahan]

Don't get a Nikkor 1200 mm. Grin.

Good luck.

[Gem Singer]

It might not be the longest, but it would be a very practical lens, both in size. and in weight.

The Nikkor 450M.

[drew.saunders]

With 527mm of bellows, using the Nikkor 450M, which needs 429mm of draw (see http://www.ebonycamera.com/articles/lenses.html), you'll be able to focus down to about 2.3m. The Fuji 450C would give similar results (426mm of draw), just fine for landscapes. Looking at that chart, some of the 480mm lenses need as little as 452mm of draw (the Rodenstock APO-Sironar-N), so you could close focus that lens to (1/452) - (1/527) = 1/minimum distance, or 3176mm.

Assuming you got that camera for portability, the Nikkor M or Fuji C are probably more appropriate, as they'll be much smaller than the huge 480mm lenses.

[Eric Leppanen]

With 527mm of extension (plus tilting the front standard forward a bit to create some headroom), you theoretically can support an 800mm lens focused at infinity (Nikon 800T telephoto, with a flange focal distance of 527.4mm). You could support a Nikon 600T easily (409.2mm flange focal distance). I've never tried focusing an 8x10 telephoto while chest deep in a swamp, so I'm not sure how practical these will be for you. :) Normally an 8x10 telephoto needs some type of supplemental support (I use a long lens support arm) to achieve consistently sharp results, and I've never tried attaching one of these while under water.

I agree that either a Nikon 450M or Fuji 450C will be a fine choice for your camera. I prefer the 450M for 8x10 due to brighter focusing (f/9 vs. f/12.5) and greater usable image circle (the Nikon IC spec is conservative); the 450C is lighter and its Copal 1 shutter produces less "kick" if stabilizing your camera (for whatever the reason) becomes an issue.

There is a used Nikon 600/800T combo on Ebay right now (I have no affiliation with the seller) with a $1,650 asking price. In today's economy I have no idea if this is a competitive price (a few years ago I sold an 800T for $2K, although I've since seen 600T's go for as low as $1K). When I last checked used Nikon 450M's and Fuji 450C's both went for around $700-$800 or so.

[Struan Gray]

If you can live with lenses in barrel, it's worth remembering that graphics arts lenses usually have their mounting thread at the rear (as do vintage optics). That gives you another 20 mm or so of extension for free.

Apo-ronars come in 465, 480 and 520 mm focal lengths in this range, all of which will focus to infinity on your camera. There are Artars and other similar process lenses in the same lengths too. Which you get depends on how close you might want to focus. The 480s are more common, and come multicoated in shutters if you want that, but the 465s and 520s are more of a bargain and give nothing away in quality. Watch out for 520s with no aperture control though: there were some sold for copy or duping machines which have no iris.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

..longest lens..
Apo-ronars come ... There are Artars

Those lenses are actually quite short .. by themselves.
However they require a loooong bellows draw ;)

[Struan Gray]

However they require a [i]loooong bellows draw ;)

You can always buy more bellows. It's the arm extensions that are tricky.

[evan clarke]

I have the 450C and find it to be adequately bright and it is quite a bit more compact. It may be easier to find...Evan Clarke

[alec4444]

Hi LF friends, I need some recommendations for the longest lens I can use on my camera.

Color or B&W? An important detail relating to whether you need multi-coated lenses or not....

--A

[Gene McCluney]

Color or B&W? An important detail relating to whether you need multi-coated lenses or not....

--A

Oh come on. You don't need multi-coated lenses for color. Color was available for LF at least 30 to 40 years before multi-coating became available. I still use Kodak Commercial Ektars in my studio for product photography in color. They are single-coated and are fantastic. Even uncoated lenses are great for color, it is not the coating that supplies the corrections in chromatic aberrations, rather it is the lens design. The coating just helps with flare control and contrast (in some cases). Look at all those Technicolor movies from pre WW2. Not a lens was coated.

[Dominique Cesari]

I used to have a Tachihara double extension with 550 mm of draw. To get the front rigid, I had to avoid full extension. The 450 mm Nikon was right for landscape, but the 600 T Nikkor which is heavy, was in fact too much. Your Ebony is probably sturdier, but also slightly shorter, beware of the weight of these telelenses at the limit of extension. Another option is an Apo-Ronar 480 mm, preferably in a top hat (I'm not sure that they exist in #3) or at least extent lensboard.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

It's the arm extensions that are tricky.

