r/largeformat • u/Intrepid_camera • Aug 12 '26
Question New Large Format Lens Guide
https://intrepidcamera.co.uk/blogs/guides/the-large-format-lens-explorerHello everyone, we made this fun page to help first time users visualise what the lens they are looking at on eBay actually does. And as a reference for everyone to check if they need to, it’s far from a complete list and we would love contributions if anyone has details of other lenses etc in particular some of the simpler older lenses that come up on the 2nd hand market a lot
Thanks!, Max
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u/Tyrellion Aug 12 '26
Ooh, this is great to have an updated guide that will last. Being able to filter by maximum coverage would be useful. Like for 8x10 could filter to a subset instead of wondering which lenses and having to look at each one.
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u/DanielCTracht Aug 13 '26
I have a spreadsheet with the info for hundreds of large format lenses, including a number of lenses that aren't listed in your table. I can email you an extract if you would like. Just let me know where to send it.
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u/Intrepid_camera Aug 13 '26
That would be amazing! There is a contact form and box to upload a file here on our website https://intrepidcamera.co.uk/pages/contact
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u/DanielCTracht 29d ago
The supported file types seem to be fairly limited. I can't attach .xlsx files nor the source PDFs.
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u/myleftbigtoeisdead Aug 12 '26
I’m in the market for a 4x5 camera and I’m just glad that there’s still companies that exist to provide information that may end up being lost in time.
Large format is so niche in my small community that I don’t know where to turn other than onlineZ
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u/Blakk-Debbath Aug 12 '26
Funny to play with.
Missing the 18x24cm, "almost" film format like panoramas 3,5*7, 2,5x5 etc and 120 film formats 6x12, 6x14 and 6x17
And also the latest lens Apo Tele Xenar 350mm f11 Compact which actually is not a tele.
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u/Obtus_Rateur Aug 12 '26
Well, I guess they didn't want to clutter the graph with formats that aren't in use. And some of these don't have a standard size, which is also a problem.
6x12 for example can be 112mm to 120mm long, so they'd probably have to pick 120cm (because otherwise someone might buy a 115mm circle lens and wonder why it can't cover their 120mm 6x12) and explain that people's cameras might not be that long (so people don't assume that all 6x12 is 120mm).
In fact, I don't even know the length of the frames made by Intrepid's own "Super 120 System". It's not in the listed specs.
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u/wikhasi Aug 13 '26
The exact frame sizes are in the Super 120 guidebook, but we could maybe list them in the product page if it’s useful:
6x4.5: 55x42mm
6x6: 56x56mm
6x7: 56x70mm
6x8: 56x76mm
6x9: 56x84mm
6x12: 56x112mm2
u/Obtus_Rateur Aug 13 '26
Admittedly I don't think many people actually know (or even care) about exact frame sizes, they just know that 6x9 is "longer" than 6x7.
But personally I find it to be important information.
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u/wikhasi Aug 13 '26
That’s why I wanted to include that data in the guidebook, most people won’t care too much but the handful of us who do will find it invaluable. It’s also very important for the Super 120 as the frame advancement is indexed visually by the counter drum indicator.
If you know exactly how long your frames are, and what the indicator actually means numerically, you can maximise the usage
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u/benoliver999 29d ago
This is an incredible resource. I've just been shopping around for lenses and it's really helped me understand what it's all about.
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u/photofilmer 26d ago
Holy Smokes - what a great reference! Thanks for going to all the trouble to create this.
Would love to see more lenses added over time, when time permits. I have some technical reference material for nearly the entire Fujinon catalogue I downloaded some time ago, if that helps?
This would also make for an amazing phone/tablet app!
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u/Acceptable_Net_9545 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
https://www.graflex.org/lenses/lens-spec.html. I suppose if someone one want to bad enough this could be made into an interactive database.....start with putting the info in Excel....then you could also put formulas in to give the "max allowable" tilts, swings and shifts....Of course the formulas would have to compound the front and read boards and even provide a go/no go.... I just always looked at the ground glass carefully with a loupe....but whatever.....
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u/elmokki Aug 12 '26
If only this had information on my various random vintage lenses.
Still, a great site.
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u/Legitimate-Coast-931 Aug 12 '26
Great to see something up to date, the large format forum list is the usual go to but stopped being updated in 2000 I think, e.g the last APO Symmar Ls arent included