B & J 8x10 Grover and Carl Meyer Test

[allancobb]

<p>Hello All,</p>

<p>About a year ago I acquired (it was a good deal) a well-used but completely functional 8x10 Burke and James Grover monorail with a 305mm f/4.5 Carl Mayer Anastigmat. As I have read here and elsewhere, both the camera itself and the Carl Meyer Anastigmat have mixed reviews. Recently, I finally had an opportunity to put it through some paces at a nearby farm that is about to disappear. The film used was Arista.Edu Ultra 100 and the lens was stopped down to f/22 if I remember correctly. After I processed the film, I scanned a 35mm wide section of the negative, since with my old Agfa Snapscan scanner that's all it can "see."</p>

<p>In my opinion I was pleasantly surprised with the level of definition provided by the lens, but with my so far limited experience in large format, I may be wrong. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>And speaking of scanners, are there any relatively cheap flatbed scanners capable of scanning 8x10 negatives or transparencies? I know a lot of folks use the Epson V700 but so far it's a little out of my price range. Are there any older model Epson or other scanners on the used market that are 8x10 capable for under $200? Thanks in advance, Allan</p><div></div>

[michaelging]

<p>I have one of these , http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?oid=49164280, If you can find a used one, they are great scanners. I have only used it for 6x6 6x7 35mm and 4x5. But it will do up to 8 x10. </p>

[leicaglow]

<p>The Epson 4990's are very good scanners; the predecessor to the V750. They are finally coming down in price on fleabay, to where you could probably buy one for around $200 or less.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>Without being scanned on my own scanner, I cannot tell you how sharp your lens is. From what I see, I`d say the photo looks to be very sharp and the scanning not so... impressive?. </p>

[allancobb]

<p>I know, sorry about the scan, it was the best I could do with the tools at hand. And so far, the Epson 4990 seems to satisfy the 8x10 requirement, thanks! I'm actually going to use it today to shoot some interiors of the National Building Museum great hall in DC for some further exercise.</p>

[profhlynnjones]

<p>Any lens that is a "Carl Meyer" is re-branded by B&J from some some other manufacturer, while that in itself isn't a bad thing, it doesn't help you to know what it really was. The B&J owner did his own testing and found it acceptable. I've seen lots of good ones.</p>

<p>Lynn</p>

[allancobb]

<p>Ok, I finally found myself an Epson 4990 scanner so I could scan up to 8x10! So I scanned the same negative, and cropped the top and bottom somewhat, originally saved as a TIFF and scaled it down as a JPEG to keep the file size reasonable. So now here's the same image, but a little better view than my earlier attempt. Once again, I was happily surprised as to the capability of this particular Carl Meyer lens, given the varied reviews I've seen. Am I missing anything? Cheers, Allan</p><div></div>

[allancobb]

<p>Here's another test using the 4x5 reducing back for the camera using E100VS of the Great Hall in the National Building Museum, Washington, DC. Please excuse the blown out highlights up by the windows... work in progress! Thanks</p><div></div>