Going big or going home

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

So I bought a 4X5 camera. I selected a Calumet (I forget the model, but it has front and back tilt and lift). If I'm unlucky, I may end up owning two of them this week as the one I just won I expected to be sniped on (my max bid was REALLY low.)

So here are my questions and I've had trouble finding the answers on the Internet.

1- The lens this camera comes with I've determined is not going to suffice. It's an osciliscope lens and will be fun to play around with, but does not have a large image circle. I have three 4X5 enlarger lenses in M39 mount. If I attached a shutter to one, would they have a large enough image circle to function as a lens for the camera? How would I determine image circle size?

2- If the enlarger lenses aren't feasible (I'm not actually holding my breath for this), and lens suggestions? I saw a Super Angulon 72mm that looked reasonable. What about standard lenses?

3- Regarding the osciliscope lens, it has an image circle of about 71mm. So my idea is to make a 35mm 'view' camera with adjustable bellows (rise and tilt.) Making the bellows doesn't worry me so much, but has anyone ever tried something similar? As a proof of concept, the other night I used my 55mm 6X7 lens and a 'bellows' made of a pillowcase and rubber bands to see if I could set my camera at an angle and make the far wall of my living room parallel. It worked... kind of.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

Simplest solution for you is to get one of the many 135mm / 13.5cm or 150mm/15cm or 6 1/2'/162mm lenses in shutter.
Most aren't expensive. They were all made to cover 4x5. The longer ones will give you more movements.

If you are in the US, Wollensak Velostigmats or Raptars, Graflex Optars, Kodak Anastigmats or Ektars are all plentiful and have shutters that are easy to restore to working order. Its amazing what a little lighter fluid will do. These excellent lenses are generally from the 1940's-50's. You shouldn't have to pay more than $50 for a decent working one.

Another source are lenses from old German plate cameras, which in the 9x12 size had 135mm lenses standard. The nice ones had Tessars, Skopars, Xenars, but even many of the cheaper ones had Doppelanastigmats like Eurynars. These are 1920's-30's lenses and shutters, and are more likely to need work. But they are definitely available for $50 or less.

Adapting enlarger lenses is a problem because they will generally have to be front-mounted on a larger shutter, unless you are very lucky and find one where the cells will go straight into a shutter. Front-mounting requires a shutter two sizes or so larger than what you would normally need, hence rarer and more expensive, etc.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

Thank you, Luis, that is exactly what I needed to know. My thinking on adapting an enlarger lens is that I have a 50mm M39 enlarger lens I doubt I'll use for enlarging, but it's an f2.8. That's significantly faster than anything I'd find in a large format lens. My thought also was that it would be ultra wide on a 4X5.

That said, for the trouble, I may be better off simply buying one of the lenses you suggested and learning how to use the new camera before trying anything fancy.

luisalegria · Expire: 2018-01-18

A typical 50mm enlarger lens would definitely not be ultrawide on a 4x5.
It would project just a small circle on the 4x5 film at infinity.
The image circle would grow as you focused into the macro range, but you would be at some extreme macro range, way past 1:1 before it covered 4x5.

If you want a genuine wide angle for 4x5 there are a lot of options, but no really cheap ones.
The cheapest are probably the Wollensak/Graflex 90mm/6.8 wide angle lenses. They will just barely cover 4x5, giving an angle of view about like a 28mm wide angle lens on 35mm film. I have seen these go for $60-120 more or less.

There are similar 65mm lenses but these are made for 2x3 (120 film).

More expensive would be the various Schneider and Rodenstock types. I don't know if you want to go there. In that world there are genuine ultrawides that will cover 4x5, but we are talking big money.

David · Expire: 2013-01-25

Yeah, I don't want to go cheap on a WA lens for this. I may hit Glasser's next time I'm in the city and see what they have. Are you at all familiar with ICT in Mountain View? I've heard they sell LF lenses, but I've never been there.