Lovely images Chris and a beautiful Fujinon 300 lens. Super sharp on the closeup of the rock face. The landscape on the Kodak Ektar was pretty sweet as well. Great sharpness on the foreground and it picked up details in the distant background valleys as well. A very painterly shot showing depth from foreground to distant ranges. I recently purchased a Schneider 240mm f/5.5 on a Copal #1 shutter from a chap in Ohio. The back elements were missing so I offered him $60 and since no one else was bidding in a partial lens I won the auction. Before he shipped the lens he found the back element group in a old box and sent it along with the lens. It's an older Schneider Tele-Xenar 240mm, but the glass is in perfect condition and for $60 I'm not complaining. Looking forward to more of your adventures. Cheers.
Thanks Wayne! Man, what a nice snag on that lens! Incredible that they found the rear element and shipped it too. I've been eyeballing 240mm lenses myself for times when the 300 is a bit too tight. I'm imagining the pair of them will be a lot of fun this fall to shoot details with!
Great stuff Chris. I like both images and really like the rock face. Again. I’m jealous of that canyon! Glad the lens is working. 300 is a great length.
Thanks Scott! We've got a few canyons right off of the city that are just beautiful; it's hard not to take them for granted since they're so close. One of them has a nice stretch of aspens that I've been trying to get to but they're paving the road over the next month or two 😣 Hopefully they'll be out of there before the fall color sets in!
@@craigfouche Hi Craig! Great to hear from you! Yeah, 300 was a loooong time ago [time wise, not necessarily subscriber count...] Thanks for being there all this time. Chris and I met in Zion last fall and it's fun to see the progress he's making in large format.
Enjoyed this ... thanks for taking the time to put it together. What do you scan the negs on and what software do you use convert to positive? Would ove to see some slide vs neg comparisons with same subjects.
Great work Chris! I really like that mountain scene at 11:38. Something about mountains and longer focal length images just really catches my eye. Hope you’re enjoying the new 300!
Thanks Brian! Gotta love that lens compression. The longer lenses have typically been a fun creative tool for me and this one seems to be fitting right in!
Thanks Jesse! We're certainly pretty fortunate with the mountains here and I try not to forget that, although I always feel like I should be exploring them more than I do 😣
Thanks Chris for sharing another video. I appreciate the work you put into making the video and sharing your thoughts with the masses. I liked both images but particularly I liked the one of the rock wall. I may need to invest in a 300mm lens in the future.
Thanks Duncan! The rock wall image was one of my recent favorites too. For me the 300mm has definitely unlocked new kind of creativity and it's been a lot of fun to experiment with!
Nice work! I have the Fuji 300/f5.6 W and the Toyo 45G but have never used them together since I've only used the Fuji on my 8x10. This video has encouraged me to try it on the Toyo.
That’s a sweet lens. The color on that Provia transparency is fantastic. It’s great for me to see the effect of this focal length as I’m waiting on a 12 inch pre-1914 Voltas barrel lens to be mounted and fitted for a filter ring.
good video, for other photographers, this is equivalent to 100 or your 105 telephoto/macro lenses on dslr's, but one question Chris, is this a telephoto, or just a Long lens, as from the video looks like bellows draw is approx. 30cm (300mm) which is focal length of lens, but this is slightly askew in the footage, so I can't be sure of this. Ps. the 100 focal conversion is for 4x5" film format, if this lens covers 5x7 or 8x10 then the equivalents are different, for 8x10" example, this is a 50 mm focal equiv. ( 150mm is standard in 4x5, 75, 80or 127 is for 6x4.5 -> 6x7 cm formats), 210 in 4x5 is 70 mm in 35 mm format. Telephoto, is Different in LF, as this is NOT just a Long lens, it is a specific design, for field cameras, like linhof's/shen_how/ stenopeika's ; these have Less capability to have LONG bellows draw, some even have non-interchangable bellows (glued/screwed to the standards), so for infinity focus of a lens 300+ in focal length ( 300mm bellows draw normally required), they design the lens elements in such a way as to focus closer than this, aka 250mm from the film plane, so increasing the market for these lenses; but as I am aware, these are specialties for these cameras ( the mainstay Long lenses in their lineup).
Looks GOOD :) Note on stopping down past f22, Modern f5.6 Plasmat view camera lenses are optimized for best optical performance at f22, once past f22 their optical performance degrades due to diffraction with no further improvements for lens aberrations. Modern plasmat lenses work best between f11 to f45_max. If you're able adjust the plane of focus using camera movement and the image on the plane of focus is sharp as viewed using a 7x loupe, stopping down more than two f-stops will degrade the image instead of improvements. Prime feature of a view camera specially a GOOD monorail camera like this Toyo is ability to apply camera movements with ease front or back, precision, accuracy and stability of the monorail camera once set. These innate features of a good monorail view camera allows using larger lens apertures to exploit what the lens is capable of projecting to film.
Thank you! This is great information and put into words much better than elsewhere I've seen. I've noticed most specifications are given at f/22 so I suspected this was the case; but with a couple of these test shots I've been intentionally pushing the apertures a bit to see how bad diffraction actually is. A lot of it is also inexperience as well, so I really appreciate the tip!
