Originally Posted by
rdenney
The distance from the film to the lens will be the same no matter what the size of the film. A 300mm lens on 4x5 will need exactly the same bellows draw as the same lens on an 8x10. The difference will be that the 8x10 will be built to provide that bellows draw in the middle of its range, while some 4x5 cameras might have to stretch to focus that lens, especially if it is focused closely.
For example, I use a 12" Ilex-Caltar (quite similar to the Kodak Commercial Ektar you were considering) on my 4x5 Sinar. To focus it at infinity, I use a standard bellows and the base rail plus a 6" extension rail. To focus it at 1:1, I would need at least two 6" extensions (maybe a bit more), and probably two sets of bellows connected in the middle using an intermediate standard. An 8x10 camera would generally stretch that far without breaking a sweat.
You need a mental concept. Let's try this one. Take the lens in your hand, and hold it above a sidewalk. Focus the sun on the sidewalk. Remember back when you were ten years old and fried ants with a magnifying glass. Now, with that sun focused on the side walk, it's focused. You don't have a piece of film at all behind that lens, and yet you can still focus it. The lens would not care if you laid an 8x10 piece of film on the sidewalk, or a 4x5 piece of film. It would still be focused. You would just see more of the sky with the 8x10 frame.
Stated another way, let's say you set up an 8x10 camera to focus that 300mm lens perfectly. Now, you install a 4x5 reducing back on the camera. It will still be focused, right? Or, focus your 4x5 camera on the scene, and then slide in a 6x7 roll-film holder. It will still be focused. You'll just see a smaller piece of the scene.
A lens means what it means with respect to shorter-than-normal, normal, and longer-than-normal, only in reference to normal. And "normal" is defined not by the focal length, but by the diagonal of the image frame. The focal length is a physical property of the lens, while "normal" is a convention related to the size of the format.
So, we choose a lens because it encompasses a given amount of scene from the spot we think provides the view we want to photograph using whatever format. We make sure we buy lenses that provide a large enough image circle to allow the movements we might need on that format. If the lens provides too large an image circle with respect to the format, we might minimize camera reflections by cutting off that excess scene using a compendium shade.
Once you separate format-size attributes (particularly the meaning of "normal", and thus what is shorter or longer than normal) from lens properties (focal length, image circle, design--as in wide-angle or telephoto), it becomes far more intuitive to mix and match lenses designed for a different format than we are using. We mess up our thinking with years of small-format training that confuses format-related terms like "shorter than normal" and "longer than normal" with lens-design-related terms like "wide-angle" and "telephoto".
Rick "seeking a paradigm shift" Denney
Bookmarks