PDA

View Full Version : Superwide 8x10 on a budget...



ic-racer
10-Jun-2010, 15:44
I was actually looking for a lencap at KEH and the shipping was so high I was looking for something to add to the order.

A SW 125mm Fujinon caught my attention. A little research showed that the lens does not really cover 8x10 but it comes very close. It looked very clean with a black-rimmed shutter and the price was right. It was graded Bargain, so I figured I'd need to fix it up a little.

When it came, the shutter turned out to be in excellent shape with very little sign of use and locking ring on the front was not buggered, so it looked like no one had poked around in there.

The lens elements had issues. There was a haze between the front cell's elements. The rear cell was fine.

I was actually able to get a picture of the haze as seen below:

ic-racer
10-Jun-2010, 15:48
I was pretty happy that over 90% of that haze came off with a gentle cleaning.

ic-racer
10-Jun-2010, 15:52
The caps needed some cleaning.
A little acetone cleaned them up nice.

ic-racer
10-Jun-2010, 15:53
All cleaned up, ready for mounting

ic-racer
10-Jun-2010, 15:56
It focuses fine on the Shen Hao FLH810 when the rear standard is brought forward. At infinity the 4 corners just go dark. Just what I had expected. I shot 4 sheets, I'll process them tonight....

Steve Goldstein
11-Jun-2010, 04:05
If you don't mind telling, what did you pay for this?

ic-racer
11-Jun-2010, 07:26
If you don't mind telling, what did you pay for this?

It was $250. If not for the haze, i'd rate it at LN- to EX++ as it has minor signs of use.

Below is the 1997 Brochure showing the lens. In this case the official coverage is listed as 280 and there is an extra 10mm of light around that. So, this is a modern, well corrected, EBC lens. Likely to be sharper and have more contrast than a vintage Wollensak Raptar, but I don't have one to compare (yet :) ).

ic-racer
11-Jun-2010, 07:40
The following is some speculation based on my research:

As is usually the case, it looks like there was an older 125/8 that came in a silver-ringed Copal-0. The lens may not be EBC coated and may have the writing on the inside of the lens ring.

That earlier lens is listed as 290mm (vs 290 for the more modern one) coverage. If I was actually seeking one of these lenses, I'd look for that earlier one. The price list below is one of the few references to that earlier lens. Its coverage is listed as "8x10" and I suspect that, like my lens, you would get an additional 10mm around the edges, so that one would just come to the edges of the frame (whereas the later lens clips the corners slightly). Though this probably would only matter if you were doing contact printing. When I print 8x10, I don't include the rebate, so cropping the edges is no problem.

(Below Calumet Catalog 1986 showing a listing for what likely is a 125/8 with likely writing on the inside front of the lens and a silver-ringed Copal shutter)

ic-racer
11-Jun-2010, 08:43
This is the camera configuration used to focus at infinity. (This is a FLC 810, not FLH as I mistakenly wrote earlier)
The camera will even focus a shorter lens (but I don't know what the minimum is).

ic-racer
11-Jun-2010, 08:46
This is the only print I have done so far. It is not the best at showing the edges but this is cropped slightly to eliminate any vignetting. I did it with no dodging or burning to see what the cosine-falloff would be like with no center filter.

ic-racer
11-Jun-2010, 11:55
This delay with the posts and problems editing is annoying. I'm going to have a CORRECTION LIST for the above posts. The following were corrected, but the corrections have disappeared somehow.

Post #5 should read "Shen Hao FLC810"
Post #7 should read "It was $245"
Post #7 should read "Wollensak Radar"

JimL
11-Jun-2010, 14:38
I've found the Grandagon-N 115/6.8, which has a rated image circle of 291mm @ f22, also works well as an 8x10 super wide. The attached pic was shot with no movements, probably at f45 . You can see a bit of darkening in the top left but not on the right, so maybe the lens and film were not perfectly centered. The falloff is not too bad either. Mine is a Caltar II-N version which I paid about $300 for.

ic-racer
12-Jun-2010, 06:44
I've found the Grandagon-N 115/6.8, which has a rated image circle of 291mm @ f22, also works well as an 8x10 super wide. The attached pic was shot with no movements, probably at f45 . You can see a bit of darkening in the top left but not on the right, so maybe the lens and film were not perfectly centered. The falloff is not too bad either. Mine is a Caltar II-N version which I paid about $300 for.

Looks good! I was not familiar with that lens until you pointed it out.