Fujinon made a 1200mm (47") lens, but you'll never find one.
My Artar is only 19". Should I be embarrassed?
wow OK 1800mm/70 inch lens...that is something that might take a lifetime to find. I will keep looking for lens that work. I plan on starting the major part of the project when I am about 58. I am 53 now. I cannot wait too long as I will not be able to handle the gear when I get too old. My father was moving fridges up stairs by himself at 73, hope I have this stamina and strength at that age. Thanks for your help.
Gerry
www.gerryyaum.blogspot.com
Generally speaking, most process lenses have a 43-46 degree angle of view. As I recall the formula, simplistically that means your image circle for infinity will be about 85% of the focal length. Thus, for your approx. 49" diagonal, you "should" have a lens about 58". There are a few 60" lenses out there, Rodenstock made a 70" and there are 72" RD Artars. All are amazingly scarce. On the other hand, My experience with long process lenses is stopped down to f32 or f45, their image circle equals their focal length. Things may not be perfect at the fringes, but for wet plate or contact work, I doubt you'll notice.
You may want to ask Luther Gurlach for his input; for this size wet plate, I'd venture he is the most knowledgable.
BTW, why do you want to mount this in an Ilex 5 for wet plate? Having done it a bit, your exposures will be in seconds (many seconds I suspect for this format). The right lens caps will be just as appropriate. And the going price for an Ilex 5 you want to buy is about $300 plus another $100 for an overhaul. Figure another $100 for the proper flange, if missing, and mounting your board.
Good luck!
Mike
“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”
Gerry, every couple of months a person whose dream is making gigantic negatives with, naturally, a gigantic camera posts a request for information about lenses with gigantic coverage here. The answer is always the same. There aren't many, they're uncommon and hard to find and are usually quite expensive. Depending on how gigantic the dream is, the dream lens may not even exist.
Many of the dreamers want to shoot life-size or near life-size portraits as has been done by, e.g., Richard Learoyd. They find lenses that will do relatively easily because image circles get larger as magnification increases. Learoyd, for example, uses, if I recall correctly, a 760 Apo-Ronar.
Some of the dreamers, like you, want to shoot landscapes. They all run into unpleasant facts. Rodenstock claims that Apo-Ronars with focal lengths 890 mm and longer cover 40 degrees. Boyer and Nikon claim less coverage for their equivalent lenses.
If I were you I'd beg, borrow or steal the use of a camera at least as large as the 35" x 35" monster you've ordered and shoot a couple of paper negatives of landscape with the 42" Apo Artar. Then you'll know whether that lens can do what you need. I don't think it will, but I've been wrong before.
I suggest doing the experiment because you know what you want to accomplish and what image quality you'll settle for. All the rest of us can do is speculate and repeat manufacturers' claims that may not be correct or relevant.
Nikon made two APO designs, one 1800mm, the other 1780mm, f14 and won't fit in an ILEX #5 shutter, at these apertures, no need for fast speeds. A large Packard shutter or a lens cap will work for slow emulsions like wet plate or paper negatives/positives.
Rodenstock had the 1800mm f16 Ronar.
Goerz had the 1780mm RDA, f16.
I've see on average one of these each year for sale since I acquired the Goerz. No different for the 1200mm or the 47" versions which won't cover 35x35" at infinity. (1:1 portraits do work though.)
And as you can surmise from the posts, be prepared to break the piggy bank.
Good luck,
Rudi A.
Attachment 165521Well 35 x 35 is out of my league to be sure so I'll defer to those who have already chimed in as Dan and others have consistently been excellent sources of information on the technical aspects and capabilities of various lenses. I don't think we are appreciative enough of their expertise and what valuable resources they have become for our community here. I tend to have far fewer post as I usually only contribute to my immediate level of experience. I shoot 20 x 24 Ambrotypes and film negatives for Pt/Pd and have various lenses that fit those needs. The suggestion I have since this is a five year out/retirement project is to start to envision the project through the available syntax of the gear instead of trying to find the gear for the syntax of your vision. So for example for life size portrait headshot you could be using a 355 G-Claron on my 20 x 24 and even get bigger than life size head shots, which of course also reduces your bellows extension necessary for such portraiture. For my portraiture on the 20 x 24 I use a 22 inch 550 Schneider Fine Art Lens, which allows for beautiful portraits all the way from full body to bigger than life size shoulder/head shots. It is also a fantastically sharp semi-wide landscape lens in that format. For a tighter look in landscapes I use 1000 mm Germinar (sp?) that is very sharp. For my wet plate work in that format I use a 30 inch Dallmeyer RR, and a 37 inch Dallmeyer 8D which took me 5 years to find. Since you are having the camera made have inserts made for your wet plate holders that will take smaller plates that fit the various lens capabilities and then fit it to our vision as you traverse the Canadian countryside. If you are shooting film too then have a reducing back made for 20 x 24 then buy Ilford film in their annual run and you can shoot film too. I had both a 20 x 24 back and 16 x 20 back made for my Ebony and I don't regret it all as both get used frequently. You have an incredible vision in front of you don't have it limited by gear. Let the gear be there in all its mulititude to give you choices at each stop.
Here are a few shots with the above mentioned lenses as well as a picture of my daughter holding the 8D
haha....got one of those too....cute lens...
http://gerryyaum.blogspot.ca/2017/04...artar-red.html
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