@@ChrisDarnell There were few if any "hobbyist" view camera lenses made over the history of view camera lenses. The modern view camera lenses such as this 300mm f5.6 Fujinon, 90mm f4.5 Nikkor and similar modern view camera lenses designed and produced by Rodenstock, Nikon-Nikkor, Schneider, Fujinon are far more similar than different. Driven by the commercial view camera market from that era (mid-70's to late 90's) the big four view camera lens brands essentially agreed to apply f22 as an industry standard for optimal lens aperture. This is based on a number of optical design trade-offs and real world image making demands from those using a view camera from that era. The optimal taking aperture extended to APO process lenses once used to make color separation films (Red-Green-Blue) as the beginnings of the color printing process. Example of what a good Goerz APO artar (circa 1950's) process lens can with at taking aperture of f16 at essentially infinity at this link. Small section of the 5x7 color transparency was magnified to 260x using a wild/Leica M420 macroscope then imaged using a APS-C sensor size digital camera. Scanner image is part of this example: www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?164451-5x7-Ektachrome-Epson-4990-scanner-vs-Wild-M420-microscope View camera lenses should be tested in this way and more before accepting the target view camera lens for ownership. Most common problem with view camera lenses is the shutter, second damage to the lens elements (not so easy to do). Know these view camera lenses, even the most recent production lenses are decades old and lots could or have happened to them. Image exposure aperture depends entirely on print image goals, at times the goal is to achieve as much of the image is in perceived focus as possible. Others, only specific areas of the image is on the lens plane of focus. This is much a creative artist decision using the tools available. The f64 idea/belief goes back to Group f64 as an image making step away from Pictorialism. Contact prints made with a lens taking aperture of f64 or smaller would be difficult to see the optical effects of diffraction due to the resolution limits of print paper, if projected printed, the effects of diffraction can be very visiable.
Unless you are enlarging an image to 40x50 inches or more you won't be able to notice any difference between f22 and f45. More on large format lens resolution can be seen here: web.hevanet.com/cperez/results.html
@@johnearley9924 If the evaluation of print goal quality was this simple as numeric values of "Lines Pairs Per mm" performance of a photographic lens... NO. Having made 30"x40" Cibachrome and Ilfordchrome prints from 120 roll to 8x10 color transparency film, there are absolutely differences in print quality at x4 enlargement.. Even at 2x print quality differences are visible if one knows what to look for and how to evaluate a print. Why believe stuff found on the web without direct personal evaluation and real world experience ? Part of Kerry and Christopher's motivation for doing that lens test that was published on the web decades ago came out of our conversation after taking delivery of one of the six Schneider 110mm f5.6 Super Symmar XL's hand carried back from Schneider Germany by Robert Kipling sales engineer for Schneider in the late 1990's. www.thalmann.com/largeformat/future.htm
Great shots, well done! I used to have this lens as a standard lens on 8x10" but swapped to the Nikkor M for weight reasons. Do you do your own film development?
Eventually I'll manage to find all your videos, RUclips be damned. I must say that the size of your equipment is rather intimidating. I'd be exhausted just carrying that around all day. ;-)
Ha! While I’m certainly not regretting the weight reduction, I do miss shooting that old beast of a monorail, might have to take it out again soon. It’s just so ridiculous to carry, so it’ll likely be for shots close to the car 😆
f/64??? Wow what diffraction. 35mm at f/8 would give better resolution. 300mm @f/64 will be diffraction limited to no more than 2894x2315 pixel / 6.7 Megapixels equiv. DOF = 0.83" (assuming 30" from lens to target) A 35mm with 100mm lens will have a max res of 6545x4375 / 28.6 Mpx and a DOF of 0.93" f/64 is why your image looks VERY soft. Large format is never good close up. Wrong tool for the job.
Lovely images Chris and a beautiful Fujinon 300 lens. Super sharp on the closeup of the rock face. The landscape on the Kodak Ektar was pretty sweet as well. Great sharpness on the foreground and it picked up details in the distant background valleys as well. A very painterly shot showing depth from foreground to distant ranges. I recently purchased a Schneider 240mm f/5.5 on a Copal #1 shutter from a chap in Ohio. The back elements were missing so I offered him $60 and since no one else was bidding in a partial lens I won the auction. Before he shipped the lens he found the back element group in a old box and sent it along with the lens. It's an older Schneider Tele-Xenar 240mm, but the glass is in perfect condition and for $60 I'm not complaining. Looking forward to more of your adventures. Cheers.
Thanks Wayne! Man, what a nice snag on that lens! Incredible that they found the rear element and shipped it too. I've been eyeballing 240mm lenses myself for times when the 300 is a bit too tight. I'm imagining the pair of them will be a lot of fun this fall to shoot details with!
Some lovely images there, love the rocks in the rock face, so much texture to enjoy. Enjoyable video as always.
Thanks Chris!
Great stuff Chris. I like both images and really like the rock face. Again. I’m jealous of that canyon! Glad the lens is working. 300 is a great length.
