I too have the 16/18 Graf variable and it isn't the largest size. The largest is over 8lbs! The catelogue/guide to use in cameraeccentric unusually gives the weight for all sizes!
When talking about lens bulk and useability on camera types, it is important to bear in mind that the torque applied to the mounting point on the camera (Weight x the distance from th center of gravity to the mount) is generally more important that the actual measured weight..
So a long Petzval like Emil's will do more damage than an anastigmat design of the same weight!
I posted an image of 3 of my largest here, in '14. Still haven't mounted any on a camera, though I do now have an 8x10 studio camera that could hold any of these. The big one in the back is a modified Petzval design coated Sony 300mm f2 projection lens. The largest lens designed for a large format camera that I own and actually use is a 14-1/2" Verito. The largest lens full stop that I own is a Canon FD 800/5.6.
I know the owner of the one of a kind Cooke 27 inch soft focus lens that he sold some time ago. As I recall it was about twelve inches tall and eight inches or more in diameter and it weight 45 lbs!
That's getting on for the Dallmeyer lens in the photo on this page. A 'hundred weight' (cwt) was 112 lbs in the UK
A pdf'd article (linked on that page) from the Amateur Photographer magazine describes an experiment to see 'what stereoscopic effect was obtained by reason of the large glass diameter'.
Ah but that's an entire camera. So is this.
I was intrigued by The Boston Camera though, and had a look at Wikipedia. They said it could photograph a golf ball from an altitude of 45,000 feet... Pah, that's nothing, I could do that. You wouldn't be able to see the golf ball but I could do it
Below photo: Chamonix 045n 4x5 field camera, c.1862 Voigtlander Petzval FL=12 in., Annie the Cat. I'm trying to figure out how to mount the lens to the camera after the inspection is finished. (I think I need a bigger lens board.)
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
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