Which 360mm lens has the largest image circle

[ridax]

I got the long end cover. The shorter end I have is 450mm nikkor and 600c fuji

A 450mm lens covering 800mm is 83°, and a 600mm lens is just 67°. With that reasonable angles, you have far more choices then the two lenses mentioned above. If those angles are acceptable, I'd choose between the most desired pictorial qualities (such as the out of focus rendition) and the availability/price of the glass.

Protar IIIa 407mm f/9
Dagor 420mm f/7.7
Dagor 480mm f/7.7
Protar IIIa 505mm f/9
etc....

[Jody_S]

If money is no object, I'll wager Harrison made a 14" Globe lens.

[Mark Sawyer]

If money is no object, I'll wager Harrison made a 14" Globe lens.

The largest Globe lens was the 16-inch, rated by Harrison & Schnitzer at 19x23. (The historic Mammoth Plate size is 18x22.) According to Dan Colucci, 4 or 5 are known to still exist.

[Hugo Zhang]

Many times there are big differences among claims of coverage of the same lens between lens makers.

For example, Zeiss claimed that their 39cm Protar f/18 lens covered 12x15 in 1929 while Bausch & Lomb claimed the same lens covered 22x27 in 1919. All at small stops. Which one do you believe? Same lens.

[Mark Sampson]

I was referring to alphaxbetax.com- owned and operated by forum member Whir-Click. An invaluable resource on Wollensak lenses and products.

[Bernice Loui]

Marketing, zero differnce being done to this day. Much about foisting what folks want to hear instead of what the reality, truth and un-bendable ways of Nature.

Yet, few if any of these hundred plus young lens ads tell much about actual lens performance other than "recommended" plate/sheet film size. It is much about user/buyer be-aware...

~Then there is the overly desirable market brand.. Zeiss, which neither plus or minus depending on the speciic item..

Whopping lens image circle is as desierable today for some sheet film folks as it was over one centruy ago. Not a lot if anything has changed since then due to the innate needs of big sheet film. There was a time when ULF was not even on the Foto-dar, today due to the rise of digital, alternative image making process (contact printing and such) and foto hobby in general, the surge in ULF has become a "thing".. These lenses once forgotten or ignored have now become sought after desierable by the very few..


Bernice

Many times there are big differences among claims of coverage of the same lens between lens makers.

For example, Zeiss claimed that their 39cm Protar f/18 lens covered 12x15 in 1929 while Bausch & Lomb claimed the same lens covered 22x27 in 1919. All at small stops. Which one do you believe? Same lens.

[Bernice Loui]

Very real reasons why there were many 400+mm process lenses made, there was a time in foto film history when BIG process cameras were extremely common. These process cameras exposed BIG sheets of film by the millions per year as they were in intergral part of the printing process back in the day. At some point, Semiconductor mask making via process camera became a thing. During these connected beginnings semiconductor fab mask were created by artistic hands in Whopper sized sheets (8 feet x 10 feet was common) of rubylith or similar which was shrunken down via BIG process camera. Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) were created in a similar way using specialized tape and shapes as needed. With the passage of time and changes in technology, this method of semiconductor mask making and PCB making died.

It is also why these APO process lenses offered Uber optical performance in too many ways. Many of these optical performance aspects of APO process lenses were and remain today not fully appreciated by foto folks. Sure seems what so many LF sheet film foto folks seek and highly desier to this day is BIG image circle for a given focal lenght with all other optical parameters secondary.

~Does a Tessar design/formula lens really have the ability to produce a optically proper image circle of greater than 60 degrees? This is defined as near equal optical performace from center to edges of the image circle, no exceptions.

Bernice

A 450mm lens covering 800mm is 83°, and a 600mm lens is just 53°. With that reasonable angles, you have far more choices then the two lenses mentioned above. If those angles are acceptable, I'd choose between the most desired pictorial qualities (such as the out of focus rendition) and the availability/price of the glass.

Protar IIIa 407mm f/9
Dagor 420mm f/7.7
Dagor 480mm f/7.7
Protar IIIa 505mm f/9
Apo-Tessar 600mm f/9
... etc., etc., etc....

[Greg]

Up for suggestion is a 10 inch GRAY's No. 8 Extreme Angle Periscope. From the literature I have on GRAY's lenses, it is listed as covering up to 20x24.

I have and use a 5.9 inch inch GRAY's No. 5 Extreme Angle Periscope. The same literature lists it as covering up to 11x14. I can attest that the 5.9 inch optic indeed does cover 11x14 with a wee bit of movement possible.

[Mark Sawyer]

If you reverse-mounted a 180-degree fish-eye lens, would it cover everything?

[Bernice Loui]

Easily "covers" 20x24, "just get closer.."

Bernice

If you reverse-mounted a 180-degree fish-eye lens, would it cover everything?