Recommended lens for Chamonix 8x10 for portrait/landscape

[Tin Can]

I assume Winter is coming at your patch

You will buy at least 2 lenses

Buy any cheap 250mm without shutter first

Shoot all winter inside, friends and family, or manikins

to learn lighting, strobes don't need a shutter




I have 2


A Plastica Early by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

[Greg]

Thanks!
Nice to hear that weight is not a no - go with one of the f6.5 options. Of these 3 lenses, which one would you recommend the most for portrait & landscape? My other lens is a fuji 250 f 6,7.

Steven

I either contact print my 8x10 negatives on FB paper or make digital negatives and print Platinum/Palladium. I see no difference in the three lenses if all stopped down to f/45. I'm sure there are differences, but I've never seen a reason to shoot the same scene with each of the optics just to compare them with each other. The Commercial Ektar is circa 1947 and essentially NOS! until I acquired it maybe five years ago, but its lens coating looks to be a lot more modern. I prefer the seemingly brighter image on the GG that the f/6.5 Nikkor-W gives me, even though the Commercial Ektar is a f/6.3 optic. I shoot from the back of my car so weight is not a factor. If I were to sell two of the optics and keep only one, I'd be very happy with any of the three. I also have and use a 250mm f/6.7 FUJI. My favorite pair of lenses is the 14 inch and the 250mm. Good luck in whatever you choose.

[NormaN]

What about the Rodenstock Apo-Ronar 360mm/f9
in shutter, Filter size: 58mm, IC 318mm, Weight about 450grams?

[Michael_qrt]

What about the Rodenstock Apo-Ronar 360mm/f9
in shutter, Filter size: 58mm, IC 318mm, Weight about 450grams?

That lens would work well for portraits if the image character is what you're after, maybe a little tight on movements for landscapes although it should be sharp, 450g in a Copal 3 shutter seems a bit low without looking it up as from memory the shutter itself is almost 400g, certainly one of the smaller/lighter lenses in Copal 3.

Another good option if you can find one is a Commercial Congo 360mm f/6.8 (also labelled Commercial Astragon/Osaka Commercial/Commercial Komura and maybe also with the Yamasaki name or others), it's supposed to be a remade version of the Commercial Ektar but in a newer Copal 3s shutter, much smaller and lighter than the big plasmats in this range.

[CatSplat]

I am thinking about the Kowa graphic 360 f9, the 14” commercial ektar or the fuji W 360 f6,3.
There is little info on how the kowa graphic draws and i haven’t found the weight of the commercial ektar yet. Based on its weight, the fuji is probably a better option than a symmar, but at the double of the price, i consider it overpriced (1200€ Or 600-800€ + import taxes).

I'm not sure what the shipping arrangements might be for you, but KEH.com has a Fuji 360mm for $439.00 at the moment.

[Vaughn]

Both my Zone VI 8x10 and Chamonix 11x14 handle my Fuji W 360 easily, if that helps any. I work a lot under the redwoods where the faster lenses are nice.

Perhaps a Red Dot Artar 14" in a shutter would be another choice to keep the weight down (f11). I like my 19" and 24" barrel versions, but one is stuck between two opposing factors -- on the slow side under the redwoods for easy composing...and too much light in the desert without a shutter.

[Steven Ferson]

I assume Winter is coming at your patch

You will buy at least 2 lenses

Buy any cheap 250mm without shutter first

Shoot all winter inside, friends and family, or manikins

to learn lighting, strobes don't need a shutter




I have 2


A Plastica Early by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

A 250 f6.7 is coming. Good idea to stick with one lens and give it a try.
In retrospect i should have bought just a 300 5,6 in stead of wanting a 250/difficult 360 combination.

[Steven Ferson]

I'm not sure what the shipping arrangements might be for you, but KEH.com has a Fuji 360mm for $439.00 at the moment.

Thanks for the link. 440$ + 40 shipping + risk fee/customs commission DHL 10%? + export customs + 21% VAT + 7% import customs….

2 film holders from Japan, selling for 180€ together ended at a grand total of 340€ after al shipping and customs cost.

I guess i can buy a lens for about 800-900€ in europe at the cost of importing a 500$ lens. It is probably cheaper to travel to Japan and collect two nice expensive f8 or lenses than imprting them by mail :-).

[Greg]

A 250 f6.7 is coming. Good idea to stick with one lens and give it a try.
In retrospect i should have bought just a 300 5,6 in stead of wanting a 250/difficult 360 combination.

Throughout the 1980s, I set out on a project to photograph gorges and waterfalls in southern New England. Stuck to using only one lens - a 300mm. Many times I had wanted to move just a little bit closer or farther away from my subject but couldn't because of the terrain. Switched to using a 250mm and a 360mm and just leaving the 300mm home. Made a huge difference in composing my imagery. My experience was that there really wasn't a huge difference in the angles of coverage of these. That being said, when I was a student at RIT and started to shoot 8x10... for two years my teacher and mentor urged me to shoot with only one lens - a 300mm.

[NormaN]

That lens would work well for portraits if the image character is what you're after, maybe a little tight on movements for landscapes although it should be sharp, 450g in a Copal 3 shutter seems a bit low without looking it up as from memory the shutter itself is almost 400g, certainly one of the smaller/lighter lenses in Copal 3.

Another good option if you can find one is a Commercial Congo 360mm f/6.8 (also labelled Commercial Astragon/Osaka Commercial/Commercial Komura and maybe also with the Yamasaki name or others), it's supposed to be a remade version of the Commercial Ektar but in a newer Copal 3s shutter, much smaller and lighter than the big plasmats in this range.

Hello Michael

You are of course right, the weight is not correct (I picked up the figure somewhere). I weighed my Apo Ronar in the Prontor shutter: 680 grams.

I also have one with a Compur3 shutter (it has more blades) but I haven't found it yet