Super Symmar HM 210mm for 8x10?

[Michael Nagl]

Dear Colleagues,

anyone ever tried this? According to Schneider´s specifications, image circle is 36cm. Is it more in the real world? How much shift would be possible at, say, f:32?

Thank you all
Michael

[Ole Tjugen]

I don't know were you've got your data from; according to http://www.schneideroptics.com/info/..._symmar_hm.pdf the image circle is 356mm at f:22. You find the possible shifts there, too.

AFAIK this type of lens is "hard clipping", meaning that you gain practically nothing on stopping down further beyond f:22.

[Michael Nagl]

356mm, 36cm, well ---
I´ve read this page, but I know that the specifications Schneider gives are the opposite of generous. So, anyone actually tried it?

[Peter K]

The easiest way is, put the lens on your camera and look at the groundglass or exposure some films with different shifts.

[Michael Nagl]

Peter,

great idea, but I´m asking because I want to know if I should buy the lens; I don´t have it yet.

[John Powers]

Michael,

I had this lens on my RH Phillips 8x10 Advantage series for a couple of years. I can't tell you exactly how much shift it had, but I did a series of 20 images inside old greenhouses. I used this lens a lot and never had any vignetting. I traded it up last summer to a 210mm SSXL to obtain image circle large enough for my 7x17.

John

[Phil Hudson]

I can second the comment about the "hard clipping" on the Super-Symmar HM series. I have used this lens for 8x10 and it had plenty of very sharp coverage before quite sudden vignetting. My sample certainly didn't cover 11x14 or anything like that but I'm afraid that I can't state the actual coverage asked for by the OP.

One of the differences with the unusual non-symmetrical design of this lens is that the optimum aperture is reached well before the f/32 typically asked of a 8x10 lens. This makes "action" scenes easier because of the higher possible shutter speeds at say f/16 but requires careful placement of depth of field to compensate.

Phil