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Thread: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

  1. #31
    Mike in NY's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Oren Grad View Post
    Mike, if you're looking at process lenses, the 150 mm Computar will also easily cover 5x7 in close work. I use mine, stopped way down, as a wide for non-close work with whole plate.
    Thank you Oren. Although the decorative objects I'll be photographing are relatively flat (thereby reducing DOF problems), I'll still be so close that I may need a lens that can be stopped down to maximize DOF.
    I dream in black and white.

  2. #32
    Mike in NY's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by B.S.Kumar View Post
    Does your camera have rear focusing?
    Yes, it does.

    Quote Originally Posted by B.S.Kumar View Post
    I assume you are going to photograph the object like a typical product shot from a top angle.
    No, I'm not. These will be frontal shots of relatively flat, metal objects, so DOF is not a significant issue, especially if the lens can be stopped down.

    Quote Originally Posted by B.S.Kumar View Post
    If you have a sliding plate (like a macro rail) between the camera and the tripod, you can move the entire camera back and forth, rather than trying to move the tripod an inch at a time.
    Since these will be frontal shots with the objects positioned on my 4'x8' table top, I'll just move them an inch at a time, instead of the tripod.

    Thanks for thinking to ask these things, though.
    I dream in black and white.

  3. #33
    Mike in NY's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Lo and behold, I think I may have solved my own problem. By way of background, last October my father-in-law passed away, and I inherited his large camera collection. It consists mostly of MF cameras, but also some LF units as well. When I brought them home last fall, I stacked them on shelves in one of my storage rooms, with the goal of eventually taking a closer look at them (I've already put the Hasselblad to good use). So this evening it occurred to me that the press cameras in the collection probably had focal lengths in the neighborhood that we've been discussing on this thread, so I opened a few of them up to see what lenses were on them. The Speed Graphic had this Graflex Optar 135mm f/4.7 mounted in a Graphex/Wollensak shutter, with an aperture range going to f/32. Its lens board is obviously much smaller than the 4.5" boards used on my 5x7 camera, but I propped it up on my camera opening and taped it into place to see if I could fill most of the ground glass with a soft drink can. The lens did the job beautifully, from approximately 8 inches away, so I think this little fellow will fit the bill after I make a proper lens board for it. Many thanks to my father-in-law, RIP.

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    I dream in black and white.

  4. #34
    Jim Jones's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Some of the better folding Kodaks from the 1920s up were fitted with f/7.7 Kodak Anastigmats in various focal lengths (to later become the Kodak Ektar f/7.7 203mm.). These were four element four group symmetrical lenses touted as performing well at macro distances. Perhaps one with an appropriate focal length could be salvaged from one of these old folders.

  5. #35

    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Jones View Post
    Some of the better folding Kodaks from the 1920s up were fitted with f/7.7 Kodak Anastigmats in various focal lengths (to later become the Kodak Ektar f/7.7 203mm.). These were four element four group symmetrical lenses touted as performing well at macro distances. Perhaps one with an appropriate focal length could be salvaged from one of these old folders.
    I have two of the post-WWII 203 7.7 Ektars, one made in the US and one made in the UK. Both are excellent lenses at a very appealing price in shutter and both are factory-coated. However, as Dialyte-style lenses, the uncoated pre-WWII "Anastigmat" versions have 8 uncoated air-glass surfaces, are prone to flare, and not-well-suited to color work.

    The OP mentioned that his bellows draw has a practical limit of 14" and that he wanted to do on-film 1:1 macro work. A 203mm/8 inch lens can 't quite get to 1:1 with 14 inches of bellows draw. A later Plasmat-style 150mm G-Claron can do so easily with 12" of bellows extension. A 180mm Fujinon A will just get to 1: on film with 14".

    Now, if the OP were willing to crop and enlarge a bit, then a coated post-WWII 203 Ektar would do very nicely and inexpensively indeed. It covers 5x7 at infinity, although barely, and by design also works well at infinity.

  6. #36
    Mike in NY's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Joseph Kashi View Post
    Now, if the OP were willing to crop and enlarge a bit, then a coated post-WWII 203 Ektar would do very nicely and inexpensively indeed.
    That's going to be a bit difficult with a tintype, LOL.
    I dream in black and white.

  7. #37

    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike in NY View Post
    That's going to be a bit difficult with a tintype, LOL.
    No question about not cropping and enlarging for a tintype. Missed that point earlier in the thread.

  8. #38
    Mike in NY's Avatar
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    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Joseph Kashi View Post
    No question about not cropping and enlarging for a tintype. Missed that point earlier in the thread.
    Let's see, where did I put my tin snips... I know they're around here somewhere.
    I dream in black and white.

  9. #39
    Do or do not. There is no try.
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    Re: Looking for 5x7 macro lens recommendation

    Quote Originally Posted by Mike in NY View Post
    Let's see, where did I put my tin snips... I know they're around here somewhere.
    Look for your plate-stretchers while you're at it

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