Fastest lenses for 4x5 and 8x10?

[Asher Kelman]

What are the fastest lenses one can buy for 4x5 AND 8X10.

Fotoman point and shoot helical focus cameras are bargains seems, and Crown Graphics a lot of us have in a cupboard, there's the Master Technika 3000 ($$$$!!) or the Polaroid bellows Littman cameras converted to 4x5 (also $$$!!!0) and from Ozy land la meme chose in AUS$.

With all these options, stopping down to f16 means a tripod unless the aperture is large enough and the lens is great at that aperture.

What lenses do we have available at the widest apertures to use with a LF camera in point and shoot mode? Also what shutter would you suggest?

Thanks,

Asher

The Arc of Intent: Making Pictures That Live

[Jim Jones]

A google search for Kodak Aero Ektar will lead to information on this 6" f/2.5 monster on 4x5 cameras.

[BrianShaw]

What's wrong with the f/4.7 lens for P&S 4x5? That's what has been standard o n Speed Graphics for about 40 years. Worked for PJs back then; works for me now!

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

There are dozens of fast lenses for 4x5, my favorite is the 150mm f2.8 Schneider Xenotar, but the 8" f2.9 Dallmeyer Pentac is easier and cheaper to find.

A lens faster than f4.5 for 8x10 will be hugh, weighing ten to fifteen lbs., and will require large lensboards. Most cameras won't be able to hold them. If portability is a concern, or of you have a field camera, a 300mm f4.5 lens may be the best compromise. There are many of these availbale on the used market.

[Walter Calahan]

The Kodak Aero-Ektar 178mm f/2.5

Covers 4x5 nicely. Will cover 5x7 with no problem. I've been told, but haven't seen it, it will cover 8x10 barely.

I love the Aero-Ektar. Only shoot it at 2.5. I own three. One on a Speed Graphic; one on a RB Gradlex Series D 4x5 SLR (cannot focus to infinity - only a close portrait set up or macro use); and soon, one on a 5x7 SLR Graflex (once I get my new drill press up and running). The key to using this lens is to get a camera with a focal plane shutter.

The minimum depth-of-field is amazing, and what is sharp it very sharp, especially if the lens is used with a yellow filter.

[Dan Fromm]

Don't forget the 6"/1.9 Dallmeyer Super Six and the 12"/2.5 AeroEktar. The Super Six won't go in shutter, the AeroEktar comes in an electrically operated shutter whose power supply and timing circuitry are unobtainable.

I've seen two 6" Super Sixes sell on eBay. $1475 and $1393, respectively. Not for you. The AeroEktar is huge and heavy, so also not for you.

If you want to shoot wider than f/16 with a 4x5 point & shoot, get a nice f/5.6 plasmat type lens and stop worrying. On an 8x10 point & shoot, use a 270/9 or 305/9 G-Claron wide open and feel sorry for yourself.

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks for all the superv guidance!

I have to study the treasures here. Meanwhile I grabbed this for the 8x10 since it seemed a good start. Meyer 12 IN Lens for 8x10 in HUGE 74mm Alphax Shutter

"beautiful coated lens is really quite something. Set in a huge 74mm (3 IN) diameter flash sync's Alphax shutter, this large piece of glass is ready for your 8x10 Deardorff, Sinar or Linhof. Glass is virtually pristine, as is the shutter. Shutter fires perfectly at all speeds with no hesitation."

It look very good from the images.

Any experience with this lens?

There is also a Wollensak 75mm(3") Oscillo-Raptar f/1.9 Alphax Graflex available for a 4x5. Any experience?

Thanks so much for your suggestions. You are very generous and I appreciate it!

Asher

The Arc of Intent: Making Pictures That Live

[Dan Fromm]

Asher, you've just been a sucker. The Oscillo-Raptar is a wonderful opportunity for you to be a sucker again.

Folklore has it that Carl Meyer lenses were assembled from factory reject lens elements by Burke & James and that they're all, um, poor. Folklore is sometimes wrong, so please test your Meyer lens and report back. Folklore also says that B&J made up the name from Carl (as in Zeiss) and Meyer (as in Hugo) to give their lenses an aura of germanic respectability.

Oscilloscope camera lenses were made to cover, mainly, 3 1/4 " x 4 1/4" at magnifications from 1:2 to 1.25:1, depending on the lens and camera. They're consistently lousy at distance and no one has ever reported that any of them will cover 4x5 at infinity. By all means buy it, try it, and report back.

[Brian C. Miller]

Asher, just go and use the lens. Do a Google search, and you'll see that some people have used it with success. This guy uses it with Polaroids. Depending on what you do, you probably won't notice the difference between it and something way more expensive. If the lens really does stink, it didn't set you back that much, right? And you can go and find some good glass to put in the shutter.

Anyways: go forth and photograph!

[Brian C. Miller]

Asher, you've just been a sucker. The Oscillo-Raptar is a wonderful opportunity for you to be a sucker again.

Based on the Ebay photo, it reads "12 in. (305mm) F6.3 Carl Meyer Anastigmat No OC 467". Different lens than Oscillo-Raptar (which seems to be a 75mm Wollensack)?

And if you go to his site and see what he talks about, I'll bet that if there was a plastic f2.0 Holgaroidmat 200mm lens that covered 8x10 he'd slap it on there in a heartbeat. (Exactly why he wants an 8x10 camera, I don't know, but what the hey.)

(oops, I see you're writing about the other Ebay listing. For that reference, do a search on Google for Oscillo-Raptar, and look at the Apug result. Nice photo of a dandelion. The nice painting is the result of the artist, not the brush.)