180mm for Portraiture

[drew.saunders]

Thanks, Peter and xkaes. Again, both comments were very helpful. I think I'll look for a Xenar in the right board in that case.

@drew, were those photos above taken with the 180mm Schneider that reads "tele-xenar"? I'm not sure if there's a lens that omits the "tele" or not, but just want to make sure I'm understanding which exact lens you used.

Plain Xenar (Tessar clone), not a telephoto design. Look for a 180 f/4.5. The more common tele-xenar is a f/5.5

Here’s some photos of one: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...-55-1871646602

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Kevin Crisp]

You might consider the Fujinon 180mm SF lens. They are inexpensive -- make sure you get one with one of the diffusion discs. There's a red disc and yellow disc. Stopped down they are plenty sharp, at different apertures there is a wide range of diffusion.

[Peter De Smidt]

You might consider the Fujinon 180mm SF lens. They are inexpensive -- make sure you get one with one of the diffusion discs. There's a red disc and yellow disc. Stopped down they are plenty sharp, at different apertures there is a wide range of diffusion.

That's one of the few lenses that I really dislike, and my Ebay moniker is 'fujinon'. It's not sharp, and it's not really soft.

[xkaes]

It's not sharp, and it's not really soft.

Sounds like the perfect portrait lens!

[Dugan]

I had a Fujinon SF...didn't like it.
The out-of-focus highlights had the strainer pattern.
Very strange looking.

[Peter De Smidt]

Sounds like the perfect portrait lens!

Not for me.

The out-of-focus highlights had the strainer pattern.

Only if you use the strainer disk, which you don't have to do.

[mdarnton]

Yeah. Gutted my SF to make something better. Most unspecial lens ever, IMO:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/michae...in/dateposted/

[Jody_S]

Classic portrait lenses for 4x5, readily available in decent if antique shutters:

Wollensak Velostigmat Ser II 7-1/2"
Kodak Commercial Ektar 8-1/4"
I have both sitting on a shelf upstairs, I never use them. I always go for the 210 uncoated Xenar.

The uncoated Xenars you'll find will be in older dial-set Compur shutters with a pneumatic mechanism for the slow speeds, they're more finicky, but if you get it running right it will run dependably for another 100 years. The newer coated Xenars tend to be much more expensive, but you can find one in a modern Copal shutter from time to time. You might be able to find an equivalent coated Fujinar 210 in Shanel 5S shutter for less than the modern Xenar. Don't forget the Congo tessar, if you're looking for a modern coated lens.

Also surprised no one has suggested a Heliar? Classic portrait lens. Apparently the Emperor of Japan liked Heliars so much he would not allow himself to be photographed with anything else. So there are now a number of 1930s Heliars coming out of Japan.

[Bob Salomon]

Classic portrait lenses for 4x5, readily available in decent if antique shutters:

Wollensak Velostigmat Ser II 7-1/2"
Kodak Commercial Ektar 8-1/4"
I have both sitting on a shelf upstairs, I never use them. I always go for the 210 uncoated Xenar.

The uncoated Xenars you'll find will be in older dial-set Compur shutters with a pneumatic mechanism for the slow speeds, they're more finicky, but if you get it running right it will run dependably for another 100 years. The newer coated Xenars tend to be much more expensive, but you can find one in a modern Copal shutter from time to time. You might be able to find an equivalent coated Fujinar 210 in Shanel 5S shutter for less than the modern Xenar. Don't forget the Congo tessar, if you're looking for a modern coated lens.

Also surprised no one has suggested a Heliar? Classic portrait lens. Apparently the Emperor of Japan liked Heliars so much he would not allow himself to be photographed with anything else. So there are now a number of 1930s Heliars coming out of Japan.

Or, the Imagon

[Peter De Smidt]

All great lenses.....except for the Fujinon SF.....but are some of these good for someone starting out? I have a couple of Imagons, for example, and they're great, but they're much harder to use than a regular lens.