Sure ! If you insist on using a wooden field camera :D
Have look at page 7/22 of the well-known Arca Swiss catalogue
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/ARCA.pdf
and you'll see a monorail extended to 1.5 metre (maximum extension of the telescopic rail of 1 metre long)

Enough to accommodate the 1200mm apo ronar at the magnification ratio of 1:4 ! ;)

[Pete Watkins]

If Emmanuel means what I think he means I can only agree. I've got a TTH Cooke 25 inch lens. It's all very nice but I can't reach the lens and look at the ground glass at the same time, my arms are just not long enough. The first time I used this lens people were watching, I felt and looked a right idiot.
Pete.

[Sizam]

Well there is the Schneider 800mm and 1100mm. I'm currently lusting after the 800mm...

[John Brady]

I've never tried attaching one of these while under water.


Wow! Thanks for all the great replies, as usual you all are the best.

Those of you who know me know that I am I wide angle freak, so this is uncharted territory for me.

This won't be my primary lens but an important piece of my arsenal all the same. So far it sounds like the fuji or nikon are good choices.

I shoot landscape so I would imagine I will be focused at infinity most of the time. And Eric I plan to use this lens when I dont want to get in the water:)

www.timeandlight.com

[alec4444]

Oh come on. You don't need multi-coated lenses for color. Color was available for LF at least 30 to 40 years before multi-coating became available. I still use Kodak Commercial Ektars in my studio for product photography in color. They are single-coated and are fantastic. Even uncoated lenses are great for color, it is not the coating that supplies the corrections in chromatic aberrations, rather it is the lens design. The coating just helps with flare control and contrast (in some cases). Look at all those Technicolor movies from pre WW2. Not a lens was coated.

I was under the impression (it's certainly not from experience, since I shoot B&W) that you lose some color saturation when shooting with single coated or uncoated lenses. But since that's NOT from experience, I'll take your word for it! :D

...And it that case, there's some fine 480mm lenses that I think will do John well, like the Rodenstock 480mm f/9 APO Ronar or the Schneider 480mm f/8 APO Symmar. If he's looking for the longest lens, why stop at 450mm?

--A

[Struan Gray]

Enough to accommodate the 1200mm apo ronar at the magnification ratio of 1:4 ! ;)

By 'arm' I meant the ones attached to my shoulders. I've had my rail up to 1200 for grins, but as Pete found, front movements are a royal pain.

FWIW, I have found that for field use an 18" barrel lens or a 16.5" lens in shutter hit a sweet spot with my Sinar. They work down to reasonably close distances with only a single bellows, and I only have to carry one 12" rail extension to add to the 6" rail the camera is stored upon in my rucksack.

I often use such a lens to isolate part of the ground in front of me with movements front and back to lay the plane of focus along the ground and to minimise the receeding perspective for a more head-on feel. So the oft-repeated mantra that a you don't need much in the way of movements in a field camera or for long lenses is absolutely wrong for the sort of photographs I take. I also use movements a fair bit in dense woodland, although only to welly-depth as our equivalents of cypress swaps - the alder carrs - are too muddy for me to want to go in up to my waist. In my case, being able to manipulate the front standard while looking at the ground glass is a huge help, so much so that I have stopped lusting after long APO-Ronars (mostly :-) and am saving for the elusive Nikon Tele set.

Not everyone works this way, but the ape-index (the ratio of your arm length to your eyes' closest focus distance) is a useful metric in addition to mere bellows length.

[Rodney Polden]

By 'arm' I meant the ones attached to my shoulders. I've had my rail up to 1200 for grins, but as Pete found, front movements are a royal pain....................

Not everyone works this way, but the ape-index (the ratio of your arm length to your eyes' closest focus distance) is a useful metric in addition to mere bellows length.

Your comments regarding long lenses and their value for landscape work certainly echoes my experiences with them. I use a 480mm Apo-Ronar and a 600mm Apo-Nikkor, and enjoy the look they bring.

As for the "ape-index", I found that using a cheap pair of 4 diopter reading glasses really helped, both by allowing maximum extension of my arms to the lens, and by letting me see clearly the instant when the image popped into crisp focus. Very useful.

The extension required for the 600mm though (even at infinity), means that front movements have to be accomplished by small increments and viewing the GG. Not really an impossible problem, just a small chore of the kind that LF tends to provide in plenty :rolleyes: