360mm Lenses for 8x10

[Tin Can]

At least 4 of us have bought a no name 360mm NOS barrel lens on eBay.

Yet none of us has posted any image.

I hope to shoot it soon.

No PM's please.

[sperdynamite]

I have both 12" and 14" Dagors. The 14" is the MC in black Compur, the latest one made which I bought new in 1988. When I photograph, I nearly always use the 12" Golden Dagor instead of the 14". If you insist on a 14" I'd get a Commercial Ektar NOT a modern plasmat! For portrait distances, you can always use a 14" Artar if you really need that length. L

Can the shutter on the commercial Ektar be repaired?

Also I shoot mostly color (patiently waiting for 8x10 E100). Would this lens do as well with Color as a Fuji 360/6.3?

[Thom Bennett]

I found a 360mm Commercial Congo to replace my 14" Commercial Ektar. Tessar design and in a "modern" Copal 3S shutter. Very nice lens. I think the Osaka Commercial was the same lens. Small and light compared to the plasmats.

[Mark Sawyer]

Do you have a favorite 360mm lens?

Oh, I have a dozen or more favorite 14-inch-ish lenses...

In modern lenses for portraiture, the Commercial Ektar is the favorite, for good reason. But there's an Ilex/Caltar version of the same thing, usually for less, and just as nice.

But when you go back to the "real" portrait lenses... there are reasons Wollensak recommended every studio with an 8x10 have a Velostigmat Series II, a Verito, and a Vitax, all in the same approximate focal lengths. And then there are the Cooke Portrait lenses... And the Imagons, and Kodak Portrait Lenses, and all the other achromatic doublets... Oh, and the Euryscops, and the...

[Alan9940]

Intrepid 8x10 MK2 list a weight of 2.5 Kg, Schneider 360mm f6.8 Symmar in Copal shutter list a weight of 1.6 kg.

What might be the consequences of this?


Bernice

Don't really understand the question here... The 360/6.8 Schneider Symmar-S is a MASSIVE lens with a front element the size of a small dinner plate! Some of my best images have been made with that lens, but it ain't easy to carry around along with everything else needed for 8x10.

[Alan9940]

Can the shutter on the commercial Ektar be repaired?

Also I shoot mostly color (patiently waiting for 8x10 E100). Would this lens do as well with Color as a Fuji 360/6.3?

If I'm not mistaken--been a long time since I've owned a Commercial Ektar--most of these lenses were mounted in Ilex shutters. Carol Flutot is a genius with these shutters. FWIW, back when I had a 14" Commercial Ektar I didn't find it as much to my liking as the 14" Plasmat I replaced it with. I will admit that the Ektar drew a particular kind of image that probably can't be duplicated, but... Btw, my work is all B&W.

[MAubrey]

Don't really understand the question here... The 360/6.8 Schneider Symmar-S is a MASSIVE lens with a front element the size of a small dinner plate! Some of my best images have been made with that lens, but it ain't easy to carry around along with everything else needed for 8x10.

The first time I saw a Symmar-S 360mm in person, I shocked to find that its was physically larger than my older Symmar 360mm f/5.6, despite being slower!

[neil poulsen]

For a long time, I had a 360mm Symmar lens. That thing was so large and heavy to carry; I finally sold it.

I currently have a 355mm G-Claron lens. Much lighter and smaller.

[Bob Salomon]

The first time I saw a Symmar-S 360mm in person, I shocked to find that its was physically larger than my older Symmar 360mm f/5.6, despite being slower!

Was it slower or was the opening in the shutter too small to allow 5.6?

[Drew Wiley]

The short answer is that you're going to get a significantly larger image circle in most cases using a 360 vs 300 of similar design, allowing greater movements. My favorite and most versatile is the Fuji 360 A; but these are now very hard to find. The 355 G-Claron is a more common similar design, but heavier due to the big no.3 shutter. My Kern 14" Dagor has a somewhat different personality; but these are "cult lenses" which tend to be quite overpriced these days. I have a couple other 360's too. As an aging backpacker, I wouldn't want a heavy 360/5.6 studio plasmat. The only 300 I use is a Nikkor M - it's a wonderful piece of glass for 4x5, but in 8x10 format it's limited to very conservative movements. A Fuji A 300 would be wonderful; but I prefer the narrow perspective of 360.