Wista 45DX lens options

[miklosphoto]

What would be the longest lens I could use on a Wista 45DX? Some people say you can't get longer than 210mm. If I wanted to use a 300mm, am I out of luck?
thanks
Miklos

[douglas gove]

I use a top hat board [35mm i believe] with my Nikkor 300M...also a Fujinon 400T...both work quite nicely on Wista SP [same bellows draw] Doug

[Joseph Dickerson]

Miklos,

Not all 300mm lenses are created equal. Some require less bellows than others. Of course, there are telephoto 300s. Nikkor 270mm tele, of the Fuji 300mm tele come to mind. But even some non-telephoto lenses require less bellows than others.

I once had a Toyo 45A field camera and was able to utilize a 300 Apo Ronar by reversing a recessed lens board. Wista may make a "top hat", essentially a reversed recessed lens board for your camera.

I now have a Shen Hao and have no problems using a 300mm Rodenstock Geronar (Caltar version) on a flat lens board, even though most claim that the bellows is too short for a 300. I haven't tried other 300s with it however.

As you probably already know, a 300mm is a 12 inch lens so you'll need at least that much, again, different 300mm lenses will require a bit more or less depending.

You're close to the Bay Area, try the pro camera shop in Palo Alto. Can't remember the name off hand but someone will pipe in with it I'm sure. They'll probably have something in stock you can try.

JD

[john biskupski]

You have plenty of modern and old options in the 240mm lens range which you could use on the Wista down to a reasonable focusing distance for general use.

Older, cheaper options for longer telephoto lenses include the 270 and 360 Tele Xenar, or Artons, and then you also have the newer costly/rare apo-tele-xenars.

For top hat boards, I gave up looking for a used Wista version and got a new Ebony set with various tubes for extra extension. Wista also did an extension bed I believe for the camera, but costly and hard to find.

[Bob Salomon]

Up to 900mm of extension bellows and beds are made by Wista so there really is no limit.