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Noah B
10-May-2011, 10:09
Hello all, I currently have a Schneider Symmar 240mm f/5.6 and am thinking of switching to the Fujinon A 240mm f/9. My reason for the switch is simply size and weight, I want to lighten my gear a little bit. How are the performance of the individual lenses compared? Thanks

Bob Salomon
10-May-2011, 10:35
Which Symmar?

Noah B
10-May-2011, 10:46
The Symmar-S

Peter De Smidt
10-May-2011, 10:48
The Fuji will have more coverage than any of the Symmars, and, as I'm sure you know, the ground glass will be a little darker. Both are high quality lenses, and I doubt you'd see much difference between prints made with both lenses of the same vintage. I would expect a contemporary Fuji to be a slightly better performer than a 30 year old Symmar.

Drew Wiley
10-May-2011, 11:21
I've got quite a bit of experience with both. The Fuji A easily wins in every category
I can think of except the slightly brighter max aperture of the Symmar, but this has
never been a problem. The Fuji is way sharper, outstanding close-up clear to infinity,
has higher contrast, and as you already know, way more portable. I'm not knocking
the Symmar - it's just that Fuji A's are really the cat's meow as far as I'm concerned.

Ken Lee
10-May-2011, 12:01
The A series in general, and the 240 A in particular, are top performers.

They also take smaller filters and are lighter and smaller than their f/5.6 Plasmat counterparts.

The 240A comes in a shutter with a 5-bladed aperture. Were it not for that, it would be perfect.

Drew Wiley
10-May-2011, 13:02
I use my 240A on both 4x5 and 8x10. But as Ken pointed out, it's in a modern shutter,
and with its small max aperture, isn't exactly the best choice for cute blurry bokeh or soft portraits. Fabulous for field or general commercial use, however.

Noah B
11-May-2011, 07:50
Is there any fall off on the edges when shot at f/9 on the 8x10?

Drew Wiley
11-May-2011, 08:28
Unless you're using the lens extended for closeup or macro use, and with very little
movement, it's not going to be usable at f/9 on 8x10 film. You need to be at a more
typical working apeture of f/32 to f/64 or there will be mechanical vignetting with significant movements. This is not the kind of lens one would choose for wide-open
shooting.

Noah B
11-May-2011, 10:05
How about with no movements?

Drew Wiley
11-May-2011, 10:16
There won't be anything resembling vignetting of the corners with the lens wide open
and no movements. There will be a slight amount of illumination falloff, even stopped
down. It's a lot less than typical wide-angle lenses, and not enough to warrant a center filter even for chrome film, but it exists. Performance at inifinity will probably
not be ideal at full wide aperture.

Gary Tarbert
12-May-2011, 04:00
Hello all, I currently have a Schneider Symmar 240mm f/5.6 and am thinking of switching to the Fujinon A 240mm f/9. My reason for the switch is simply size and weight, I want to lighten my gear a little bit. How are the performance of the individual lenses compared? Thanks
I have just made the same decision and gone with the 240A and sold my symmar S
All i can say is do it , You won't regret it ! the only downside is the darker image on GG but a good move for me . Cheers Gary

Noah B
12-May-2011, 08:39
There won't be anything resembling vignetting of the corners with the lens wide open
and no movements. There will be a slight amount of illumination falloff, even stopped
down. It's a lot less than typical wide-angle lenses, and not enough to warrant a center filter even for chrome film, but it exists. Performance at inifinity will probably
not be ideal at full wide aperture.

Is it any comparison to the fall off of the 210 g-claron lens on 8x10?

Gary - I think I'm going to make the move, looks like a good performer.