250 mm lens, anyone use one? How good is it..

[markus_staley]

I just got my fuji gx680 complete with a 125mm lens,, I want to shoot

portraits mostly with it, but I find I need to get the camera in my subjects

face... I am considering getting a 250mm as a long portrait lens, has anyone

used the 250 for portraits, and if so how do you like it?

[silvergull]

While fine portraits have been made with nearly all available focal lengths, I have tried

250mm on my Rollei 6008AF (2.8/180 with 1.4X Longar = 4/250mm). This is

a little too long on 6x6 for my taste. The 180 by itself is just about perfect.

 

On a 6x7, 210 is the long end of portrait lenses in my opinion. Your 6x8 has the same

width and the Fuji has a 210 in its range.

 

The 250, like the 135 on a 35mm camera, has some flattening of facial features. On my

Rollei, the 180 does not. In your situation, I would try a 180 or a 210.

 

If you can't rent a Fuji 210, trying a Mamiya 6x7 with a 210, and, perhaps a 180, would be

a useful exercise to see just which lens does what you want.

 

Cheers, Jim

[john_papandreou]

I actually Use a 250mm lens on my Bronica ETRsi with a thin Spacer (Allows the lense to close Focus)lets me crop in for tight head shots.

 

I also find using this setup the background gets completly blured even at F22 !!!

 

Try it it is a great Idea !!!

 

Johnkpap

[tom_musselman]

Hi Markus. I got the 250 GXM for portraits and architectural closeups with my GX680III. It's great for portraits, equivalent to about 120mm in 35mm format, which I like for waist-up shots or headshots.

 

In my tests with my lens, it is fairly soft wide open, useable between f/8 and f/45, and fairly soft at f/64. It is a very sharp lens between f/11 and f/22. For portraits, you might like the softness when using it wide open. If it matters, I found no barrel or pincushion distortion, as expected for a good lens of this focal length.

[nelson_david_blocher1]

Since Fuji makes a 190mm Soft-focus for portraits, and they are relatively inexpensive on e-Bay, why not go for that?

 

I agree that the 250mm is too long for portraits on 6x8. I have both the 210mm and 250mm but use them for landscapes mostly.

 

If you do not want soft-focus, then the 180mm f3.2, with its shallow depth of field and slightly ethereal image wide open is a really nice lens as well.

 

I abandoned the 150mm Sonnar on my Hasselblad for the 180mm for portraits some time ago. Despite the 6x6 negative, one is really shooting a 4.5x6 portrait in most cases. Therefore, the 210mm on 6x8 should actually be very close to the 180mm on the cropped 6x6. The 210mm, being an f5.6, is likely cheaper and lighter than the 180mm f3.2 which is a gorgeous, albeit heavy, chunk of glass.

 

Dave Blocher

[laszlo_gallo]

Here is a 250 sample (not too perfect, forte 400 + xtol ...)<div></div>