Urgent lens understandings needed

[Pfsor]

Of course one has to be aware that it is a long focal for the format, and wanting that, but I see no "limitation". There are entire books made with LF and long focals, I've one by Reinhart Wolff.

Pere, well, somehow the limitation of a 450mm lens used for architecture photography... well, perhaps it is its focal length that is the limitation, ehm... But of course, for the top of a pyramid, it could be the ideal lens...

[Pere Casals]

Pere, well, somehow the limitation of a 450mm lens used for architecture photography... well, perhaps it is its focal length that is the limitation, ehm... But of course, for the top of a pyramid, it could be the ideal lens...

Pfsor, this is Reinhart



Some books:

Castillos
New York





It is a urban legend that architecture is only for short focals. A work about architecture may contain 1/3 of the shots from long focals, of course this depends on the author and on the subject. For example Wolf works on castles have a good deal of long focal shots. Often a castle is on a mountain and has to be shot from the top of another mountain, so in that case, better having a kit of heavy ronars.

[Pfsor]

Sure, as I said - the tops of pyramids, the usual architecture photography. But I remain sceptic, somehow... Anyway, a humble Nikkor 450M would serve as well as the sharpest lens in the category, IMO. After all, at that distance, the atmospheric conditions can easilly eliminate any sharpness difference between those 2 lenses.

[Louis Pacilla]

Sure, as I said - the tops of pyramids, the usual architecture photography. But I remain sceptic, somehow... Anyway, a humble Nikkor 450M would serve as well as the sharpest lens in the category, IMO.

Agree. +1

[Pere Casals]

the atmospheric conditions can easilly eliminate any sharpness difference between those 2 lenses.

This is a limiting factor for distant shots, of course, there are special days for that.

But 480mm for 5x7 is only like a 115mm focal in 35mm roll film. Not that crazy long...

If you want to shot buildings with a DSLR you may find that many shots are 115mm of longer.

[David Lobato]

... I went looking for advice about the lens and got a bunch of negative opinions on it. ...

And you're still wondering if it's wise to mount it on a shutter? Look at the T Series Nikkors, there is a 500mm and an 800mm that I know of.

[Pfsor]

This is a limiting factor for distant shots, of course, there are special days for that.

But 480mm for 5x7 is only like a 115mm focal in 35mm roll film. Not that crazy long...

If you want to shot buildings with a DSLR you may find that many shots are 115mm of longer.

Oh no! In this case you cannot compare a 480mm lens as having the same atmospheric difficulties as a 115 lens in a smaller format. In this case the atmospheric problems are linked to the real FL, they don't diminish with the format of the film. If you take a small section of the film with a 480mm taking lens the format will not clean the space for itself because it is smaller. It is still the fruit of a 480 mm lens beast!

[swmcl]

All,

I purchased the Nikkor 480mm for $100 US as I recall. It had fungus and would've been painful to setup. The local camera repairers (Nikon rep in Brisbane) hadn't heard of such a thing and possibly had zero experience with large format lenses period ! I purchased a 300mm Nikkor 300mm f5.6 from a member here just a little while ago for $350. The cost at Grimes was to be $550. So for around $100US I get two lenses sharing the same shutter.

It is more expensive than just a 450mm for sure but it isn't all together a totally mad thing but I could stop the process now if it wasn't worth doing optically.

Yes I know the focal length is long. My longest lens is a 20" (just over 500mm). I think the camera can do about 600mm.

This is Australia. There is a lot of space here. Things of interest are a long way apart !!

[swmcl]

On the bay right now I see Apo Ronars in Copal shutter asking well over $1000 US. One is in an older silver Copal #3 - a 480mm f9 asking $1450. There is a black Copal #3 with 420 mm Ronar asking $1250.

If the optical performance is equivalent to an Apo Ronar then I am not being silly with money.

[Pere Casals]

This is Australia. There is a lot of space here. Things of interest are a long way apart !!

You are not joking, it isn't an small place !

I've been in Emerald (Queensland 4720). A foreigner in Quensland is soon or late asked "How big is your country?". You say how big it is and then somebody says "We have farms of this size..."

I had 7 flights to home: Emerald-Brisbane-Auckland-Santiago-BuenosAires-Paris-Madrid-Barcelona, because I had a 3 days job to be done in Chile.

It was very nice to be there, in AU I only saw Emerald, the Brisbane (regional and international) airports and the landscape from the plane, enough to realize what ample space is. I found very nice people there.

________________

The APO Nikkor 480 delivers a 410mm image circle at infinite focus.

A Nikon T 500 delivers 210mm (just covering 5x7), and T 600 delivers 310mm.

An advatage of the T is that it is multi-coated, with the APO prehaps you may want a front shade in some situations.

Beyond that, no doubt that the APO is optically sound as a taking lens !