200mm f6.8 Gandagon? Where are they?

[bglick]

I never see this lens used... how long ago was it discontinued?

[resummerfield]

I've seen four of them on the 'bay over the past year or two. I bid on all four, and lost, as each one went for around $2500. Probably for the best, I guess.

[John Schneider]

Glennview has one for a hefty price if you're really interested

[bglick]

Anyone actually use one? Seems like a great lens....

[Oren Grad]

It's monstrously heavy. Forklift territory...

[bglick]

Glenview sold theirs....

[Armin Seeholzer]

So just the 210 Super Angulon:
http://cgi.ebay.de/8-210-210mm-F8-SU...1%7C240%3A1318

[Eric Leppanen]

I own a 200 Grandagon, which I primarily use to shoot external architectural and certain landscapes where extreme front rise is required. It is definitely a boat anchor, but I prefer it to the smaller SS210XL (which I used to own) in that the light fall-off at the image circle edge is less pronounced. I needed a CF when shooting my SS210XL, whereas I don't with the Grandagon as long as I use B&W or color neg film (I also gain one and half stops of shutter speed). I also picked up a Cokin X-Pro orange filter during an inventory close-out at Samy's, which works well for B&W architecture shooting (I just tape the filter to the front lens barrel). Conventional Lee filters can barely fit over the rear element (here again I tape them to the lens barrel).

All the lenses in this class are too big for more than a short hike from the car, so I don't find the bulk of the Grandagon that much different from its counterparts. It rates its own camera bag, which I carry in one hand with my tripod in the other.

[bglick]

Eric, I would think, the same image circle would produce the same light fall off, assuming same fl.... cause cos theta fall-off is a mathematical function, not a design issue....right?

The SSXL 210 at 5.6 allows a bit more light for gg viewing.... Considering I will use it at f45+, image quality shouldn't vary much.

I also wanted the huge image circle for some front rise on 810.

[Eric Leppanen]

Eric, I would think, the same image circle would produce the same light fall off, assuming same fl.... cause cos theta fall-off is a mathematical function, not a design issue....right?

The SSXL's have a different cosine function for light fall off (cos^4 versus cos^3 if I remember correctly) than the Biogon-based designs. The SSXL's don't use the so-called "tilted pupil" trick that improves fall off performance. I don't remember the details about all this anymore, but there are a number of threads in this forum that discuss it in depth.