Longest lens possible for Wista RF

[michael_kuszek1]

Hello,anyone know the longest possible lens that can be used for the

4x5 Wista RF?

Any lens recommendations on a long lens?

How do you use the rangefinder part of this camera?

Thanks in advance

[brian_ellis3]

I don't know anything about this particular camera but a common suggestion for determining the longest usable lens on any large format camera is to subtract about 25% from the length of the bellows if you plan to focus on things as close as a few feet and as far as infinity. For example, using this guideline if your bellows is 20" your longest focal length lens would be about 15" or roughly 375mm. You can use a longer lens, however, if you're willing to compromise on the close focus distance. For example, I used a 300mm lens on a camera with only a 325mm bellows extension. I could focus as close as about 10 feet (and of course as far as infinity). With a longer bellows I could have focused closer but I was willing to accept the 10 foot distance in order to be able to use that long a lens with that relatively short a bellows. You also can use a longer lens than this guideline would suggest if you use a telephoto lens ("telephoto" here being used not in the common but incorrect sense of any "long" lens but rather in the technical sense of a lens specially designed so that the front nodal point is out in front of the lens itself, allowing a longer lens than normal to be used with a bellows of a given focal length). For example, on the camera with a 325mm bellows I was able to use a 400mm telephoto lens.

 

There is a mathematical formula for calculating exactly how close a lens of a given focal length will focus with a bellows of a given length, maybe someone here who is more mathemtatically inclined than I am can provide you with that formula.

[nicholas_fiduccia]

The calculation is quite simple, the closest you can focus on an

object away from the lens is given (to a first approximation) by

 

sf/(s-f)

 

where s is the bellows extention and f is the focal length of the

lens. For example, if s= 325mm and f= 300mm, you will be able

to focus:

 

(300)(325)/(325-300) = 3900mm = 3.9m away

 

Since this is derived from the basis optical formula for a "simple"

lens, the actual distance to the subject will be slightly different.

[rob_barker]

Assuming the extesion is the same as the Wista VX, which I believe it is, then a 300mm lens will just focus at infinity and needs a top hat lensboard to be useable. I have used a Symmar S but wouldn't recommend it - you can see the rails bending under the strain! A light lens like a 305 G-Claron or the 300 Nikkor M (Not the W) is the best bet if you really need that focal length.

 

In practical terms I'd suggest looking at a G-Claron 270mm f9 - it will work on a normal lensboard and is light enough not to strain the camera bed. I think Robert White have a few of the last batch in stock at a good price - they are now discontinued.

[jarrod_connerty]

I have the VX, which like RF & SP all share identical bellows draw.<p>I think in practical terms you must accept 300mm as the longest possible non-telephoto focal length.<p>I wanted to buy the 300 M Nikkor, which is often available used. But even with a tophat lensboard you cannot focus close enough to get a head & shoulders portrait. The Fuji "C" 300mm f/8.5, however, has a shorter film-to-flange length by about 11mm, and this little bit was all the difference in the world. I bought it and find that at landscape distances, with a tophat lensboard, I can focus as close as I'd need and still have enough bellows play to do any movements I'd like. At portrait distances the bellows are quite tight, but I don't find tilt/shift/swing movements as necessary for portraiture.<p>By the way, if you'll be doing portraiture with your lens choice, I'd recommend that you consider switching out the shutter to a Copal Press type and getting the Auto Interlock Release Cable. It is awfully convenient.