Hi,

I have a 4x5 CG with 135mm lens.
I'm looking into a wide lens (75-90mm) and a long lens (200-300).
I've searched a lot of pages, but the more I look, the more confused I get.. too many options.

what is a good choice for the above ranges. I'm not looking for top notch lenses, but good price-performance.
Should I look for the vintage lenses, or are more modern lenses an option as well?
apart from the wollensacks and ektars etc, I see voigtlaenders and hamburg press lenses.. and LOTs more..
is there a restriction on the long size for a CG?

thanks!

Marco

You're in Europe so a good price to performance would be the 210mm G-claron. Or for that matter the 240mm. Often found in barrels but easy to mount into shutters. You're limited by your bellows length. Measure you're bellows that is the absolutely longest lens you can focus at infinity unless you go to a telephoto design. But you need more if you intend to focus closer. So getting a lens that you can focus only at infinity is a bad idea.

I contend the two best wide angle lenses for the Graphic are the Schneider 90mm Angulon and the 3.5" WA Golden Dagor.

The Dagor will be more expensive by about double, but have more movements.

The Angulon will cover all the movements of the camera, paricularly if you stop down.

I don't recommend the 90mm Super Angulon as it's too big, heavy and is overkill.

The best bang for the buck is the 88mm Bausch and Lomb lens, usually selling for less than $75, but they may be hard to find in your area.


On the long end, you're limited to the 210-240mm length if you want to be able to focus to 6 feet and not go into a telephoto design.

Telephoto lenses use less bellows draw than a normal lens of the same length. The two common teles for the Graphic are the 10" and 15" Tele Optars. Schneider also made similar lenses named the Tele Arton and the ________ (can't remember)

They are good lenses but they won't be as contrasty or sharp as say a graphic lens like the G claron.

At the long end, how about the 203mm. f:7.7 "Ektar"?

Marco, both the 90mm Angulon and 210 Symmar can be found for prices between 100 and 200 euro. Go to the the open air camera fair in Doesburg this Sunday and I'm sure you can find them there.

Groetjes,

Siu Fai