I find the 155 and the 240 are the most used of my set then a 450 or 480. The 210 is a monster size wise but terriffic I could get by with a 210 and a 300. THe 120 is hard to shoot with and no movement is possible. I like depth of field aso I like wide. The 155 give the wide look the 210 and 240 do not. The 300 is a terriffic focal length. Well just get a few adn keep shooting.
Anslem,
I suspect that the G Claron will be the easiest lens to find in Germany. If you are able to buy used through Ebay or some of the shops in the US, you will be able to find some of the other lenses mentioned, including the Computar and Kowa lenses if you search hard enough.
I think these lenses are suitable for your purposes, but some people don't like the somewhat limited movement of the 210 G Claron, and also the fact that they need to use it stoped down to maintain sharpness into the corners. If you were planning to do a lot of enlarging, I would say that you need to find a different lens, and probably stick to 240mm if you want it to be a small lens.
One problem with using an 8x10 lens on a 4x5 camera is that they are typically much heavier, and may cause some issues to support them properly on a smaller camera. Additionally, the large image circle just about mandates that you use a hood or something else to limit the amount of light that is passsed into the camera but is not part of the image on the film. This will cause a tremendous amount of internal flare, which will result in loss of contrast, color saturation, and may even look like a light leak, if the conditions are bad enough.
For thoes reasons, I generally try to not cross over the lenses too much, especially at the wide end. For example, if I did have the 150SSXL, I wouldn't use it as a nortmal on my 4x5, because of these issues. I'd use a lens that has a much smaller IC, and is smaller and lighter to go along with it. The IC of the 150SSXL is so large that I bet it would be nearly impossible to hit the edges using normal movements on a 4x5. Even if you used indirect rise to increase the movement, you would have a hard time hitting the edge without the bellows interfering.
This is the situation where the 120 Nikkor and the 110SSXL are actually better, because they are not truely 8x10 lenses, and they have a smaller size and IC that become reasonable to use on a 4x5.
I have a 210 G Claron, and the 210 Computar. I use the Computar on the 8x10, and since it has replaced the G Claron, I have been planning to put the G Claron on ebay eventually. (I have trouble parting with camera equipment). If I were to do it again, I would still be using the Computar for the 8x10, as I'm very pleased with the performance so far.
---Michael
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