Widest Wide Angle

[1750Shooter]

Anybody know how to find out what the widest lens you can use on a 5x7 camera? I've got a Seneca with around 22" of extension is, but don't know how to find out if an 85mm wide will work. Thanks for any help.

[Ari]

Have a look here:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lenses/LF5x7in.html

Looks like the 72XL is the widest that will cover 5x7.

[Oren Grad]

First, the lens needs to be able to cover an image circle of about 210mm. Check that specification for the lenses you are considering.

Second, your bellows has to squeeze down enough to be able to focus the lens at infinity. Compress the bellows as tightly as you can, then measure the distance between where the lensboard sits and the ground glass. Then compare that against the "flange focal distance" or "optical register" specification for the lenses.

Finally, depending on the design of your camera, the bed or focusing rail(s) of your camera may get into the picture with ultrawide lenses and further limit what you can use.

FWIW, the widest modern lens I'm aware of that is specified to cover 5x7 is the Schneider 72mm Super-Angulon XL, which has an FFD of 82.2mm.

[cdholden]

Because I tend to use rise/fall in my landscape work, I use a 90mm Grandagon on my 5x7. The 72XL claims a 229mm image circle.

Also, see https://www.schneideroptics.com/pdfs/photo/LensCharts.pdf

[E. von Hoegh]

Anybody know how to find out what the widest lens you can use on a 5x7 camera? I've got a Seneca with around 22" of extension is, but don't know how to find out if an 85mm wide will work. Thanks for any help.

One of the Goerz Hypergons.