450mm on 4x5?

[dpetersen]

I am considering a 450mm lens to use on a 4x5 camera. The two examples that I am aware of are Nikon and Fuji. I think I would prefer the Fuji since it is smaller and lighter. At any rate, could the users of this focal length please comment on the usefulness of such a long lens?

[Peter De Smidt]

I use a 420 Fuji L regularly on 4x5. The 450 is nicer (mainly smaller.) Whether it's usefull is a personal matter. It's equivalent, roughly, to a 140mm lens on 35mm.

[Dave_B]

I have the Nikkor-M 450. It is a fine lens, as are all the Nikkor M lenses. I find the lens to have good contrast and color rendition. I imagine the Fuji is also a fine lens but you won't be unhappy with the Nikkor. As far as whether you will use it on a 4x5, I find I use the Nikkor 300M and the 360T much more on my 4x5 camera. Racking a 4x5 out to 450mm gets a lot of stuff out there to move in any wind there is. The telephoto 360 requires much less bellows extension than the 450 non-tele lens. I use the 450M much more on my 8x10 than on my 4x5.
Good luck,
Dave B.

[Randy Redford]

I have the Fuji 450 and it is one of my favorite lenses for 4x5. There are many times that you just need that extra reach. Since I bought the lens several years ago, I have always made sure that every camera I have purchased has had sufficient bellows extension to allow the use of the 450. My ebony that I have now, I have had to go to a tophat board, but it is well worth it. As posted above, wind can be a problem at times with that much bellows.

This is a quick scan of a pic that I needed the 450 to get the looming effect of the mountains over the cabin.

[Ron Marshall]

I have the Fuji 450 and am very happy with it. However, I don't use it very often. For the subjects which I currently shoot, such as marshes, forrest glades, there is not much call for this lens. In future I plan to shoot more wide-open landscapes where it will be more useful.

Most of my images are with 110, 150 and 210.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I use the Nikkor 450 for both 4x5 and 8x10...often. Great lens.

[Ed Richards]

Check how long your bellows is, and how stable it is at 450mm+. You may be better off with a Fuji 400 telephoto.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

The Fuji 450 C is my second favorite lens (out of 7 focal lengths; my trusty 150 is my favorite) on 4X5, and my favorite for 4X10 and 8X10. Both the Fuji 450 C and Nikkor 450 M have great reputations and large image circles. The Fuji is much lighter and more compact, and is in a Copal #1 shuttter, compared with the Nikkor in a Copal #3. For this reason, the Fujinon is more advisable for use on 4X5. Just make sure your camera has enough bellows extension, as most 4X5s don't. A long lens opens up all kinds of new possibilities. Soemtimes the 450 isn't quite long enough- I'm even thinking about picking up a 600 tele!

[JPlomley]

If you could sacrifice 50mm, there is always the Schneider 400mm APO Tele Xenar. Copal #3 with an f/5.6 aperture. Never used one myself, but Jack Dykinga has numerous examples of stellar images recorded with this optic in his book "Large Format Nature Photography". Not meaning to highjack the thread, but anyone here compared the Schneider to the Nikkor and Fuji in this FL range?

[Ole Tjugen]

I haven't used any 450mm on 4x5", but I've used the 420mm rear cell of a 240mm f:5.6 Symmar convertible. It needs 500mm of bellows to focus at infinity, so not all cameras can use it...