What is the sharpest lightest 90mm lens.

What is the sharpest lightest lens in the 90mm area that allows

small to moderate movements.

 

From what I understand the 90mm Angulon has no room for movements.

 

I am thinking a better lens might be a 100mm WF Ektar.

 

Are there any others.

Either lens would do the job. Both can be very sharp indeed.

 

I have a 90 Angulon that takes photos as sharp (within its field of coverage) as my 110XL aspheric wonder optic. A good 100 Wide Field Ektar could do the same thing as my Angulon.

 

If you need multi-coatings, how about a 90mm Rodenstock Geronar?

The Zeiss Protar f:18 has more coverage, pre-1949(?) Angulon has more coverage too. The Protar is the smallest of the two, but the Angulon comes in a shutter. There are "transitional" Angulons with coating but in the old design with more coverage.

 

"Coverage" also depends on your definition of "sharp". There are several small, light barrel lenses with 100 degrees coverage, but it's your call whether they are sharp anywhere.

I haven't used enough 90mm lenses on LF films to know the difference. That said, I find my f/8 Super Angulon to be plenty sharp, and it has lots of room for movements, especially tilts where you need less as the focal length gets shorter. It is very light compared to the other lenses I carry around.

In the "90mm area", maybe the 80mm Schneider Super Symmar XL, f=81mm ftf=84.7mm. 271 grams with a modern shutter.

 

Steve

I have the 100mm Wide Field Ektar. It doesn't have room for a lot of movement but it does allow some, I haven't tried to push it to see how far it will go. I also have an 80mm Schneider Super Symmar XL which is a very nice lens, a little bigger and heavier than the 100 but not by much. It has room for a lot of movement but costs much more than the Wide Field Ektar.

here is a page with some 90 and 100 mm lenses with weights and sharness tests. http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/index.html . notice as the weight and price goes up so does the sharpness.. so there are tradeoffs.. im very happy with my super angelon 90 f8, it is not heavy, and sharp enough for what ive done.. i would not say it has alot of movement tho.. id prefer the extra light for focussing of the f 5.6 but price and weight keeps me from going for it.. dave..

I've owned both the 90mm SA f/8 and f/5.6 lenses and both have very good coverage. The older f/6.8's do not have much. I used the 90mm's for architectural work with tilts, swings, shifts, etc. and never had a problem. You should also consider a center filter if you use much movement.

Josh,

 

If you haven't seen it already, Kerry Thalmann's page has a nice overview of commonly available compact, lightweight lenses for hiking and backpacking - http://www.thalmann.com/largeformat/lightwei.htm