Best Wide-Open Rendering 150mm f5.6 Lens

[Wista45SP]

I know my screen name says Wista 45SP, but I’ve moved to a Chamonix 45-F2. Currently only have a Fujinon 125mm f5.6.

Looking to add a 150mm f5.6 lens to shoot portraits wide open. Clinical sharpness is not what I’m after, nor an extreme vintage swirly bokeh look. I just want something that has smooth rendering like my Pentax 67 105mm f2.4 lens has.

I was looking at Fujinon 150mm lenses, but can be any manufacturer such as Schneider, etc . What should I focus on acquiring?

[Lachlan 717]

Fujinar-W 15cm

[ridax]

• Any Componon or Rodagon for the best FOREGROUND out of focus rendering (wide open only).

For the better out of focus BACKGROUND rendering -

• An f/3.5 Tessar stopped down to f/4.5 or f/5.6.
• Some (but not all) of the f/4.5 tessars stopped down slightly (NOT at f/4.5 though).

[xkaes]

Fujinar-W 15cm

I assume this means the 15cm f6.3.

The Fujinar was the first version, but it later appeared as the Fujinon W 150mm f6.3 -- with at first Seiko shutters and then later a Copal shutter. Some of the literature suggested that some were EBC coated, but none of the versions had that.

The Fujinon with a Copal shutter would be the pick of the litter, but the results would be the same from any model.

All of these should be very inexpensive. The lens is VERY small. All are 4/3 Tessars. Used wide open the shape of the iris blades is irrelevant.

[BrianShaw]

It is likely that all of the plasmats will perform about the same. Not sure that you’ll find them or the 150 FL to really meet your desires. I’ve transitioned to older lenses for that application, mostly Kodak Anastigmats and Commercial Ektar. One lens I really like for portrait but is generally not liked around here is Fujinon SF. When used with diffusing discs will render soft focus from mild to extreme. When used without disc renders very nice for portrait without the sharpness offers by a plasmat lens. 250 is easiest to find ( and really useful for 4x5 portraits and 180 not too difficult to find. Just make sure you get diffuser discs with the lens as they are rather difficult to find separately.

[Tin Can]

Best does not exist

[Vaidotas]

Best does not exist

Sure it is.
165 SA.
You can squeeze it in to Deardorf Special.
Chamonix 4x5? No way.

[Bernice Loui]

165mm f8 super angulon... which version, Schneider produced the 165mm f8 Super Angulon for decades..

Question would be, why use a 165mm f8 super angulon on a Chamonix 4x5, with an image circle of 394mm @f22, easily covers 8x10 with plenty of camera movements.. kinda excessive on 4x5 and all that stray light inside the bellows from the over-sized image circle will produce in bellows flare reducing image contrast..

165mm f8 super angulon easily fits on a Sinar and a good number of other view cameras..


Bernice

Sure it is.
165 SA.
You can squeeze it in to Deardorf Special.
Chamonix 4x5? No way.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Schneider 150mm F4.5 Xenar has round iris vs Plasmat hexagonal and I like the smooth rendition. I also like Schneider Componons for close shooting prefer over Symmars. No best, purely a matter of personal preference. Opinions vary and are subjective. Try a few different ones and decide for yourself

[djdister]

I would not use a 150mm for portraits on 4x5 - you should look for something in the 210-250 range or even longer. Better yet, get a Verito or Kodak Portrait lens.