30cm Heliar on 4x5

[Smitty]

Hi All,
30 cm 4.5 Heliar coverage? Will not cover 8x10? Seems as though it would be a rather large lens on 4x5/5x7?
Smitty

[mdarnton]

It's a big, heavy lens, yes and easily covers 8x10 for the normal work that it would be used for. And usually won't come with a shutter. On a light 4x5, it may be too much for the front standard. I had one on a 4x5 Graflex SLR, and it was quite a load. I guess the question would be what are you going to use it on and for? On a heavy camera, with a Packard shutter, in the studio it's a great thing. On a light camera, with no shutter, out in the wild...... maybe not. Also, most, not all, of the ones you will find will be pretty old and uncoated.

What are you thinking about doing?

[Dan Fromm]

Hmm. It could be in a Compound #5. See https://web.archive.org/web/20190404...tlander_2.html

Recommended for whole plate, not 8x10.

[mdarnton]

Whoops, Dan's right--it's a whole plate lens, officially.

[Hugo Zhang]

Superb lens for 4x5 head and shoulder shots if your 4x5 camera has a big and sturdy front standard. Covers 8x10 with no movement.

[Smitty]

I had hoped on using it for portraiture on a 45/5x7 Dorff , I am quite sure that it would fit my 8x10...if it will cover. According to the specs. I am reading it is a little bit more than 5x7. Rugged front standard camera..Kodak or Burke & James?

[mdarnton]

Or Ansco. 5x7 Ansco is tough.

300mm is my fave portrait length on 5x7.

[Smitty]

Thinking 5x7 reducing back on my 8x10

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I have a standoff board that allows a 30cm Heliar in shutter to be used with a 5x7 Canham, but its weight overwhelms the camera. It works great on an 8x10 Deardorff with a 5x7 reducing back.

[Pere Casals]

Hi All,
30 cm 4.5 Heliar coverage? Will not cover 8x10? Seems as though it would be a rather large lens on 4x5/5x7?
Smitty

You may use the Heliar 30cm beyond it's nominal format, specially for portraiture, you have many examples in flickr: https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=...%2030cm%208x10

For portraiture if corners are not sharp this may be irrelevant, as probably they will be out of focus anyway.

The 30cm version may be a bit long for 4x5" portraiture, but this depends on the kind of portraits you want.

Yousuf Karsh made most of his 8x10" career with a commercial Ektar 14" which is a 360mm, so a 180mm would frame like it for 4x5, but here YMMV.

For 4x5 and 5x7 you may try an Heliar 210mm, which has a fraction of the cost.

A principal reason to get an Heliar is softness nature in the out of focus areas, but a Xenar will be close for that, you may review this article: https://www.largeformatphotography.i...rtrait-lenses/

A xenar 210 can be had for $200 in shutter, just mentioning similar cheap alternatives in shutter.