schneider g claron

[Phil Brammer]

i found a schneider 210 g claron on sale. image circle 260mm. price $150. i woul d like to use it for enlarging 6x17 format. Has anyone had any experince with th is lens? I would like to find out its qualities before purchase

Thanks

[Brian Ellis]

I use this lens as a moderate wide angle for 8x10 and so I assume it would cover 6 x 17. I like it a lot for the black and white 8x10 contact prints that I make. Although it's optimized for 1-1, it actually works well at all the distances I've tried it at, including infinity. The actual image circle in normal use is much greater than 260 mm. It covers 8x10 edge to edge (which requires a 325 mm image circle) at F 22 and as you stop down beyond that the coverage increases significantly so that there is ample room for movements at F 32 to F 64 in the 8x10 format. The only potential downsides (which haven't been problems for me but might be for someone else) are that it is single coated and at F 9 the image on the ground glass isn't as bright as a lens with a wider maximum aperture. I bought the lens by mail order from Robert White in England for about $400. I've been told that Badger Graphics in Wisconsin will match the Robert White price and you should save a good bit on shipping by buying from a U.S. source (Robert White was $50 shipping for a very small package).

[Dave Schneidr]

I have the 150mm and the 305mm G-Claron for 4x5 use as taking lenses. They are an excellent lens, very sharp, lighter in any given focal length than many lenses. Jeff at Badger Graphics is very knowledgable and is selling the G-Clarons for a very good price right now, they have been discontinued by Schneider.

[kthompson]

Phil, I've never used one for an enlarging lens, but we have a couple of 15omm G-Clarons that we use for copywork, and doing some tabletop macro-type work. In a pinch, we'll shoot larger things with them as well, although the image circles are small at infinity. I have a 240mm G-Claron myself, and it's tack sharp & nice for tabletop stuff.