Bellows length and lenses

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Large format photography : One Thread

I am working in 8x10 format with a 14" lens. Everything is working very well, and I am considering the purchase of another lens in the 19"-24" range for landscape work. Will my 22" bellows handle the larger lenses when focussing at infinity? Do all lenses of the same size work at about the same focal length? Is there a "rule of thumb" relationship between lens size and focal length...{a 14" lens will focus at about 14" at infinity}? I know that sounds like a couple of dumb beginner questions, but Steve Simmons didn't have room for everything in his book! With a handshake -Dave

-- Dave Richhart (pritprat@erinet.com), March 19, 2000

Answers

With 22" of draw, you'll find it tight working with anything longer than 18", unless you go with a telephoto design. Check out Fuji and Nikkor's telephoto offerings. There may be older telephot lenses, but unfortunatley I am ignorant of them.

The conservative rule is that you need 1.3X the bellows for your longest lens for general use.

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), March 19, 2000.


If you try the longer lenses with limited bellows draw you will have limited use-not enough bellows for anything but infinity focus. If you want to use these longer lenses, try making an extension lensboard so you will have a bit of leeway in focusing.

-- Dan Smith (shooter@brigham.net), March 19, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