Lens questions from a new 4x5 shooter

[BennoLF]

Hey y'all,

I've been shooting digital for years, 35mm for a little while and I'm now moving into 4x5.
Most of what I do it landscape and portraiture(more environmental than studio).
I got my hands on a 4x5 camera but I don't have a lens yet.

Any recommendations? I'm thinking something in the 90-115mm range. Is this stupid? From what I've heard it's better to err on the side of too wide, as you can crop without losing too much detail(I'm not planning on doing any ginormous prints so some cropping won't be a huge IQ image for me)

Are there any mistake I need to avoid, lens specs I need to find before buying, etc? I'm looking at a Tominon 105mm f/4.5. It's not on the largeformatphotography.info list of 4x5 lenses, and I can't find much about it. Does anybody know anything about it? Specifically its coverage? I think with the landscape I do I'll probably be doing some view movements and I'd rather not be hampered too much by undercoverage. Also, is the fact that it only stops down to f/32 an issue? For a 90mm I would expect this to still have a very large dof but I don't know.

Sorry this is so much. I'm kind of overwhelmed by how much I don't know. Any help would be appreciated.

Benno

[Two23]

I would skip the Tominon. Go with lenses from these four manufacturers and you really can't go wrong" Fuji, Nikon, Rodenstock, Schneider. Caltar is OK too. I'd suggest anything from 90mm to 135mm for landscapes, and 210mm for portraits. I personally never stop down more than f22 as diffraction kicks in after that.


Kent in SD

[Alan9940]

I agree with Kent; stick to the major players in LF lenses. One of my favorite focal lengths for 4x5 landscapes is a 120mm (roughly equivalent to 35mm on 35mm film or ff digital.) IMO, something in the 210-240mm range would be nice for portraits. And, if you're going to drop, shoot MF and save yourself the trouble and expense of LF.

[Alan Gales]

To me a 90mm on 4x5 feels like my old 25mm Zeiss lens felt on my 35mm Contax camera. I own a 121mm and like Alan9940 says, feels like a 35mm lens. A 150-180 will feel close to a nifty fifty.

Long lenses get more difficult because of the lack of bellows draw on field cameras. A 210 lens is great for environmental portraiture. With some field cameras you can use a 240 or 250. I tried a 300mm on a Tachihara I had. With only 13" of bellows draw I could only close focus the 300 down to about 16' if I remember correctly.

[Pere Casals]

Hello,

I'm looking at a Tominon 105mm f/4.5.

It will illuminate the 4x5" negative but with lower quality in the corners, you can still make nice creative shots with it, and it will work better if stopped a couple of stops, but I'd not recommend this choice to start. Also 105mm may be a bit short for portraiture.

____

I'd take, instead, a fully featured LF lens to start, with a larger circle which would be good to learn movements. Most common/versatile "general usage" modern LF lenses are plasmats, in that category you have:

Rodenstock Sironar-N

Schneider Symmar-S

Nikon W

Fujinon CM-W

I'd take multi coated versions for the moment (some of the mentioned have early single coated versions that are not much seen but exist).


I'd start with a 135mm or (better) a 150mm, which are "normal" lenses for 4x5", for around $150

A key point is checking shutter speeds: https://kenrockwell.com/tech/exposure-large-format.htm


I'd start with a "normal" focal until you refine your own criterion to select a short focal for landscape. You may want a 65mm, a 90mm, both, or a 75mm intermediate focal substituting the 65 and the 90.

Buy cheap glass until you know what you want, in the future for short focal landscape you may find that you want a Biogon type derivative that may have lower fall-off and better performance in the corners, so the easiest descision for now is a conventional plasmat of normal focal, you can do a lot with that, and having a normal focal in a kit is mostly essential, IMHO, so I guess it's an easy decision.

[Tobias Key]

It's not always the case, but 105mm lenses are usually standard lenses for 6x9 so it's not really a LF lens. Tominons were often found on the front of polaroid cameras, I think (but I'm not completely sure). Far better to go for something more mainstream, you less likely to have issues and if you do, there are lots of people with the same lens who can help you.

