Postby alex gard » 09 Apr 2014, 12:15
Thanks a lot Walter. I guess I'm not quite schooled enough in LF to really know what I'm going for, but as I said, since moving to 4x5 from medium format & DSLR full frame 35mm, I have found a nice sweet spot at 210mm on 4x5. This has been my favourite focal length for both landscapes and my (shitty) attempts at portraiture.
I have a Schneider 90mm 5.6 that I use only in exceptional circumstances. Before I got the 210mm I was using 150mm quite a bit.
At this stage contact printing or even printing in general is still some way off for me, as I said the main incentive to get into 8x10 is to start doing wet plates or tintypes (one of a kind shots I can frame as they come out of the camera), and no doubt printing will be not far after that.
I've found more enjoyment out of using longer focal lengths in landscapes lately (150mm on my Hasselblad is getting a lot more use than, say, the 50mm or 80mm lenses). Probably from the constant saturation of seeing landscapes shot in grand, wide-angle cliche's has kind of put me off it a little bit. I dunno what 210mm is on 4x5 but I've found it's my sweet spot.
So at this stage I guess my wisest options are that 355mm G Claron and Nikkor-M 450mm (although not sure if such a short step-up in focal length is economical...) . Wider field of view is something I'll probably look at later down the track, perhaps as I get the hang of 8x10 and find my feet in it, a bit nervous about the process and wondering if I'm getting in way over my head.
Most likely my use of 8x10 will be 'contemporary/traditional' landscapes (whatever that means) and stumbling attempts at portraiture. I have a silly little dream of getting a german shepherd, quitting my job on the ships and setting up a pop-up studio in a hi-ace van and travelling around the various "alt lifestyle" festivals and doing portraits of the wacky characters you meet at those events. Just need to get good at doing portraits first!