Hello,

I was wondering. A 300 mm on a camera with a 320mm bellows seems somewhat limited. A lot of people say a 240 is about max. How about the 270 G-Claron. Anyone use this lens and what is everyones thoughts on this? Thanks, Ed

-- Ed Candland (ecandland@earthlink.net), February 26, 2002

Answers

Don't know much about the G-Glaron, but your basic assumption may be somewhat incorrect.

I just purchased a Nikkor 300M for my Tachihara - which has a stated bellows of about 330, but measured at 315. To get around the bellows limit, I also got a extended lens board. The extension ring I use adds about 34mm.

Considering that the flange to film distance of the Nikkor is 290mm, this gives me about 59mm of room to focus. This allows me to get well with usable distances - within 7 or 8 feet of the subject.

All of the extension boards I saw were Technika/Wista types, but I believe Toyo sells an adapter to accomodate that.

-- Scott Holt (holtsc@bellsouth.net), February 26, 2002.

Scot, Thanks for the info. I knew you "could" use a 300mm. My thought was, if I could go a little shorter it might be less of a hassle and my bellows wouldn't be racked out so close to max. But your set up doesn't sound too bad.

-- Ed Candland (ecandland@earthlink.net), February 26, 2002.

I had a 270 G-Claron when I had my Wista 45vx which has 300mm of extension and it worked out great on a flat lens board. The G-Claron series of lenses are really superb, I now have the 240mm and 305mm lenses and they are my favorite lenses to shoot with. Get one and use it with pride.

-- Jeffrey Scott (jscott@datavoice.net), February 26, 2002.

I like my 270mm G-Claron, but I use it for 8x10. I think it would work well with the 4x5 you describe.

-- William Marderness (wmarderness@hotmail.com), February 27, 2002.

Ed - Not answering your question, but I use the Nikkor 300 M on my Toyo 45A and find it not to be a problem at all. I primarily shoot landscapes and can focus in to about 12 feet, which works just fine for most of my scenes. The camera seems to be stable even with the bellows racked all the way out.

Good luck...Bill

-- Bill Stone (william.stone@juno.com), February 27, 2002.

Ed, I have a 270mm G-Claron that I used last Sunday for an important shot and it's a wonderful lens to use. Very sharp. I could enlarge 6 to 8 times and not lose edge. And yes I agree if I was shooting a knot hole shot 8 feet away I wouldn't want to sweat the bellows thing either. There's a back extender for those cameras too I think. J

-- Jim Galli (jimgalli@lnett.com), February 27, 2002.

Same comment as Bill's word for word.

-- Jean-Marie Solichon (soliroca@monaco377.com), February 27, 2002.

Thanks Again for the Help=)

-- Ed Candland (ecandland@earthlink.net), February 27, 2002.