210mm or 240mm can't I just crop the difference?

[riooso]

I need to get another lens. I have 4x5 with a 90mm,150mm and would like a 210mm or 240mm. I love the Fuji 240-A but they are a lot more than a 210M Schneider S used. I am starting to think that it is better to get a 210mm and just crop to the 230mm using my $500.00 CS2 program. I made the 4x5 frame with the string attached and the difference between 210 and 240 is small. Is'nt that why I got into 4x5, to give me some latitude to work with the slide? I would appreciate some thoughts on this.

Thanks,
Richard Adams

[Jim Rice]

I had a 210 Sironar-N MC that was just lovely. They're going for pretty cheap these days, too.

[Sheldon N]

Yes, you can certainly crop the 210mm to a 240mm without much loss of quality at reasonable print sizes. I crop my Fuji 240mm A to 300mm+ quite often, since I don't have a lens any longer than the 240mm.

The main reason people love the Fuji 240mm is because it's small and light, in addition to being a great performer. If you can't afford the 240mm or don't care too much about the weight there's not a huge disadvantage to going with a 210mm plasmat.

That all being said, I do happen to know where you can get a single coated Fuji 240mm A for $399. I've sent you a PM so you can follow up if you're interested.

[riooso]

Thanks a lot.
Richard Adams

[neil poulsen]

A 210mm and 240mm are spaced pretty close. How about a 180mm and a Fuji 250 f6.7 (single coated) or f6.3? The 250's are light weight lenses and are both housed in a Copal 1 shutter. The distance between a 150 and a 250 is a little large for my taste. My lenses include 150, 180, 250, and 355. (At 355, I run out of bellows.)

The 240mm A's are pricey lenses. One could probably find a good 180mm and one of the Fuji 250's for not too much more.

[naturephoto1]

If you don't need the coverage, you could consider a Rodenstock f 9 240mm Apo Ronar. Preferably get a multicoated version. I was fortunate to win a multicoated one earlier in the year on eBay for a little over $400 in mint condition. These are very very sharp process lenses which should be used optimally at f22; but if needed f32 should also be extremely good. The Apo Ronars in Shutter (usually Copal 1) are not optimized for 1:1 and produce extremely fine performance from close-up to infinity.

Rich

[Frank Petronio]

The Fuji 240/9 is 1.5 stops slower which might make a difference, and the Fuji's prices are rather high -- 2-2.5X that of a nice 210. A modern 210 in a recent shutter is probably the best "bang for the buck" in LF.

[naturephoto1]

The Fuji 240mm A lens and the Apo Ronar 240mm lenses should be smaller and lighter than a modern 210mm Plasmat. The Fuji is in a #0 shutter and uses 52mm filters. The Apo Ronar which is in a #1 shutter uses 49mm filters. The modern 210mm Plasmats use #1 shutters and normally somewhere between 67 and 77mm filters.

Rich

[Ken Lee]

This all depends on your shooting style. If you like longer lenses, then 210 won't be enough of a boost from 150.

90-150-250 is a consistent ratio, where each lens is 5/3 of the previous length - so even a 240 is a bit short in that sense.

You can certainly crop a 210, but cropping a 240 or 250 will bring you even further along.

The almost unanimous high regard for the 240 Fujinon A is well deserved. It's my favorite lens, and I shoot most of my images with it. If you get one, you won't be disappointed. The same can be said of all the A series. I have posted some info about them, and some sample images here towards the middle of the page.

[Ron Marshall]

My original lens kit was 110, 180, 300. The more I shot the more I found that most of my compositions were in the 150 to 210 range, but having only one lens in that range was too restrictive. Many times the 180 was either a bit too short or a bit too long and in situations where I couldn't simply move the tripod, so I decided to switch the 180 for a 150 and a 210.

It really depends on what you like to shoot. 210 and 240 are close. The gap between 150 and 210 works well for me, because I have a 300. If that lens was to be my longest I would definately go with the 240.