While many camera associates are focusing a majority of their efforts and resources on turning out pocket sized digital cameras that, admittedly, do impressive work for what they are these days there are still those of us committed hobbyists and professionals retention out for the best potential we can get. And even now, a decade into the 21st century, that potential comes from film and a large format camera. But having the big camera itself, you're only halfway there. You also need a big piece of glass (lens) to go on the front of it.
[b]Lens[/b]Large format lenses, particularly the longer focal lengths for formats above 8x10, are being manufactured by fewer and fewer associates and becoming more and more difficult to come by. That isn't to say that there aren't still a few great brands still available today but the man looking to purchase this type of lens needs to be aware that the second hand and auction markets are options that must be kept in mind. The foremost optics makers still currently producing large format lenses comprise Rodenstock, Schneider and Fuji with Schneider producing lenses up to 1100mm in their Fine Art Xxl line. These associates are known as "The Big 3" in this area. (It was The Big 4 until, unfortunately, Nikon ceased output of their large lenses in 2006. With none of these manufacturers being based in the Usa it can still be difficult to find some of their products for those of us here in the states.
If you have decided that large format is the thing for you and you're now looking to purchase a lens then there are a few considerations you'll want to keep in mind.
The first, of course, is what kind of camera are you going to be putting the lens on. Most habitancy get into larger cameras by beginning with a 4x5 format view camera. The 4x5 is by far the most favorite and the smallest and easiest to work with of the large format cameras. Above that there's 5x7, 8x10 and all the way up to 20x24 inch formats with varied institution and panoramic formats in between. The fancy you need to reconsider your camera format is the fact that it will influence how a lens of a singular focal distance behaves. For instance in 35mm photography a 50mm lens is determined "normal". In other words it produces a photo that looks similar to how the human eye sees the world - it isn't a wide or long lens. A 50mm lens on a 4x5 camera would be incredibly and obviously wide. On a 5x7 or larger camera it would be unusable. A general lens for a 4x5 camera is in the middle of 150mm and 180mm.
Another observation that is very important, especially when dealing with very large formats -8x10 and larger - is the lens coverage. This is normally given as an "image circle" of a singular diameter. If, for instance, a lens says that it has an image circle of 700mm that means that it will cover a piece of film that is 70cm from one angle to the other. And of procedure this determination is only valid for a inescapable bellows extension and focus distance so much care must be taken to make sure the lens you pick will not be leaving the edges of your film unexposed.
There are other considerations, many of which are face the scope of this article. But there are resources and good facts that can be found on the web. In any case, congratulations on your interest in this awesome and satisfying area of photography and good luck with looking and acquiring the right large format lens for you.
Getting Into Large Format Photography - The Lens
0 comments:
Post a Comment