Lens Question
Glenn Zumwalt
"Commercial Astragon" lens. I would like any comments, positive or
negative, about the quality of the lens and its suitability for general
photography. I am a student and will be using the camera and lens for
studio and architectural assignments.
TIA,
Glenn
Phil Tobias
I had one of those perhaps 15-25 years ago, and mine was actually a pretty
good lens.
I'd assume from its speed and size that it was a design that doesn't allow
the extreme coverage and movements of today's pricier lenses, but for normal
studio shooting it should do a nice job for you.
...pt
PS: Does anyone know if these lenses were made by the Congo or similar folks,
then rebadged and imported as Astragons? Back in the 1960-70s, wasn't there an
imported line of enlarging paper and hardware like opaque projectors with a
brand name like Astragon?
-------------------------------
www.philiptobias.com
means Business/Communications
Francis A. Miniter
I am not familiar with the particular lens, but can say at least this. In
terms of visual perspective, on 4x5 cameras, the "general" lens - for
perspective equivalent to that of a 50 mm lens on a 35 mm camera - is 162 mm,
more or less. So a 210 mm lens is slightly a long lens, about a 70 mm lens
in 35 mm terms, and would be reasonably suited to portraiture. That is not
to say that it is unsuited to other purposes. I use my 8 1/2" lens (215 mm)
regularly for landscape, flower photography, etc.
The f/6.3 is common for that length of lens.
Francis A. Miniter
Glenn Zumwalt wrote:
> I am new to LF and just purchased a 4X5 camera that included a 210mm f6.3
> "Commercial Astragon" lens. I would like any comments, positive or
> negative, about the quality of the lens and its suitability for general
> photography. I am a student and will be using the camera and lens for
> studio and architectural assignments.
>
> TIA,
>
> Glenn
Greg Faris
Are his posts being snuffed again?
Why don't those geeks go after someone less productive? If my posts were
clipped, for example, no one would ever notice!
Unless of course he slipped away for a quiet weekend without informing
anyone, hoping to get away with it.
G Faris
In article <8k8nri$jti$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net>, zum...@mindspring.com
says...
Richard Knoppow
>So where's Richard Knoppow when we need him?
>Are his posts being snuffed again?
>
>Why don't those geeks go after someone less productive? If my posts were
>clipped, for example, no one would ever notice!
>
>Unless of course he slipped away for a quiet weekend without informing
>anyone, hoping to get away with it.
>
>
>G Faris
>
>
Thank you for the kind words. I'm here and not being cancelled. I
just don't know anything about this lens and can't find it listed
anywhere. I think it came up once before not too long ago.
Unfortunately, Deja.com is still not working right so looking up old
posts is, to say the least, frustrating.
For some reason I remember Astrogon being someone's house brand
(Burke and James?) but I am not sure of that.
A note about the cancells. The ability to cancel a message is built
into most news readers. If the news server is configured for it the
cancel message will result in the removal of the message.
Spam fighters send out thousands of cancel messages ever day to
remove spam from news machines.
Spamers hate this. One way they try to get cancelling disabled is to
flood Usenet with cancel messages for legitimate traffic. The recent
spate of cancells was an example. A large number of news groups was
subjected to this disruption.
The reposts come from Howard Knight. Howard is one of the main spam
cancellers, the spammers absolutely hate him. He has done us and other
groups a favor by reposting the cancelled messages.
>In article <8k8nri$jti$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net>, zum...@mindspring.com
>says...
>>
>>I am new to LF and just purchased a 4X5 camera that included a 210mm f6.3
>>"Commercial Astragon" lens. I would like any comments, positive or
>>negative, about the quality of the lens and its suitability for general
>>photography. I am a student and will be using the camera and lens for
>>studio and architectural assignments.
>>
>>TIA,
>>
>>Glenn
>>
>>
>
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, Ca.
dick...@ix.netcom.com
Phil Tobias
>> For some reason I remember Astrogon being someone's house brand
(Burke and James?) but I am not sure of that.
The other night, I was trying hard to remember, but managed to associate
"Astragon" with some imported goods and a line of enlarging paper.
On second thought, the enlarging paper might have been Luminous. I seem to
recall the Luminous importers also handling an opaque projector, which may have
been sold under something like the Astragon name. If that's the case, the may
have sold lenses under that name as well?
Then again, the time in question was the late 60s-early 70s, so I may just be
hallucinating. <grin>
Regards. ...pt
-------------------------------
www.philiptobias.com
means Business/Communications
Phil Tobias
(Burke and James?) but I am not sure of that.
From http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/lenseslist.html
Focal Cover Film 2
Brand Model E/G Length AP Circle Flange Price YR
Astragon 6/2 210 4.5 229 210 493 2
As best I recall, my Astragon was an F6.3. But this Web site and others
similar show various Astragons.
Astragon -- are Astranar or Astrascope related brand names?
Still trying. ...pt
-------------------------------
www.philiptobias.com
means Business/Communications
Bob Salomon
--
www.hpmarketingcorp.com for links to our suppliers
HP Marketing Corp. U.S. distributor for Braun, Gepe, Giottos, Heliopan, HP
Combi Plan T, Kaiser fototechnik, KoPho cases, Linhof, Pro Release, Rimowa,
Rodenstock, Sirostar 2000, Tetenal Ink Jet Papers
Michael Gudzinowicz
>>> For some reason I remember Astrogon being someone's house brand
>(Burke and James?) but I am not sure of that.
>
>From http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~qtluong/photography/lf/lenseslist.html
>
> Focal Cover Film 2
>Brand Model E/G Length AP Circle Flange Price YR
>
> Astragon 6/2 210 4.5 229 210 493 2
>
>
> As best I recall, my Astragon was an F6.3. But this Web site and others
>similar show various Astragons.
> Astragon -- are Astranar or Astrascope related brand names?
congo lens line which is also imported into the US as Osaka
lenses.
The information in the article I used to put together the lens
list (above) is incorrect. The f/4.5 lenses were 4/3 Tessars
and not a 6/2 design.
The Commercial Astragon is probably the same lens as the Congo Commercial
210 f/6.3 - a 4/3 Tessar covering around 56 degrees or 230 mm.
Oleg March
> use 90mm Schneider Super Angulon F4 or 5.6. Not f8 since the image cirle
> will not allow for desent movements.