Need recommendations on f/4.5 lens of about 150mm

[Tin Can]

Used to be a No NO to link to any eDont

I'd get a lens in shutter, or refit the one you already have. Sinar Norma made a shutter, it's generally expensive.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...board&_sacat=0

Or maybe this?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18619175855...3ABFBM4MqLh5pj

[Tracy Storer]

Search "150 lens shutter" on Ebay, MANY MANY inexpensive (but good quality) offerings.

[gypsydog]

I own a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 16.5cm f3.5 in Compound, it is a lovely fast lens.

[maltfalc]

there are literally tons of old 6" or 7" f/2.8 or 3.5 projection lenses out there for dirt cheap that would work just fine.

[Dan Fromm]

there are literally tons of old 6" or 7" f/2.8 or 3.5 projection lenses out there for dirt cheap that would work just fine.

Do they cover 4x5?

[Tim Meisburger]

Why are you buying the Norma, if you are planning to shoot wet plate with a 150mm lens? Why not just use the Crown Graphic? Or trade it in on a Speed, so you have a focal plane shutter that will work with cheaper shutterless lenses? The Norma is a beautiful camera (I used to have one), but straight on will yield exactly the same images as the Crown.

If you plan to shoot collodion in a studio, or in your back yard, you would be better off with a 5x7 or 8x10 camera. A 5x7 plate is much nicer than 4x5, and if you want to enlarge collodion negatives, you can easily adapt a 5x7 holder to shoot 4x5 plates. My advice (worth just 2 cents in today's inflated economy) would be to use what you have to learn the process, and then if you find you love it, get a bigger camera. Good luck!

[Vaidotas]

It seems nobody mentioned triplets.
Taylor Hobson Cooke Anastigmat series II in this focal lenght (shutterred) is not rare find.
Dallmeyer, Ross, Wray, Zeiss, Meyer (and others) made them.

[John Layton]

Jeesh...all of these choices! The New Yorker magazine ran an article a few years back about the "paradox of choice," presenting a good argument that when confronted with an overload of choices, a potential customer may just quit looking altogether. A great example would be toothpaste...literally hundreds of choices - when you just need some...toothpaste for crying out loud!

I'd like to make a suggestion: There is a decent looking 180mm f/4.5 Xenar listed (for what looks like a decent price) in the For Sale section of this forum. This would offer you the speed you are looking for, plus give you more coverage than a 150mm 4.5 Xenar (or other Tessar type lens), and so would be a more viable option for a camera with greater movements....such as the Norma you'd mentioned.

[maltfalc]

Do they cover 4x5?

most standard triplet or tessar fixed focal length projection lenses should cover 4x5 at a 6"/150mm or longer focal length, depending on how much you care about fall-off. there are some planar projection lenses with better coverage if you know what to look for.

[xkaes]

If you spend some time searching for "Petzval F3" (or F4 if you prefer) at the auction site you will find many options for old petzvals and projection lenses of various price ranges covering around 150mm. It doesn't have to be a Dallmeyer or any of the major names, I'm sure any of those will be plenty good for the goals you describe, and at ~F3 about a stop faster than F4.5.

Along these same lines, you might already have what you need to make a 150mm f4.5 -- and not know it.

If you attach a #1 CU filter to the front of a #3 shutter and a #5 CU filter to the rear of the shutter, you have a 167mm f3.7 lens.
If you attach a #2 CU filter to the front of a #3 shutter and a #5 CU filter to the rear of the shutter, you have a 143mm f3.2 lens.

If you attach these to a smaller (#1) shutter, the f-stop will be smaller (f4.5?), but in any case, not only will you have a great soft-focus lens when used wide-open, stopped down the results will be amazingly sharp.

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/softfocus.htm