Hi,
I recently bought a Horseman 45fa field camera as I will be traveling more often in the near future and need a more compact and transportable 4x5 camera compared to the Toyo 45c monorail that I have been using to get familiar with large format photography in the last 2 years. My favourite focal length to use is 120mm, and with my Toyo that has been a Schneider Super- Angolan 120mm f/8. That lens however is too large for my new field camera and quite heavy by design. So I'm looking for some buying advise for a newer, lighter lens with about the same focal length.
I want a lens that is compact/ light and offers a sharp and colour true image. I'm shooting mainly landscape and nature motives usually at around f/22 - f/32 on either slide or colour reversal film and like to stick to one focal length in general.
My first choice would be a Schneider Apo-Symmar 120mm F/5.6 MC that can be found on eBay for around 300 - 500 dollar. However I'm currently staying in South Africa and shipping stuff into the country requires you to pay ridiculously high customs fees.
A local shop has a Rodenstock Apo-Macro Sironar 120 F/5.6 for sale for about 300 dollar.
My question is if this lens could fit my needs, since I have no experience with macro lenses?
How does it behave at f/22 or even f/32, diffraction/ vignette wise? Are there any differences in practical application like focusing on the ground glass compared to a non- macro lenses?
I don't use a lot of movements ( if any at all), in some cases maybe slight tilts or swings, but since the lens has a very small image circle, how well does it cover 4x5?
Basically I need to know if this macro lens works for my tasks just as fine as a non-macro lens?
So any advise is highly appreciated.
Kind regards!
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