9-1/2" f6.8 Goerz Dagor AMerican Optical Co. for 8x10?

I am just delving into 8x10, and looking for a good moderate wide angle. Does

anyone have information or experience with the 9-1/2" f6.8 Dagor, in regards to

image quality and coverage? Or perhaps a more suitable recommendation? Thank

you.

The 9.5 inch will offer modest room for movement. Some have said

there is a slight focus shift from 6.8 to 22. Contrast is good for a

classic lens as there are only four air-glass surfaces, and these

lenses are very sharp. It will be more than suitable for contact

printing.

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My advice is to make sure it is in a good shutter if this is your

first experience with large format; you don't want to waste a lot of

film getting to know a finnicky shutter when you are just learning.

If you already use a large format camera, then you already know what

you are willing to put up with. Also, if you intend to use filters,

consider how you are going to do that with this lens. For $75 Steve

Grimes will make you an adaptor to take modern filters. It's kind of

pricey but I bought one and love it. I can now put filters and even a

lens shade on an old Artar I have.

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I ended up selling my 9 1/2" dagor because I got a modern lens in that

focal length, but it was an outstanding lens. I still use the 7 inch

dagor on 8x10 often. It just barely covers the format at infinity,

with some fairly noticeable image degradation in the corners.

John, How much do you want to spend? Robert White has(last time I

looked)excellent deals on recently discontinued G-Clarons, 240mm

270mm and 305mm in new copal shutters. When the price of new stuff

(excellent new stuff) approaches the price of really old stuff it is

certainly worth considering. Dagors have excellent reputations of

course, but take a look at Robert White too. Cheers!

> recently discontinued G-Clarons,

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Discontinued?

Discontinued! Thats the word. By the time I'll be able to afford a

new lens they'll probably be long gone and the used ones will have

achieved cult status. I think Badger Graphic was dealing on G-

Clarons as well.

The Dagors are nice lenses. I have a 168mm Ser. III, which just

covers 8x10", an 8-1/4" Gold Dot in barrel, which covers with a little

movement and is soon to be shutter mounted, and a 12" Gold Dot in

barrel, which covers with plenty of room for movements and which I use

on the front of an Ilex #5 shutter. They are compact in design and

very sharp with good contrast and smooth tonality.

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In the range you are considering, I use a 10" Wide-Field Ektar, which

has a huge image circle. It's not as snappy as the Dagors, but it

does offer huge coverage. I suspect the two facts may be

related--huge coverage resulting in more light bouncing around inside

the bellows, so I'm building a compendium shade for use with my camera

which should improve contrast with this and other lenses.

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Here's a suburban landscape in B&W with the 12" GD Dagor:

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http://www.photo.net/photo/496688&size=lg

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and here's a color portrait with the same lens. I included some

details under the main image, but the scans aren't really as sharp as

the original chrome under a loupe:

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http://www.photo.net/photo/524513&size=lg