4x5 Portrait lens recommendation with "classic" look and feel

[martiansea]

I second the recommendation for a Packard shutter. I've been using one almost exclusively for the past year, and I'm loving it. Opens up a whole world of cheap barrel lenses, many of which are outstanding quality.
How far back are you thinking when you say "Classic"? 1950's classic portrait looks very different than an 1880's classic portrait. I have an older Schneider Symmar S 210mm/f5,6 convertible that has a very classic 50's rendering look to me; which maybe some people think looks "modern," but maybe not to others. These Schneider Symmars are usually inexpensive. HERE IS ONE

[Rick L]

Packard is over 100 years old

and still in business

https://packardshutter.com/

and the current owner is a really great guy to deal with-

[maltfalc]

industar-51, or an 8" or 8.5" buhl projector lens. you'll have plenty of cash left over for the separate shutter you'll need.

[jnantz]

hi formanproject

you might look at old folding+box cameras and remove the shuttered lens or front plate. some have great old school lenses that can be used for portraits. my favorite lens for portraits is from a folding camera, probably cost 30bucks, used it for color and b/w, nothing I have ever used even comes close to what this lens did ..

good luck !
john

==. added later --

if you can do something to lengthen your exposure ( over expose on purpose, paper negatives, X-ray film, dry plate, ND filters whatever ) you will have more options. look for something like a rapid rectilinear or a convertible or tessar, or modified petzval, or an ilex seminat and figure out where the sweet spot is .. often times lenses might not be fast but if you can find the spot that the OOF area does what you want or obstruct your lens to disrupt the field of view you don't need fast .. like everything else, takes practice.

Hi there! I'm in the market for a new lens for my 4x5; I'm looking for something in the 210mm range with an aperture of f5.6 or wider.

Ideally, I'm looking for something that has less elements and more of that classic old fashioned look to it, with a rendering similar to the legendary Kodak Aero Ektar f2.8 lens (but not looking to spend more than 500ish, so unfortunately that lens is not in my radar). I see lots of options on eBay, but it's hard to differentiate between all of them since these lenses are rarely reviewed anymore. I also would need a copal shutter since I'm using an intrepid 4x5 camera.

Does anyone have any recommendations? What have been some of your favorite portrait lenses for 4x5 with a less modern and more classic rendering?

Thank you!

[jim_jm]

OP - not sure why you need to have a Copal shutter, as most any lens with a Copal or Compur shutter, or many older shutters like Seiko, Kodak or Ilex should also work with your camera.
One standout lens for me is the Ektar 203/7.7, which is small and light. It's reasonably sharp and well-corrected (4 elements) but single-coated so it has a bit lower contrast than many modern lenses. Maybe not as fast as you're looking for, but still reasonable. Image circle is also fairly generous, enough to cover 5x7.
Have you seen this page linked to the LFF home page? Lots of good recommendations and the info about the 203 Ektar is about 2/3 of the way down the page.

[jp]

You might also look for some Fujinar SC lenses. Often they have a copal3s or shannel shutter. They are good tessar lenses with plenty of iris blades.

[mdarnton]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/michae...n/26769483286/

You might also find the thread linked in my Flickr post interesting.

[martiansea]

I also second the recommendation of salvaging a lens from an old folding camera. I have an ancient-looking Cooke with Compound shutter that came from some old Kodak camera. It definitely brings the old-timey vibes and I got some nice keepers with it. Look for some trashed out old folding Kodaks for cheap. Go to ebay, type in "Kodak folding camera as-is" and pick up a funky old lens for $30! Whatever you get, it will likely cover 4x5, and if it doesn't, it will give you some attractive portrait vignetting anyway.

[Exploring Large Format]

Air bulb or long cable release is a must for portrait images as this allows that important interaction with the portrait sitter. This often under appreciated aspect of portrait image making can make all the difference in the portrait sitter's expression frozen on the still image.



Bernice[/QUOTE]

I really like my Fujinars with the Sinar shutter. Any recommendations on getting/making a longer cable release for the Sinar shutter? Agree on the connection to the sitter.

Sent from my SM-G981V using Tapatalk

[FotoD]

Gebr. Schreck Feinmechanik GmbH & Co will make you a Sinar style cable release if you email them. They have standard lengths up to 100cm and can probably make any length you need.

https://www.drahtauslöser.com/SITE/index.html