I am new to large format and have been struggling a bit with what brand of lens to buy. My first purchase was a 150 mm f5.6 Fuji W with a seiko shutter. It seems fine. Any comments ? My main question has to do with the portion of this large format website titled Test Results for CLassic and Modern Lenses. I am shopping for a 90 mm and do not have a clue what the numbers in the middle column of that table mean. Can anyone explain them to me ? Thanks

-- Paul Mongillo (pmongillo@thurston.com), February 25, 1999

Answers

I'm totally guessing: do you mean the page here?

The column headed "Fstop/cnt/mdl/edge" gives a measure of sharpness at different aperture numbers (F-stops). The page doesn't actually say what the numbers are (have you asked the authors?) but are possibly line-pairs-per-mm at different points on the film. The larger the number, the better,

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), February 25, 1999.

If you're just starting out don't worry about such nonsense. Just get a modern WA lens made by any of the major manufactures. Schneider. Rodenstock, Fugi, Calumet. They all are very good lenses. I started with the venerable Schneider 90mm f6.8 and used it for a long time with excellent results. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), February 27, 1999.

Still got one jack and it's a 60's vintage single coated and one of the best lenses I own....for a coupla reasons. It happens to be incredibly sharp(linhof select) and it is absolutely tiny and light; backpackers and mountain bikers will love the old 6.8 angulons (90,120,165). At f16 i can't tell the difference between it and the new XL's for black and white with abbrev. moves. A great lens for around 200 bucks. It has a lovely look, some say 3d. I'm sure the numbers are line pairs per millimeters...This means that the lens is capapable of resolving X line pairs per mm. Thusly the bigger # or more lines the lens can resolve the better. Some 90 6.8's are stinkers especially the oldest uncoated versions from the late 40's and 50's but in all cases it is a lens by lens issue so make sure to buy from a place or person that will allow you to return it. You can buy test targets from edmund scientific. Your gonna love the 90 so buy it I couldn't live without mine. Thanks Alan for the little "jump to" I've bookmarked it and it will come in handy the next time i find an old lens.

-- Tribby (linhof6@hotmail.com), March 11, 1999.