Prototype of a zoom lens for 4x5!

[Akira]

Nex to the Fujifilm Square (showroom and gallery) in Roppongi, Tokyo, there is Photo History Musium where cameras and lenses that were epoch-making at various times in the history of photography.

Among the displayed items, I found an abnormally large zoom designed for the 4x5 format.  It is a 150-210mm/f5.6 constant aperture "standard" zoom.  Here is a picture.  Fuji's film SLR of a standard size should tell the size of the zoom and magnitude of my surprize.

Hope you enjoy it!

[Birna Rørslett]

Poor Copal shutter and the strain it'll have to cope with ....

[Akira]

...and the lens plate.

[Birna Rørslett]

The Copal shutter would be a part of the front plate so the strain might be severe with that apparently heavy zoom lens. And considering the rather small size of prime lenses in this focal range, and the ease of snapping in or out a front plate with the respective lens mounted, I'm a little surprised the company went to the efforts of making that huge zoom lens.

I did a lot of work in the film days with 150/5.6, 210/5.6, and 270/6.3 T-ED Nikkors on my 4x5" Arca-Swiss camera. If I deployed the 360/8 or 500/11 Nikkor-T ED, an extension bellows was required.

[Akira]

I also wondered about the purpose of the lens.  My friend pro photographer suspected it would make it easy to adjust the view angle when you would do the product photograhy, but then one would doubt if the hugely asymmetric lens could perform decently in such a proximity.  Or was it designed as a zoom micro...well, not likely...

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Interesting! Surplus Shed has a COMPUTAR MF zoom lens for sale since long ... very cheap ;-)
105mm to 150mm, f/4.5 to f/5.6, AR coated elements, covers 4x5" as per the description

[Akira]

Interesting! Surplus Shed has a COMPUTAR MF zoom lens for sale since long ... very cheap ;-)
105mm to 150mm, f/4.5 to f/5.6, AR coated elements, covers 4x5" as per the description

Is it equally huge?  (Well, it should be...)

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

Is it equally huge?  (Well, it should be...)

"Front clear lens diameter is 50mm and rear clear lens diameter is 30mm. Barrel is 70mm diameter, Front lens shade is 85mm diameter."

[Jack Dahlgren]

"Front clear lens diameter is 50mm and rear clear lens diameter is 30mm. Barrel is 70mm diameter, Front lens shade is 85mm diameter."

It appears to cover 4x5 only at one end.

[Akira]

"Front clear lens diameter is 50mm and rear clear lens diameter is 30mm. Barrel is 70mm diameter, Front lens shade is 85mm diameter."

That small?  Isn't it designed for the larger-than-life magnification only?

[Frank Fremerey]

Poor Copal shutter and the strain it'll have to cope with ....

To hold a 600mm Nikkor an old colleague used to mount it to a second tripod with his Linhof Technikardan on the first tripod, look:

(picture taken with my father's Minolta Dimage 7 before I bought my first own Digital Camera)

[Birna Rørslett]

These are my long focal "twins" in the Nikkor-T ED line: 360mm f/8 and 500mm f/11. They had exchangeable dedicated rear sections that turned them from one focal length to the other. With a 30 cm long bellows they would work well on my Arca-Swiss 4x5" monorail and as they were relatively speaking "featherweights", usually no extra tripod support was required.

There was a third sibling, the 720mm f/16 T-ED, which I skipped because it required more bellows draw than was practical in the field.



As these lenses were true telephoto designs, one needed far less bellows extension than with standard long-focal lenses.

[Akira]

To hold a 600mm Nikkor an old colleague used to mount it to a second tripod with his Linhof Technikardan on the first tripod, look:

(picture taken with my father's Minolta Dimage 7 before I bought my first own Digital Camera)

Apparently, the front part of this field camera is detached in order to achieve the necessary extention?

[Frank Fremerey]

Apparently, the front part of this field camera is detached in order to achieve the necessary extention?

as I see it the front standart is 4*5 inch, the bellows between first and second standart expands from 4*5 to 5*7 or 8*10 which is also the format of the third standart. He also seems to have another bellows as Compendium to protect the front lens from stray light and there is a supporting rail connecting both tripods. It took him very long to install all this, while I was already taking pictures

[Dr Klaus Schmitt]

That small?  Isn't it designed for the larger-than-life magnification only?

at 105mm and f5.6 you only need 18.75mm lens diameter in theory ;-)