ultra large format lenses

Does anybody know anything about the 1070mm nikkor apo? Or for that matter,

anything about lenses for large format in the 900 or so milimeters to 1000+

millimeter range? I shoot 11x14 and am interested in larger.

There is a 1040 or so Rodenstock Apo which is very sharp, and the current Schneider 1100 XXL which is better.

Art, you might try re-posting this on the Large Format Forum :

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/forum?topic_id=1547

 

or if no takers there then on QTL's Large Format Photography Page :

 

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/

The later Apo-Nikkors and the Apo-Ronars are the same four-elements, four group design, typically spec'd by their manufacturers as covering about 46 degrees. Sometimes they cited less coverage in the longest focal lengths. You might get more coverage for contact print usage. Since barrel versions of these lenses were marketed as process lenses, coverage diameter was usually specified for 1:1, so be careful of figures that you see.

 

The 1070 mm lens isn't in the brochure that I have of the four-element, four-group version, so probably it from the early series, which are said to be tessar designs. The coverage was about the same.

 

The longer focal length Apo-Nikkors tend to be in rather large barrels.

A lens with a full angle of coverage of 46 degrees will have a diameter of coverage, at infinity, of 0.85 times its focal length. If you see a value twice this, it is the coverage for 1:1.

This is a 1000mm Rodenstock Apo-Ronar

 

www.resonantlink.com/fotoavv/ronar3.jpg

 

It is a six element design with a weight in excess of 5 kg or 11 lb. One has to build a camera around it and not the other way around, for two reasons: (1) the weight, that puts on the front standard a considerable stress, and (2) the lensboard, given that even a 6in Deardorff board is too small.

 

I believe there is a four-element version that is more manageable (relatively speaking, of course).

 

Cheers

 

Marco