Do you get sentimental about your lenses?

[Jim Andrada]

My favorite - a 305mm Repro Claron. Because I've made so many of ny best images with it in the 50+ years since I bought it new. Sentimental? Probably not, more like appreciative.

[John Layton]

Thinking further...the LF lens which I miss the most would be the Kern-built (Swiss) last edition of the 14" Goerz Blue-Dot Trigor, which I'd owned back in the 80's and 90's - originally pressed into service for the 11x14 format, but which also proved exemplary for 8x10, 5x7, and 4x5 formats.

[jnantz]

they have a lot of memories associated with them, I've been told it's ok to let everything go

[nitroplait]

For any lens I liked but have sold to fund something I expected I would like better, I have dearly regretted selling it!
That is regardless of whether the new lens was "better" or worse.

I have learned to accept that any lens I like, will cause me pain in the future, if I part with it.

My current philosophy is never to sell a lens I like - never!
So one can argue that I feel sentimental of all of those lenses that have produced results that I like.

Lenses represents the heart & soul of photography for me.

[Bernice Loui]

Sentimental, not quite the proper word, proper tool to meet a specific image goal/need would be a closer definition to this question.

Over the decades of doing this view camera sheet film stuff, been blessed with the privilege and resources of more than one camera dealer that allowed try before buy/own at no cost.. There was cost involved with film/processing/time and related resources spent trying out and testing SO many lenses. All this happened in the 80's to late 90's when many of the now highly market desirable lenses had nil value with nil market demand. Out the many, many lenses tried over the decades there were a number of keepers for their image personality.

~Kodak f4.5 Ektar series. Of these the 12" f4.5 is the fave..
~Kodak f6.3 Commercial EKtar, Remarkably consistent across the focal length range from 8 1/2" to 14" with majority in Barrel.
~Kodak Portrait Ektar, still have the 12" in barrel and shutter, the 16" is long gone after stopping 8x10 film.

Notable about the Kodak Ektars, they are remarkably consistent from sample to sample long as the optics have not been "tinkered" with. Likely cycled over 50 of these over the decades.. they were remarkably consistent.

Goerz APO artar, red dot or non red dot (coated) from 6" to 24" most are in barrel. These do vary depending on vintage and condition and what their previous life was like. The good ones are remarkable, the abused ones are Meh...

Goerz Dagor, LOTs of variations over the many decades they have been produced. Some are absolutely Meh, some are absolutely stellar_!_
The keepers are 8 1/2", 10 3/4", 12" (previously owned by Margaret Bourke-White). All three are in barrel. IMO, this lens has a unmistakable image personality..

~Notable, highly favor lens in barrel due to their round iris.. significant for in to out of focus rendition and one of the many reasons for using a Sinar shutter.

One lens that is not often used if at all is a 210mm Kowa Graphic previously owned by Morely Bear.. Yes, it small and covers 8x10 and makes a dandy 210mm lens for 8x10, yet it is not a fave.. but a keeper due to the previous owner.


And yes, do have a set of modern Plasmats 150mm to 300mm, very seldom used.


On to the wide angles..

Being the fortunate owner/user of the Schneider 110mm and 150mm Super Symmar XL. They were SO appealing back in the day when new. Images from the SSXL were contrast, crisp and snappy typical of the last generation of view camera lenses designed/produced during the late 90's-early 2000's before their production stopped. Over time and a whole lotta sheet film, their image results got effectively ... boring. Went back to a 115mm Grandagon N and 120 f8 multi coated Super Angulon.. these have IMO, better overall tonality and less "bite-poke" to their image personalty with equal image resolution. Still have both 110mm & 150mm SSXL, they have been sitting for about a decade now.. un-used.

There are SO many lenses in the pile, all of which have been culled out of far more sample/test/demo lenses over those decades. SO much has been invested to make up this set of lenses.. many of the very seldom used and duplicates have found new homes.. What remains is what is favored to this day. At some point when I'm no longer able to foist the Sinar Norma and do this LF stuff, all these lenses and more will need to find a new home to do what they do best.. if this view camera sheet film stuff is still around..

Kinda boils down to:

Normal to slightly longer than normal focal length:
~Tessar formula is the fave for taking apertures from f4.5 to f16.
~For taking apertures f16 and smaller, Dagor.

Longer than normal focal length and macro to life-size 1:1 and table top:
~APO process lens like APO artar, APO ronar, APO nikkor.. These simply work...GOOD.

Wide angle:
~Modern "biogon_ish" type Grandagon, Super Angulon, SW nikkor_SWD Fujinon..
are the perfered.

Sorta Focus aka Soft Focus lenses are in a topic all their own.


Sentimental, mostly no.. Tools and means to an end, mostly yes. These lenses demand proper care for them to have the ability to what they do best.. Oh, the camera is driven by the need of any specific lens and how it will be used to achieve a specific image goal.


Bernice

[Tin Can]

The corollary is never sell a BAD lens

I try real hard not to sell any lens especially crap

For any lens I liked but have sold to fund something I expected I would like better, I have dearly regretted selling it!
That is regardless of whether the new lens was "better" or worse.

I have learned to accept that any lens I like, will cause me pain in the future, if I part with it.

My current philosophy is never to sell a lens I like - never!
So one can argue that I feel sentimental of all of those lenses that have produced results that I like.

Lenses represents the heart & soul of photography for me.

[Joseph Kashi]

While I have the usual collection of modern MC Plasmats and Super-Angulon style lenses, I seem to have a particular attachment to my uncoated 145mm and 165mm Zeiss-made Protar Series VIIa lenses in small, still-accurate Compound shutters and to two 203/7.7 coated Ektars in various overhauled shutters. These are used mostly for 5x7 despite tight coverage.

All remain in active use in LF kits alongside the newer stuff because they're small and just as sharp as some of my best Plasmat-style lenses while boosting the shadow values in BW shots due to their mild and uniform internal veiling flare. Some decades ago, I did sell an uncoated 1920s-era Goerz American 120mm Dagor, the sale of which I regret to this day because of its excellent handling of color negative films.

I don't find the long focal length Protar VIIa and Dagor lenses to be as intrinsically useful. The several examples that I have in the 250-300mm range are bulky and don't seem quite as good optically. In this longer FL range, I much prefer my more modern optics.

[Ulophot]

A bit off-topic, or, perhaps just format, since I have only owned three LF lenses, in this order: 75 6.8 Super-Angulon, 210 6.3 Komura, 135 5.6 Nikkor 7-blade. I sold the first when no longer needed, and the Komura suits me just fine for portraits -- neither excessively sharp (I know, you landscape folks) or contrasty, but I'm not emotional about it.

The one lens memory that this thread prompts was my 180 2.8 Nikkor ED (35mm). After years of unhappiness with the light-gobbling Nikkor 200 f/4, which was about a stop slower at any aperture than the rest of my Nikkors (big issue for a photojournalist shooting in available darkness), getting a well-used but optically perfect 180 for a price I could afford was an absolute joy. What a delight to look through that tack-sharp, bright glass!

Ah, well, I sold my entire Nikon bundle years ago and kept my M4.

We now return you to our normal LF programming.

[John Layton]

All LF lenses should have effectively round irises throughout their aperture ranges...why don't they? If cost is the factor, then...heck - I'd pay extra for this!

[John Kasaian]

I don't recollect where I was at the time, but it was somewhere in the Sierra. My 14" Ektar somehow got coated with trail dust and I had no good way to clean it off so I carefully used what I had----Vodka. I heard that this is harmful to the coating.
I haven't noticed a difference, but I feel guilty for treating it like that, so now I pamper it every opportunity I get.