Best lens for shooting into the sun?

[James Morris]

I use a 305 G-Claron for 8x10. It's a great lens, although it doesn't seem to handle having the sun in the frame without distracting amounts of flare. I've seen LF photos with the sun in the frame and also not having any unusual / unexpected flare, so I wonder if there are lenses which are known for being good at this.

Does anyone know, for example, if a regular plasmat would handle this better, and if so, would it be worthwhile looking at say the apo-sironar-s due to the ED glass.

[vinny]

My 135 sironar-s handles it better than my symmar-s, g claron, or my fujinons. The coatings make the difference.

[Arne Croell]

I use a 305 G-Claron for 8x10. It's a great lens, although it doesn't seem to handle having the sun in the frame without distracting amounts of flare. I've seen LF photos with the sun in the frame and also not having any unusual / unexpected flare, so I wonder if there are lenses which are known for being good at this.

Does anyone know, for example, if a regular plasmat would handle this better, and if so, would it be worthwhile looking at say the apo-sironar-s due to the ED glass.

G-Clarons are only single coated, so its not a big surprise to get some flare in such an extreme situation. The glass type should not make a difference, but multicoating should. All recent (after 1980 or so) regular Plasmat lenses are MC, although there might still be differences between early and later versions. If that is not good enough, a reduction of air-glass surfaces in addition to the multicoating might be helpful. This would include the Nikkor M series (MC, Tessar types, 6 air glass surfaces instead of 8 for a Plasmat or a dialyte) or the last MC version of the 355mm Schneider Gold Dot Dagor (4 surfaces).

[jp]

My single coated tessar (I think) on my rb super d does quite well. My rolleiflex with tessar does well too.

rb-super-d photo here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137596...57632415184077

Not too many elements is good. Round iris is good. Copal 1 for a 305 g-claron does not have round blades. A copal 0 is likely to make a starburst of the sun due to the blades.

If you can get the sun into the edge of a cloud or at a low angle so it's less intense your chances are better.

[James Morris]

rb-super-d photo here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137596...57632415184077

Thanks -- that example is exactly what I'm looking for. I guess a Xenar would be similar in capability.

[Old-N-Feeble]

I don't know if they'll behave the same as jp's example image but the Nikkor-M series are Tessar formula if that's what you want and they're modern multicoated versions. The old Kodak Commercial Ektars are single coated Tessar design so they might render the sun as you want and the old Ilex shutters have nice round apertures.

[James Morris]

Thanks all, looks like I have a lot of options to try.