[BennoLF]

This is all great, thanks!

Other questions: What do I look for in a shutter? Pere Casals mentioned checking speed but is there anything else? I'm assuming I won't need a shutter any faster than 1/200, is this true?

The math for optimal f-stops shows using more than f/32 for any show with more than 6mm of focus draw. Will I ever run into this?


Also......how the heck do you find the filter thread for LF lenses? Do you just have to bop around the internet until someone tells you? As far as I've found there's no indicator, so you just measure it?

[Pere Casals]

I'm assuming I won't need a shutter any faster than 1/200, is this true?

You can always use an slower film, that may be sharper...

Sunny 16 says that in full direct sunlight you expose ISO 400 at 1/400 at f/16, so you may have to shot at f/22 for 1/200s speed. Usually you always overexpose a bit say 1/2 stop as a safe factor (with negative film). Many times shutters having 1/400 speed don't reach that...

I'm assuming I won't need a shutter any faster than 1/200, is this true?

The math for optimal f-stops shows using more than f/32 for any show with more than 6mm of focus draw. Will I ever run into this?

The math for optimal f-stops shows using more than f/32

Many times best aperture in 4x5 lenses is around f/16, by f/22 diffraction starts damaging performance of a good lens, but also many times you have to stop f/22 or beyond to ensure DOF, first you may try to put subjects in focus by using tilt-swing movements, then you stop what necessary. Balancing movements vs dof vs diffraction can be complex for an optimal result, and this may require some learning.

Also......how the heck do you find the filter thread for LF lenses? Do you just have to bop around the internet until someone tells you? As far as I've found there's no indicator, so you just measure it?

Here there is a column with filter sizes: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...s/LF4x5in.html

See also datasheets or catalogs, for example here you have all Nikons: http://www.kennethleegallery.com/pdf...rmatLenses.pdf , in the section drawing of the lens you have the filter thread, also each lens has an entry in its data.

See also "Filter Size" for each lens here: https://static.bhphotovideo.com/Fram...rmatLenses.pdf

[Alan9940]

Other questions: What do I look for in a shutter? Pere Casals mentioned checking speed but is there anything else? I'm assuming I won't need a shutter any faster than 1/200, is this true?

The shutter is pretty much going to be dictated by what lens you buy; if just about any modern plasmat, it will be a Copal shutter. Older lenses, like Fujinon's, for example, have Seiko shutters. Many old Kodak lenses have Ilex shutters. There are many types/styles of shutters, but you don't really get a choice. Copal and Seiko shutters are very reliable and fairly accurate (shutter speed) over time. Older shutters, like the Ilex, will need a loving CLA over time and, even at that, the faster speeds will probably never reach the marked speed.

As for needing a speed above 1/200th, I've shot LF for 40 years and I've never even come close to 1/200th...and for the past 20 years I've shot outdoor scenes in the blazing sunshine of the desert southwest. Even Vermont snow scenes in full sunlight were shot on Tri-X 320 at about 1/60 @ f/22.

[Bob Salomon]

The shutter is pretty much going to be dictated by what lens you buy; if just about any modern plasmat, it will be a Copal shutter. Older lenses, like Fujinon's, for example, have Seiko shutters. Many old Kodak lenses have Ilex shutters. There are many types/styles of shutters, but you don't really get a choice. Copal and Seiko shutters are very reliable and fairly accurate (shutter speed) over time. Older shutters, like the Ilex, will need a loving CLA over time and, even at that, the faster speeds will probably never reach the marked speed.

As for needing a speed above 1/200th, I've shot LF for 40 years and I've never even come close to 1/200th...and for the past 20 years I've shot outdoor scenes in the blazing sunshine of the desert southwest. Even Vermont snow scenes in full sunlight were shot on Tri-X 320 at about 1/60 @ f/22.

Or, in Compur, Synchro Compur, Prontor, Prontor Professional, Compound and many other common shutters.