The Lens and Shutter
This was going to be a problem. I had looked on e-bay for a good long time too see what I could find. E-bay can be a tough place to get stuff as you can easily get out bid at the last second. That and I wasn't really all that thrilled about sending a couple of hundred dollars through the mail. Then I found this web site called KEH.com. They also have a mail order catalog. The thing I liked about them is they have a 30-day guarantee. If for any reason you're not satisfied with your purchase they'll take it back no questions asked.
The first lens I got from them was an older lens and the quality rating was bargain. I ended up sending it back for two reasons. One was that it didn't seem accurate. The shutter was off on the slower speeds. The other was that the f-stops didn't match the ones that my more modern light meter used. I'm sure there's some formula or something to convert the readings from the meter to the camera but there's enough already that I have to keep straight in my head that I didn't want to bother with that mess. So I returned it and they gave me my money back no problem.
So I still needed a lens. I wanted something modern and with f-stops that started at 5.6. I like taking pictures with low light and some large format lenses start at f 9! Since all of my subjects are people there's no way I could use that. My shutter speeds would be so long that all I'd get would be blurry pictures.
The other question regarding the shutter/lens is what focal length do I need? Lenses for 4 x 5 usually start at 150 MM and goes up to about 210 MM. You can go larger or smaller but that's the average. Part of the problem with knowing a couple of photographers is that they all have different opinions and all of them are sure they are right. One guy tells me that I should go for the 210. That the standard. Another tells me that it depends on what you shoot. There was also the problem of my studio space. My studio is my garage and it's not a totally empty garage so I have to work around some junk that we store. I have it arranged now so that I have about 15 feet or so from my backdrop to the farthest distance I can pull the camera back. This isn't really a lot of room. I was afraid that if I got a 210 MM that I would be ok with close ups and mid shots but that I wouldn't be able to get a good full body shot. My camera would be pressed up against the back wall and I'd have no room to work. Luckily for me I live near New York City so I have luxuries that some people don't. For instance I can rent equipment. Before I bought another lens I decided to rent three sizes to see what worked best for me. I rented a 150 MM, a 180 MM and a 210MM. I also rented a Tota light but I'll get to that in a minute. Of the three lenses the one that worked the best for me was the 150. I thought that maybe I would go with the 180 but the 150 let me do close ups, mid shots and full body without to much problem. True the camera is pretty close to the subject for my close ups but that's not so bad. I figure that if it ever get's to be too much of a hassle I can buy a longer focal length lens at some point in the future. What I want to do now is start taking pictures!
I kept an eye on e-bay and KEH.com. I didn't really see anything on e-bay that I liked but a month or two down the road I found something on KEH. I ended up buying a 150 MM f 5.6 Xenar Copal 0 for $245 (condition excellent). I was shocked! I expected to have to pay at least $500 for a lens/shutter. Granted this lens/shutter may not be as good as the $1500 lenses I've seen around but it's the one I went with. So far I'm very happy with it.
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