Hi all,

I will soon be starting a series of projects that will keep me busy for the next three or four years, so it makes sense for me to invest in the best possible lens for these projects.

The photos will be all black and white, on my Lotus 14x17, with a reproduction ratio between 1:1 (very few) and 3:1 (i.e., three time life size). I do have a 360mm apo-ronar CL in shutter, but my understanding is that the ronars are optimized for 1:1 reproduction; for higher reproduction ratios they do not perform as well. Same considerations apply to the apo-Germinar, apo-Nikkor, etc

I am therefore oriented to buying one of the “real” macro lenses for LF, i.e., Nikkor-AM, Macro-Sironar, Makro-Symmar HM. 210mm or 180mm. In terms of covering the format I believe they should be OK at 2:1 and above (not so for 1:1 but I do not foresee making a lot of photos at this reproduction ratio, I could use the ronar). My bellows goes to almost 1200mm, so I am ok as far as bellows extension is concerned. The appropriate (powerful) lighting should also be taken care of.

It would help me a lot to hear from someone who has gone through this already, i.e., practical experience as opposed to internet hearsay. Issues with shutter-induced vibration, maybe? Are the three macro lenses mentioned above performing well at 2:1, 3:1 .... 4:1? Considering that I will contact-print the negatives, is this search for high performance lenses an exercise in futility, and a good-old ronar is all I need?

Thanks!!!!!!


Cheers