How have you shopped for lenses over the years?

[tundra]

"How have you shopped for lenses over the years?"

Constantly...

In the 1990s, I bought new Schneiders and Rodenstock/Caltars. I also got a couple of Artars in various flavors and had Grimes put them in shutters.

In the past few years, I've built out my lenses for my 4x5 Crown Graphic and 2x3 Baby Speed Graphic with lenses sourced on eBay and then had them serviced by either Frank Marshman (CameraWiz) or Dave Easterwood, both of whom do excellent work. (Both are semi-retired, so you'll wait to get the stuff back.)

I am now at critical mass for lenses. No, really, I am. I'm not buying more. I'm not. I swear. I can quit any time I want ..... arrrrrhrrgh.

[Mark Sawyer]

I am now at critical mass for lenses. No, really, I am. I'm not buying more. I'm not. I swear. I can quit any time I want ..... arrrrrhrrgh.

A haiku for large format photographers:

I'll buy no lenses.
I have enough already.
Oh, a Cooke Portrait...

[tundra]

A haiku for large format photographers:

I'll buy no lenses.
I have enough already.
Oh, a Cooke Portrait...

Maaaaaaam, MAAAAAAAM, Mark's teasing me ...

[Mark Sampson]

Haha. Last week I was at a garage sale and picked up a clean 100/6.3 Kodak Wide Field Ektar- from 1948, just like my favorite 135/6.3 WFE. Couldn't pass it up, although I already have a (much larger) 90/8 Nikkor-SW. Oh well, I'll call it a "backpacking" lens, as it's so tiny.

[Mark Sawyer]

Let's face it. We just can't help ourselves...

[neil poulsen]

I've always been one to purchase decent quality lenses at reasonable cost. For me, Symmar-S or Caltar-S II (same lenses) fit into that category. For example, I was told by a Schneider Optics technician that one would need to closely example a photo with a loupe to tell the difference between these lenses and Apo Symmar lenses.

To go along with those, I purchased Super Angulan 75mm f5.6, Super Angolan 90mm f5.6 and Super Angulan 121mm f8 lenses.

So, my kit included those super-wides, and 150mm f5.6, 180mm f5.6, and 240mm f5.6, Symmar-S lenses, and both a 300 f5.6 and a 360mm Caltar-S II lens.

Since that time, I decided to improve the quality of my lenses. So, I traded back and forth to eventually upgrade to a similar line of Apo Symmar lenses. (100mm, 120mm, 150mm, and 180mm.) Also, 47mm and 58mm Super-Angulon XL lenses. I still have the 75mm f5.6 MC Super Angulan.

I also have the following, special purpose lenses that vary from the Schneider line of lenses:

35mm f4.5 Rodenstock Grandagon. (For MF: Actually covers the 6x9 format.)
90mm f8 Nikon SW. (Same image circle as 90mm f5.6 SA, but much lighter.)
105mm Fujinon f8 SW. (Fill a gap between the 90mm and the 121mm SA. Schneider has nothing to compare.)
250mm f6.3 Fujinon. (Smaller than the gigantic 240mm App Symmar, yet still MC)
360mm and 500mm Nikon Tele MC lenses. (Great for 4x5, and far less expensive than the corresponding App Symmar lenses.)

Arguably, I could have traded the single-coated 121mm f8 SA for the MC 120mm f8 SA. But, I figured that, if the 121mm SA lens was good enough for Ansel Adams, it was good enough for me.

I might also have traded the 75mm f5.6 SA for its corresponding XL version. But, the latter is simply too huge to be practical.

[otto.f]

When I started in the 90’s I preferred Schneider above Rodenstock. When I picked LF up again in 2018 after 15 years working with mostly Leica, my first concern were the focal lenghts. I had very good experience with Schneider 90 and knew that a 75mm is a lot of unnecessary ado (I restarted with a Chamonix 45F2). Formerly I was also a bit addicted to the Schneider 210 but found out later that Schneider’s 150 is my most liked lens in the field. More recently I began to search for character lenses, and thanks to this forum, I was reminded of the Voigtländer Heliars, especially for studio work with stills because of its bo-keh. I also bought Nikon 300 because it is so handy in the field and not expensive enough to hesitate.

