Recomendation for a 90mm lens

[Mathew Look]

I am a little lost when it comes to selecting a suitable lens to start off with on my Horsman 5x4 monorail. I am pretty sure that a 90mm will cover most of what I want to start with based on what I have read. I have a fairly meager budget of a few hundred pounds - I have three other optics all of which appear to have defective shutters including a 'schneider-kreuznach Technika Symmar 1:5,6/210 - 1:12/370' - I would like to get these repaired or sell as is to fund a quality lens - but as I am knew to it I have little idea of the likely costs for repairs v's value of the glass to fit a new shutter to etc
Any recommendations for model of lens, make etc and where to buy without fear of picking a dud and where I might get repair estimates ?

I look forward to any helpful replies.
Thanks
Mat

[zoikes]

When I looked into this I couldn't find any strong recommendations for 90mm lenses. I think anything multicoated would be fine.

That said, I have a modern Rodenstock 6.8 and it is superb. Phil has one for sale in the classifieds (£400).

(The 90 mm Fujinon for sale by jennym should be good also, based on my 125 and 180)

Ian

[Mathew Look]

Thanks Zoikes. I have pm'd - it is quite unfamiliar ground for me - everything for the last 7 years has been Nikon or nothing for my 35mm format. When I looked at used prices for Nikon LF glass I got the impression it doesn't come up very often.
Mat

[dave_whatever]

Any biogon type 90mm from the last half decade aught to give you good results be it single or multicoated. Super angulons, grandagons, caltars or anything by fuji or nikon. The main choice is do you want a heavy wallet or a heavy lens!

[Mathew Look]

Wallet weight appears critical for so many things these days ! Thanks for the advise.

[Clive Gray]

A Schneider Kreuznach Super Angulon F8 will likely be the cheapest option simply because by in large they seem to be the most available..

The F8 will be dimmer than the F5.6 and have smaller coverage but is entirely adequate for 5x4

Slightly scruffy one on ebay for 245

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schneider-Kre ... 0655076061

Has the advantage of being on a sinar board. Some Horesman cameras at least the lensboards are the same as Sinar but I do not know enough about Horesman's to say exactly which ones.


If you search for completed listings on ebay this lens has sold for less than the above quite often.

[Collas]

John Koehrer on LargeFormatPhotography has one for sale at $210 (around £135), though you'd still need to source a suitable lens board, and pay the Customs charges and "handling" fees.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/ ... hp?t=84157

Nick

[Adrian Twiss]

I use a multi coated Super Angulon f8 and find it to be an excellent lens. As a 5x4 user I find its coverage more than adequate for my needs. I mainly do landscape with a small amount of architecture. I do find that whilst not absoloutely necessary it is more convenient to use bag bellows. Although an f8 lens focussing is not difficult even in moderately low light condittions. Some may find 67mm filters a little incovenient. I also own a Bronica system where all the lenses use 67mm filters.

[Valerio Trigari]

Hi Mat,

I use a Schneider Kreuznach Super Angulon 90mm f/5.6 multi-coated and I'm extremely happy with it. I got it second hand from Linhof & Studio in Leigh-on-Sea. The lens is pin sharp and has ample movements on my 4x5 Technikardan, provided I use bag bellows instead of the standard tapered ones. You can use the latter, but the amount of movement you can apply is rather limited.

My recommendation is to get a multi-coated lens, rather than a single-coated. Also, try to get a lens with a more recent shutter, e.g. recent Copal shutters have the speed ring coloured in black, while older ones have a metal ring. There's nothing wrong with the older shutters, but new ones tend to be more accurate.

If you go on eBay you can find many 90mm lenses on sale, from Rodenstock, Schneider, Nikkor and Fujinon (though less of the last two makers). If I may suggest, I wouldn't go for an f/8 lens, as it is rather dark and could be difficult to focus precisely in low light situations. Having said that, f/8 lenses are usually cheaper than f/5.6, so the choice is also connected to how much you want to spend.

Hope this helped!

Valerio

[lostlandsuk]

Can I hold up my hand for my lightweight favourite the ordinary (non Super) Angulon 6.8 - it doesn't have much room for movements, but it is incredibly small and light, has no flare that I can see and is nice and sharp too - also cheapest of the pile by a long way. Try and find a later one (late 60's in a Synchro-Compur) and you have a reliable companion that won't break the bank or your back
Obviously darker situations induce the focussing sweats, but you get used to it !
Folds up nicely in my Wista too . . .
Phil

[hmvmanuk]

I'd add my endorsement of the Angulon too. A super lens in a compact package.

Gavin

[Ed Moss]

Did loads of research last year when I was after one, the Nikkor 90mm was the clear winner (F4.5 )

[dave_whatever]

I'd add my endorsement of the Angulon too. A super lens in a compact package.

Gavin

To be honest I wasn't overly impressed with the angulon I had. Corners weren't sharp enough for my taste, even stopped right down - and that was with no movements. I had a very late serial example - if these are supposed to be the best then god help the rest of them!

In addition, if you're using system filters (Lee etc) then the lens really is too small/flat, makes accessing the shutter speeds and aperture lever a bit fiddly when you've got an adapter ring on.

I sold mine and got a fuji 90/8 for less money - absolutely no regrets there, any old 90/8 is a far better choice for a general purpose workhorse wide angle in my opinion.

[lostlandsuk]

Hi Dave - just been consoling my Angulon
Reading a bit about it, there was a fairly large amount of variation between samples - I was lucky, I got a good one and I am chuffed with the results - I don't need it for extreme movements, just field work.
There's an interesting article here:
http://www.hevanet.com/cperez/test/AngSSXL.html
As for cost - £90 was what I paid - second cheapest LF lens I've bought - cheapest being a wonderful 203mm Ektar (£45!) - I'd love to know where you got a cheap Fujinon
And Mat - your shutters should all be repairable - there are plenty of camera repairers still left - Black On White and Newton Ellis being two that come to mind.
Merry Christmas
Phil

[Mathew Look]

Happy New Year to All -
Thanks to all that took the time to reply to my question. Following some of the advise I secured a 90mm schnieder Kreuznach' SA f5,6 pre-loved as they say. Having just got a board to mount it to I set up my Horseman monorail for the first time - then again and a third time making sure I had everything the right way around etc.

Nice bright image on the GG & plenty of image to allow movements.

However, I ran into a problem when I fitted my digital back (don't get excited its not a P60 or P80 just an Nikon dslr 35mm). Having shifted the 'sensor/film plane' away from the lens by some 68mm due to the mounting and location of the sensor within the dslr body - I was unable to focus the image - the standards would touch and I was still quite a way short of a sharp image. The resulting space between the lens and mounting plate of the dslr left effectively no room for camera movement !

Having had several cups of tea and taken far too many measurements it looks like I need a lens which throws its first plane of focus somewhere in the region of 140mm from the lens mount board. (My 90mms P' of F' is approx 110mm ?) and the lens extends 45 mm behind the lens board. OR a lens whch doesn't extend as far into the bellows ?

Anyone got any comparable measurements to help me select a more suitable lens - I appreciate I could go longer with the focal length, however I was looking for around the 90mm to 110mm if possible for the angle of view.

It was a great thrill to see my first inverted image on the GG - and have a play with the camera movements. I feel quite deflated now.

Any help much appreciated.
Mat