Hi,
I am looking for a 90mm lens for a very specific project..I will be using the lens wide open with a fair amount of tilt and swing on an ebony SW45 to get the shallowest depth of field possible and so am looking for any advice as to which lenses perform well when used wide open..i.e. 4.5 / 5.6 etc.
The ones I am looking at for their large apertures are the rodenstock grandagon-n 4.5, nikon sw 4.5, schneider sa 5.6, and fujinon swd 5.6
Thanks for any help,
Marc
www.marcwilson.co.uk
from your question, i take it that there will be a fair amount of out of focus elements in the frame then? the differences in the plane of focus will be minimal, however, the appearance of the 'blur' will differ. i tend to prefer german 'blur' to japanese 'blur'.
when i'm doing selective focus work nothing beats my heliar.
---Scott
www.srosenberg.com
Scott,
Yes that is exactly what i wil end up with.
so 'german' or 'japanese' blur..!!
wonderfull..is it similar to the differences between leica and nikon lenses perhaps?
the heliar you talk about..is that an old zeiss lf lens?
Actually whilst this topic begins to vere this way..if I'm looking to get a particularly soft transition between the in and out of focus parts of my images, and am looking for the out of focus parts to have that magical visual quality, or bokkeh, should I be looking at the older lf lenses in general..I am so used to just using modern schnedier and rodenstocks.
are any of the older heliars or other lenses with a similar look etc made in 90mm (9cm) lenses as this and a 150 approx are the most important focal lengths for my project
Marc
What reproduction ratios will you be working at? I ask, because lens blur behavior can vary somewhat with subject distance -- and of course lens coverage comes into question.
Hi Jack,
I plan to be shooting mainly my 'documentary landscape ' style images so from middle to far distance..almost allways focussed at infinity...prints will be up to 40x30 inches.
It is really interesting starting to look at these olde lenses with a specific look in mind but having never used them any help I can get here will be greatly appreciated.
Marc
A Heliar lens was a lens made by Voigtlander in Germany. It is not a wide-angle lens.
Given you will be shooting at distance, it is unlikely a Heliar (or any other Tessar design lens) will provide adequate coverage for 4x5 in a 90mm optic -- 135 is probably about it. The fact you want to be able add significant tilts will exacerbate this problem, so you most likely will need a lens with a pretty decent IC.
I was going to recommend an older Schneider Angulon 90 (Dagor style) f6.8 for a more classic look in the oof areas, but it might be too marginal on coverage as well: Its IC is just larger than 4x5 and sharpness does fade pretty quickly, though light falls off a bit more gradually than current super-angulon designs so maybe it would work? The good news is they're cheap, so might be worth at least experimenting with...
Cheers,
The Nikkor SW 90 f4.5 is a fine lens. The IC is 235mm. It is not small or cheap but I find it performs well and can recommend it. The Nikkor SW 90 f8 tends to get carried on more backpacking trips but the f4.5 works well for car trips.
Cheers,
Dave B.
regarding coverage... for selevtive focus-type shots like i think marc is intending, i really like the look of a little fall-off. i think darkened corners heightens the narrow focus effect and further brings out the intended subject.
i've done this a lot with my 150 heliar and consider it the PERFECT lens for this sort of shooting. unmatched smoothness in the OOF areas, and wonderful fall-off as the lens is tilted and swung right out of it's IC.
---Scott
www.srosenberg.com
oh, and marc, bookeh preference is a VERY personal thing. to my eye, and YMMV, the only bokeh i like less than fuji bokeh is nikon bokeh. in modern glass, i like the sironar-s series best... but nothing new holds a candle to the old stuff.
---Scott
www.srosenberg.com
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