suitable lenses for portraits

[Carlos A. Schwartz]

I am a beginner in 8x10" photography and interested in close up portraits. I have Nikkor 240mm and 450mm lenses. This one requires long bellows extension and faces appear not as close as I would like. Is there a better lens or combination for this purpose? Carlos

[David R Munson]

I've done a fair amount of portraiture on 8x10, or at least enough to know that I find the 240mm focal length to be rather nice for that application. Some might prefer a longer focal length, but I think it works pretty well.

[Ralph Barker]

My preference leans toward the 450mm for portaits on 8x10, but there are numerous trade-offs, both technical and artistic, that need to sorted through on an individual basis. The long bellows draw required by the 450mm can certainly be inconvenient. But, I like the perspective provided by the increased camera-to-subject distance with the longer lens.

If I knew someone close with a Nikor 600T, I'd love to tinker with it for tight head shots on 8x10. I've played around a bit with the 360T I often use on 4x5. While it obviously doesn't cover 8x10 at infinity, at the bellows extension used for head shots, I'm not seeing any fall-off on the ground glass. I need to find an interesting face to put in front of the camera before I burn any film, though.

[Stan. Laurenson-Batten]

Carlos, David & Ralph. I use a Sinar P1 5x4 for general work, which is taking photographs for artist, both portrait and landscape. I am considering going up to 8X10. I have a Rodenstock 360/9 Apo Ronar. I am thinking of using it for close head shots. Does anyone have any experience of using this focal lenght lens for portrait work, and what extention rail/bellows length would be the most useful to get?

[David R Munson]

Well, you'd need a good amount of extension. One thing you might want to think about, though, is light. Would you be doing available light? Hot lights? Strobes? Last time I did an 8x10 portrait, I was rating my film at 100 ASA, lighting was 2400 Ws out of a Profoto head into an umbrella about 4 feet from the subject, and with the extension that gave me about f/32, which in turn translated to about 2" of depth of field on a head shot. 8x10 portraiture, particularly up close, tends to require a lot of light. Not necessarily a problem outside, but definitely an issue in the studio if your lighting equipment is limited.

[Stan. Laurenson-Batten]

Thanks David - very interesting. To start with I will be taking pictures in natural light with reflectors, so no problem there. I have worked out an extention of about 14" on 5X4 which is within the scope of my 18" Sinar rail. As soon as I am satisfied with the 5X4 set up with B&W I will move on to colour and ultimately to 10x8. I process my own work. Using the 360mm lens means that I will have to use a double 12" bellows. I am now enthused to get some results with this challenge. I suspect that exposure calibration may be a bit hit and miss to start with, but I intend to start using the inverse sq.law theory, with a little help from my digi-meter. Anyone with further comments most welcome.

[Mark Sampson]

360mm on 8x10 is a 'normal' focal length. If you want to fill the 8x10 with your subject's face you'll be uncomfortably close to them. Perspective might well be less than pleasing as a result... The magnification will be close to 1:1 so you will lose at least one f/stop, up to two, due to the bellows extension factor. Add the depth-of field issues... it all makes me think it will be quite a challenge. But the results may well be worth the effort!

[David A. Goldfarb]

I think there's generally a tendency to use wider lenses for portraiture as the format goes up. I own a few lenses of around 14" or 360mm that I use on 8x10" and even 11x14" for portraits. Karsh used a 14" Commercial Ektar, and Hurrell used the 14-1/2" Verito until he switched to a Goerz Celor (16" if I remember correctly). Any longer and you need more bellows, and the whole situation of LF portraiture is strange enough for the subject to begin with that having the camera a few inches closer isn't the strangest thing that's going on.

[tim atherton]

I also find my 250mm lens to be rather nice for protraits (but not real "close up") - the other lens I use is a 210 mm Kowa convertable to 370mm - at the 370mm end it's very nice for portraits - a sort of "just right" focal length for me.