I do not know Fuji from own experience but what I have seen I have the impression that they are primarily very sharp (which is important), but not much more than that. Formerly I worked a lot with color, which nowadays is unnecessarily expensive now but that was an important reason for Schneiders. Now that I work with B&W only I look broader, but the old classics are getting more and more expensive.

[Greg]

90mm f/5.6 Schneider Super-Angulon XL with Schneider IVa Center ND filter for whole plate - lens was an absolute bargain on eBay - Buy It Now and I couldn't pass it up, BUT the IVa Center ND filter took me 3 years to find one FS. The filter costs more than the lens and was shipped from Germany to the USA in a plain unpadded manila envelope! Amazingly arrived unbroken.

5.9” No. 5 Gray Periscope for 11x14 - took me many years to acquire this optic from a dealer in England. Probably, no definitely, paid too much for that barrel lens. SK Grimes amazingly mounted it into a Copal #3. No regrets though in the end.

12 inch f/4.5 Wollensak Velostigmat Series II in a BETAX 5 - my very first LF lens for 8x10. In the mid 1970s I bought it from a Photo store in New Britain, Connecticut for all of $25.00 cash. Store owner skipped town the next day.

330mm f/6.8 IA Raptar, 508mm (20”), 647mm (25 ½”) Alphax - previous owner bought it new way back when but never used the lens, essentially NOS. Estate sale find.
14” f/6.3 Kodak Commercial Ektar in ILEX No 5. - Essentially NOS, I acquired the lens at the same estate sale.

508mm f/7 Caltar ILEX for 11x14 - a real sleeper for 11x14. At one time there were three of them up for auction on eBay. Bought the best of the three which was in essentially new condition.

600mm f/11.5 S KangRinpoche - acquired for way less that a FUJI on eBay from a South Korean Camera shop. Was described as being graded in "excellent" condition. To my surprise it arrived in essentially new condition and in its original box.

[linhofbiker]

I bought my used LF lenses from camera stores up until the late 1990's when Ebay was the choice.

Then in the late 90's camera shows were a good source where I found a Zeiss Protarlinse set with 22, 29, 35 and 2 41's in shutter that came with an 8x10 camera.
I did a lot of reading on forums and found that the old Schneider Doppel Anastigmat Symmar 6.8 (a Dagor) was good for B/W and found a 240 and 270 on Ebay at a good price.

I was shooting color, mostly 4x5 Fuji 64T, in the late 90's and found the Protarlinses lacking compared to the old 135 Symmar and 135 Componon-S, so traded them for a Linhof Technika V 6x9 with 2 lenses. This trade was a straight swap with a photographer in New Zealand.

[tundra]

When I started in the 90’s I preferred Schneider above Rodenstock. When I picked LF up again in 2018 after 15 years working with mostly Leica, my first concern were the focal lenghts. I had very good experience with Schneider 90 and knew that a 75mm is a lot of unnecessary ado (I restarted with a Chamonix 45F2). Formerly I was also a bit addicted to the Schneider 210 but found out later that Schneider’s 150 is my most liked lens in the field. More recently I began to search for character lenses, and thanks to this forum, I was reminded of the Voigtländer Heliars, especially for studio work with stills because of its bo-keh. I also bought Nikon 300 because it is so handy in the field and not expensive enough to hesitate.

I do not know Fuji from own experience but what I have seen I have the impression that they are primarily very sharp (which is important), but not much more than that. Formerly I worked a lot with color, which nowadays is unnecessarily expensive now but that was an important reason for Schneiders. Now that I work with B&W only I look broader, but the old classics are getting more and more expensive.

My 150mm f/5.6 APO Symmar is one of my most frequently used 4x5 lenses along with my 210mm f/6.3 Caltar-II (Rodenstock).