4x5 portraits using surplus lens

[Blue4130]

A couple of years ago I picked up a cheap ($5) surplus achromat lens. I've used it a few times, thought I'd share some examples. Sometimes you don't need the latest and greatest to make nice photos... 

[19_blackie_73]

If it works it works as long as you achieve what you want to achieve, everythings fine (at least if it is within the law)

Great pictures! Out of pure interest, what body did you use? How did you adapt the lens?

[Bombastinator]

Yeah. Optics and lens grinding hasn’t changed all that much.  Shutters got faster, some coatings got better, image capture changed beyond all recognition, but lenses are still basically lenses.

[Blue4130]

Just now, 19_blackie_73 said:

If it works it works as long as you achieve what you want to achieve, everythings fine (at least if it is within the law)

Great pictures! Out of pure interest, what body did you use? How did you adapt the lens?

It's a Chamonix 4x5 so lenses are mounted to flat plates that mount to the camera. I had a shop laser cut boards from 2mm carbon fiber. 

[19_blackie_73]

5 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

It's a Chamonix 4x5 so lenses are mounted to flat plates that mount to the camera. I had a shop laser cut boards from 2mm carbon fiber.

 

Ah i see. So basically as oldschool as you can get after the pinhole

8 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Yeah. Optics and lens grinding hasn’t changed all that much.  Shutters got faster, some coatings got better, image capture changed beyond all recognition, but lenses are still basically lenses.

Yeah, mostly calculations of optical systems got way better, worked for a research project some time ago. Lens Layout is one hell of a job if you just tip your toes in with no experience. But all computer aided so you can calculate way more image aberrations and correct them accordingly, so lens systems got way better.

[Bombastinator]

1 minute ago, 19_blackie_73 said:

Ah i see. So basically as oldschool as you can get after the pinhole

Yeah, mostly calculations of optical systems got way better, worked for a research project some time ago. Lens Layout is one hell of a job if you just tip your toes in with no experience. But all computer aided so you can calculate way more image aberrations and correct them accordingly, so lens systems got way better.

Way cheaper for better stuff anyway.  The high end stuff relied on mechanical perfection.  They couldn’t correct aberrations so they avoided having them in the first place.  The really expensive lenses are still good.  They don’t transfer as much light because of coating technology and they tend to have poorer edge effects.  There’s probably a lot better uniformity too.  It used to be you looked through a lens before you bought it because they did not come out of the factory equal.  Mail order was more or less not done.  There was no way to tell if the thing you were getting would hold up.

[Blue4130]

20 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Way cheaper for better stuff anyway.  The high end stuff relied on mechanical perfection.  They couldn’t correct aberrations so they avoided having them in the first place.  The really expensive lenses are still good.  They don’t transfer as much light because of coating technology and they tend to have poorer edge effects.  There’s probably a lot better uniformity too.  It used to be you looked through a lens before you bought it because they did not come out of the factory equal.  Mail order was more or less not done.  There was no way to tell if the thing you were getting would hold up.

Not entirely true. There are lenses from pre-1900 that out resolve and photograph better than modern, the thing is, people wanted smaller cameras and faster lenses. It's much harder to design a lens for a 35mm camera to be fast and error free than it is compared to a whole plate or 4x5 camera. 

[Bombastinator]

32 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Not entirely true. There are lenses from pre-1900 that out resolve and photograph better than modern, the thing is, people wanted smaller cameras and faster lenses. It's much harder to design a lens for a 35mm camera to be fast and error free than it is compared to a whole plate or 4x5 camera. 

Fair

[Blue4130]

A few more portraits from this week.