Need a big lens!

[joeyrsmith]

Guys and Gals,
Have a Tachihara with a 90,150,and 210.
What do ya'll think I can use as the largest lens (tele) with this field camera?
thx

[Gem Singer]

Nikon/Nikkor 360 T ED.

Or, the less expensive Fujinon 300T.

The 4x5 Tachi only has approx. 300mm of useable bellows extension.

[Ken Lee]

I used a Fujinon 400T for a while when I had a Tachihara 4x5. It requires only 250 mm of bellows draw. It's mounted in a Copal #1 shutter, takes 67 mm filters, and weighs 700 grams.

It worked just fine, and I was able to make a number of photos that I enjoy, such as this one and this one.

[joeyrsmith]

Thx guys, keep em' coming.
Ken, looks like it worked great.
Would work great for my location.

[J D Clark]

The Nikkor 360mm T ED that Gem mentions requires only slightly more bellows draw at infinity than my 210mm APO Symmar -- maybe about 230mm.

John Clark
www.johndclark.com

[Songyun]

how about the new schneider 350mm lens with extension tube? I don't remember the bellow draw required for that lens with extension tube.

[Nathan Potter]

Some consideration might be given to what film you will be using. I use the 360T ED a lot but more with B&W films than with color chromes. The ED glass provides some really good contrast which B&W can handle, but in high contrast chromes don't do so well. So that lens I restrict to cloudy weather or otherwise low contrast scenes. I forget the coverage figures for the 360T ED (might be as low as a 225 mm image circle) but large shifts will be limited. That is a nice tele though and is convertible to 500 and 720 by rear element change. Can be pricey.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[drew.saunders]

I've used the Fuji 300/8.5 C (non tele) on a Tachihara. I never exactly measured the closest it would focus, but it was in the 10' range if I remember correctly, so the lens is quite usable, but probably not for portraits. One of the reasons I chose the Fuji over the similar Nikkor-M, is that the Fuji uses 290mm of bellows draw (effectively like a 10mm "top hat"), while the Nikkor uses 295, and that 5mm makes a big difference when you only have about 330mm of bellows (Badger lists the Tachi as having 330mm of bellows). On paper, that works out to be a close focus of 2.5m for the Fuji, in practice, I don't think I got quite so close.

When I got the Fuji, I was already fairly certain that I'd be upgrading the camera to one with longer bellows (got an Ebony 45SU with 365mm of bellows draw, letting me focus the Fuji down to 1.6m), so I didn't consider a telephoto lens.

Drew