360 or 400 mm lens

[hooman_aryan]

I use a 4x5 Sinar F. I like to traval as light as possible and

generally shoot landscape.

 

I am looking for a lens, something in the range of 360mm to about

450mm. I prefer not to carry the big lenses that Nikon offers. Last

time I rented Nikon's 400mm lens, the lens appeared too heavy on the

12-inch extension rail.

 

There are so many lenses with so many suffixes that is pretty

confusing on which one does what. Could any one recommend any lens

that is not very heavy and yet be easy to focus?

[michael_briggs2]

I don't think that Nikon has a 400 mm focal length LF lens, so I am not sure which lens you used last time.

 

Are you using a 12 inch extension rail in addition to the usual rail of your camera? So what is the total length available? To use a normal (i.e., non-telephoto) lens, a rough rule of thumb is that you need about 25% more rail length than the focal length in order to be able to focus reasaonbly closely. A telephoto lens, like the Nikkor-Ts, allow you to violate this rule, at the cost of extra weigth.

 

Perhaps you used the 450 mm Nikkor-M. This lens uses the fairly large Copal 3 shutter. The advantage is that the lens is fairly fast, f9. Fuji makes a 450 mm Fuji-C lens that instead uses a Copal 1 shutter, but the maximum aperture is reduced to f12.5. The lens is smaller and lighter. I have this lens and it is convenient to travel with and doesn't overwhelm my camera.

 

I don't find the f12.5 aperture to be a problem. With long lenses, the rays are arriving straight back to the ground glass and so that view is still usably bright even with the slow aperture. f12.5 would be very difficult in a wide angle, but is usable in a long focal length.

 

In general, to keep the weight down, look for slower lenses. In shorter focal lengths, there are the 300 mm Nikkor-M, the 300 mm Fuji-C, and the 305 mm G-Claron, all f9. (There are also Fuji-A lenses, 300 and 360 mm, but there are very hard to find.)

 

The 355 G-Claron is significantly larger; it is in a Copal 3 shutter. Telephoto lenses, such as the 360 Nikkor-T, tend to be heavy. The main reason to select one would be that you camera doesn't have long enough rail or bellows to use a non-telephoto.

 

Your requests for a light lens and one that is easy to focus are a bit in contradiction. A faster aperture increases the weight of a lens. But my experience is that a fast aperture isn't that important for a long lens, so I suggest trying a slower lens to meet your need for a lens that will be lighter to carry and for the strength of your extension rail.

 

Probably the best choice for you, assuming that your camera rail and bellows are long enough, is the 450 mm Fuji-C.

[profhlynnjones]

`My suggestion would be to find a good used Kodak Commercial Ektar (f6.3 to f64). This is a 4 element tessar type lens with excellent sharpness and contrast. These can be found in real camera shops but I suggest that you go to a "buy-sell-trade" amera and lens meeting.

 

Also look at (original) Calumet Caltars, 300mm f6.3 (improvement on the Comm Ektar), identical lenses by Ilex Optical as B&J Acuton, BBOI Acu-Tessar, or Ilex Paragon f6.3).

 

If you wish, email me for used lens information and I'll send information on numerous approaches (3 pages of them).

 

Lynn

[michael_beckmann]

I would look for a 360mm Rodenstock Apo-Ronar, that is a small lens and just right for 4x5. A Schneider Apo-Artar would be similar, but it is less common.