What is the longest lens for this 8x10?

[John Brady]

Hi LF friends, I need some recommendations for the longest lens I can use on my camera.

I have an Ebony 810slw and a 5 inch extension back for it. The manufacturer states the longest usable lens for this camera as 360 mm. The standard set up has 400 mm of bellows draw and by my calculation the extension back brings it to 527 mm of draw.

So what do you think my options are and what price range do they fall in?

Thanks in advance for your help.
John
www.timeandlight.com

[Walter Calahan]

Don't get a Nikkor 1200 mm. Grin.

Good luck.

[Gem Singer]

It might not be the longest, but it would be a very practical lens, both in size. and in weight.

The Nikkor 450M.

[drew.saunders]

With 527mm of bellows, using the Nikkor 450M, which needs 429mm of draw (see http://www.ebonycamera.com/articles/lenses.html), you'll be able to focus down to about 2.3m. The Fuji 450C would give similar results (426mm of draw), just fine for landscapes. Looking at that chart, some of the 480mm lenses need as little as 452mm of draw (the Rodenstock APO-Sironar-N), so you could close focus that lens to (1/452) - (1/527) = 1/minimum distance, or 3176mm.

Assuming you got that camera for portability, the Nikkor M or Fuji C are probably more appropriate, as they'll be much smaller than the huge 480mm lenses.

[Eric Leppanen]

With 527mm of extension (plus tilting the front standard forward a bit to create some headroom), you theoretically can support an 800mm lens focused at infinity (Nikon 800T telephoto, with a flange focal distance of 527.4mm). You could support a Nikon 600T easily (409.2mm flange focal distance). I've never tried focusing an 8x10 telephoto while chest deep in a swamp, so I'm not sure how practical these will be for you. Normally an 8x10 telephoto needs some type of supplemental support (I use a long lens support arm) to achieve consistently sharp results, and I've never tried attaching one of these while under water.

I agree that either a Nikon 450M or Fuji 450C will be a fine choice for your camera. I prefer the 450M for 8x10 due to brighter focusing (f/9 vs. f/12.5) and greater usable image circle (the Nikon IC spec is conservative); the 450C is lighter and its Copal 1 shutter produces less "kick" if stabilizing your camera (for whatever the reason) becomes an issue.

There is a used Nikon 600/800T combo on Ebay right now (I have no affiliation with the seller) with a $1,650 asking price. In today's economy I have no idea if this is a competitive price (a few years ago I sold an 800T for $2K, although I've since seen 600T's go for as low as $1K). When I last checked used Nikon 450M's and Fuji 450C's both went for around $700-$800 or so.

[Struan Gray]

If you can live with lenses in barrel, it's worth remembering that graphics arts lenses usually have their mounting thread at the rear (as do vintage optics). That gives you another 20 mm or so of extension for free.

Apo-ronars come in 465, 480 and 520 mm focal lengths in this range, all of which will focus to infinity on your camera. There are Artars and other similar process lenses in the same lengths too. Which you get depends on how close you might want to focus. The 480s are more common, and come multicoated in shutters if you want that, but the 465s and 520s are more of a bargain and give nothing away in quality. Watch out for 520s with no aperture control though: there were some sold for copy or duping machines which have no iris.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

..longest lens..
Apo-ronars come ... There are Artars

Those lenses are actually quite short .. by themselves.
However they require a loooong bellows draw

[Struan Gray]

[i]However they require a loooong bellows draw

You can always buy more bellows. It's the arm extensions that are tricky.

[evan clarke]

I have the 450C and find it to be adequately bright and it is quite a bit more compact. It may be easier to find...Evan Clarke

[alec4444]

Hi LF friends, I need some recommendations for the longest lens I can use on my camera.

Color or B&W? An important detail relating to whether you need multi-coated lenses or not....

--A