First lens, hows this...

[Mike V]

Hi guys,

I am looking to buy my first lens soon, just trying to find the right one.
Does anyone have any information on this one...

http://www.evo-host.co.uk/getimg/17724.jpg

I know its image circle is 210mm stops down to 5.6
What do you think guys?

It has the silver ring front which suggests cumpar. correct?
i.e. not as reliable?

[Erik Larsen]

If the price is right it will be a fine performer I would think. It looks like a copal to me and should function fine. There are many choices in the 150 to 210 range with reasonable price. Pick from Schnieder, Nikon, Rodenstock or fuji and you'll have a good one for sure. Post an wanted ad in the for sale section and I'm sure someone will have what you need. good luck
Erik

[Mike V]

Thanks Erik, its for sale at £150.
Main uses will be architecture and landscapes.
Worth it?

[Erik Larsen]

If you're not in a hurry, I'd post a wanted add but if you need it now and have no choices it's not an unreasonable deal.
Erik

[Mike V]

If you're not in a hurry, I'd post a wanted add but if you need it now and have no choices it's not an unreasonable deal.
Erik

Not in a hurry. Might keep an eye on ebay, theres a couple of 90mm on there at the moment.

[Gene McCluney]

That 150mm is a good lens as a "normal" focal length lens for 4x5. I have one just like the one you show. It is tack sharp. I even use it on 5x7 as a moderate wide, but with little movement available. The 90mm you mention is a relative wide angle on 4x5. You should probably have both focal lengths (150mm & 90mm), plus a more "telephoto" one, such as a 210mm. Those 3 focal lengths would be a good "starter" set-up for 4x5.

[IanG]

It is a Copal shutter, the front of the lens looks as if it has a slight ding on the filter thread area, but it might be an artifact from the lighting. You'd need to check.

£150 isn't a bad price at all for a 150mm Symmar in the UK, if it's in good condition it's a good buy and certainly worth it.

Ian

[Mike V]

That 150mm is a good lens as a "normal" focal length lens for 4x5. I have one just like the one you show. It is tack sharp. I even use it on 5x7 as a moderate wide, but with little movement available. The 90mm you mention is a relative wide angle on 4x5. You should probably have both focal lengths (150mm & 90mm), plus a more "telephoto" one, such as a 210mm. Those 3 focal lengths would be a good "starter" set-up for 4x5.

Those are the three focal lengths I am after, being a broke student though I am slowly building up to them!

[lenser]

Mike,

While.this is a very fine lens, you mention that your main use will be architecture. If you are shooting exteriors with plenty of room to back up from the subject, or interiors where you do not need wide angles for the rooms, you should be fine.

However, as previously mentioned, you start to get into the wide angle range for 4x5 at about 90mm. In most of my architectural work, both interior and exterior, I think in terms of at least the 90mm and often a 75mm or even 58mm for extreme needs or extreme perspectives on the film.

This lens will do tighter shots and details quite well, but make your decisions based on application. It's a fine starter lens for a kit with fuller range as you can add more focal lengths.

Good luck.

Tim

[Mike V]

Can anyone comment on the lenses reliability. I get confused between copal and compur etc.

I want the shutter speeds to be accurate and for it to not need ALS

[Archphoto]

The Compur and Copal shutters are equaly dependable shutters, that need a bit of CLA at times.
The main difference between these shutters is that the Copal has a gliding aperture scale and the Compur has not.

Peter

[Dan Fromm]

Hey, broke student, why don't you apply your skills and read the FAQs? Then if you don't understand or can't apply what's in them, come back and ask questions.

Cheers,

D.

[drew.saunders]

Can anyone comment on the lenses reliability. I get confused between copal and compur etc.

I want the shutter speeds to be accurate and for it to not need ALS

Any mechanical shutter will become inaccurate over time. I have a lens with a Copal 0 shutter that is only about 8 years old and the 1/500 speed is 1/2-stop slow, the 1/250 is 1/3 stop slow and the 1/125 is 1/4 stop slow. Fortunately, I also got a Calumet shutter tester years ago when they were still being sold new and it only cost me about $50-60, which is how I know how inaccurate all my shutters are. I just make cheat sheets and tape them to the lens board. If you can get the shutter tested, you'll know whether or not it needs a CLA. I recently bought a used lens in a silver ring Copal 1 shutter and all the speeds of 1/60 or faster are off by 1/3-stop to a whole stop (the 1/400 is really 1/200, the 1/250 is dead-on 1/125, etc.) Even the 1/15 is slow, but the 1/30 is correct. Anyway, my point is, that's on the border of being annoying enough to get it fixed. If I shot more slide film, I'd probably get it adjusted, but with B&W negative, I can forget to adjust for the speeds that are 1/3-stop slow or less without much penalty. Since I do a lot of medium-close-up work (not real macro), I have to adjust for the bellows often enough anyway that double-adjusting isn't so much work.

That lens that you're looking at has a silver-ring Copal (which just means it's older, not bad), so the top speeds are almost certainly off. If you don't expect to use speeds faster than 1/60th (and the seller says that the speeds seem good), don't worry, if you do, get it tested.

Attached is my 1000-word equivalent showing this lens (a Fuji 250/6.3) with both the bellows factor cheat sheet (the distances are film plane to lens-board-plane, and I need to re-do all of them based on back of rear-standard to front of front-standard, as that's easier to measure) and shutter speed cheat sheets.

Drew

[Mike V]

Hey, broke student, why don't you apply your skills and read the FAQs? Then if you don't understand or can't apply what's in them, come back and ask questions.

Cheers,

D.

My apologies, but I had to make a snap decision. I was traveling 45 miles to buy a camera and only found out an hour earlier that while I was there I could have this lens too for $xx.

Thankfully I knew that the nice people on lfp.info would help me out in my situation and they did. So thanks to those that responded, it is greatly appreciated.

I didnt buy the lens in the end, I am going to put the money towards a wider angle.:)

[Hany Aziz]

My apologies, but I had to make a snap decision. I was traveling 45 miles to buy a camera and only found out an hour earlier that while I was there I could have this lens too for $xx.

Thankfully I knew that the nice people on lfp.info would help me out in my situation and they did. So thanks to those that responded, it is greatly appreciated.

I didnt buy the lens in the end, I am going to put the money towards a wider angle.:)

I personally would have started with the normal lens then added a wide angle later, even if you intend to use it for landscapes. Formal architectural photography may in fact force use of a wide angle. I use my 135 mm and 210 lenses far more than my 90 mm and my 75 mm gets little use. I realize that different people "see" differently but a 150 mm lens is a fine point to start.

Sincerely,

Hany.

[Ernest Purdum]

Compur is a trademark of the Deckel co. in Germany. They are no longer making shutters, so any Compur is now rather old, but they were very well made. Copal is a Japanese company that is essentially the only maker of LF shutters left. The one pictured with the chromed outer ring is older than the current all black models.

Mechanical shutters are rarely really very accurate, but since one stop difference is doubling or having the next one, high accuracy is seldom a requirement. Consistency is more important, and having a technician tell you what your speeds actually are is useful.

Be careful in buying that 90mm. There are lots of them on the market that don't do much more than cover 4x5. For archectural work you need lots of excess coverage.

[eddie]

keep an eye out for a 90mm f8. get one in a copal 0 shutter....NOT The 00. the 00 model needs a locking cable release as it has not T function. yo should be able to get a 90mm f8 for about 200-300USD.

if you can hang in there long enough to get to the for sale section here that would be the best place IMO. LF forum is better than e bay for sure.

eddie