Nice to see you here too Scott, I followed you whe you had less than 300 subs 😁
Thanks Scott! We've got a few canyons right off of the city that are just beautiful; it's hard not to take them for granted since they're so close. One of them has a nice stretch of aspens that I've been trying to get to but they're paving the road over the next month or two 😣 Hopefully they'll be out of there before the fall color sets in!
@@craigfouche Hi Craig! Great to hear from you! Yeah, 300 was a loooong time ago [time wise, not necessarily subscriber count...] Thanks for being there all this time. Chris and I met in Zion last fall and it's fun to see the progress he's making in large format.
@@ChrisDarnell Oh that sounds great. Aspen in the Fall are the best.
Enjoyed this ... thanks for taking the time to put it together. What do you scan the negs on and what software do you use convert to positive? Would ove to see some slide vs neg comparisons with same subjects.
Now that's an AWESOME lens! every image you took is spot on. Much more then a test! Thanks for sharing your stunning work, Chris!
Thanks Jay!
something about 45 colour positive just looks magical, the pebbles just look so nice i think i could stare at it forever. great work!
Thank you! I totally agree, color slide films are just beautiful to look at and hard not to want to shoot everything with it!
Beautiful shot
Great work Chris! I really like that mountain scene at 11:38. Something about mountains and longer focal length images just really catches my eye. Hope you’re enjoying the new 300!
Thanks Brian! Gotta love that lens compression. The longer lenses have typically been a fun creative tool for me and this one seems to be fitting right in!
Fine lens sir party on enjoy.
Thank you!
Wow, the shot of the mountains at 11:38 is stunning! Great work, Chris. I'm envious of your local landscape.
Thanks Jesse! We're certainly pretty fortunate with the mountains here and I try not to forget that, although I always feel like I should be exploring them more than I do 😣
Great learning experience for both of us!!
Thanks for watching David!
Beautiful!
Awesome lens, Chris!
Thanks Carlos!
My searches keep finding your videos ! Thanks for sharing your journey. I was making videos but have recently lost my way a bit
Ha! Well hopefully that’s a good thing. Thanks for watching Austen!
Thanks Chris for sharing another video. I appreciate the work you put into making the video and sharing your thoughts with the masses. I liked both images but particularly I liked the one of the rock wall. I may need to invest in a 300mm lens in the future.
Thanks Duncan! The rock wall image was one of my recent favorites too. For me the 300mm has definitely unlocked new kind of creativity and it's been a lot of fun to experiment with!
Nice work! I have the Fuji 300/f5.6 W and the Toyo 45G but have never used them together since I've only used the Fuji on my 8x10. This video has encouraged me to try it on the Toyo.
Thanks John!
That’s a sweet lens. The color on that Provia transparency is fantastic. It’s great for me to see the effect of this focal length as I’m waiting on a 12 inch pre-1914 Voltas barrel lens to be mounted and fitted for a filter ring.
Oh man, I know nothing about those old vintage lenses but they look like a ton of fun!
good video, for other photographers, this is equivalent to 100 or your 105 telephoto/macro lenses on dslr's, but one question Chris, is this a telephoto, or just a Long lens, as from the video looks like bellows draw is approx. 30cm (300mm) which is focal length of lens, but this is slightly askew in the footage, so I can't be sure of this. Ps. the 100 focal conversion is for 4x5" film format, if this lens covers 5x7 or 8x10 then the equivalents are different, for 8x10" example, this is a 50 mm focal equiv. ( 150mm is standard in 4x5, 75, 80or 127 is for 6x4.5 -> 6x7 cm formats), 210 in 4x5 is 70 mm in 35 mm format.
Telephoto, is Different in LF, as this is NOT just a Long lens, it is a specific design, for field cameras, like linhof's/shen_how/ stenopeika's ; these have Less capability to have LONG bellows draw, some even have non-interchangable bellows (glued/screwed to the standards), so for infinity focus of a lens 300+ in focal length ( 300mm bellows draw normally required), they design the lens elements in such a way as to focus closer than this, aka 250mm from the film plane, so increasing the market for these lenses; but as I am aware, these are specialties for these cameras ( the mainstay Long lenses in their lineup).
Correct, this one is a non-telephoto so the bellows draw was 30cm since I was focused to infinity on the vista shot
Looks GOOD :)
Note on stopping down past f22, Modern f5.6 Plasmat view camera lenses are optimized for best optical performance at f22, once past f22 their optical performance degrades due to diffraction with no further improvements for lens aberrations.
Modern plasmat lenses work best between f11 to f45_max.
If you're able adjust the plane of focus using camera movement and the image on the plane of focus is sharp as viewed using a 7x loupe, stopping down more than two f-stops will degrade the image instead of improvements. Prime feature of a view camera specially a GOOD monorail camera like this Toyo is ability to apply camera movements with ease front or back, precision, accuracy and stability of the monorail camera once set. These innate features of a good monorail view camera allows using larger lens apertures to exploit what the lens is capable of projecting to film.
Thank you! This is great information and put into words much better than elsewhere I've seen. I've noticed most specifications are given at f/22 so I suspected this was the case; but with a couple of these test shots I've been intentionally pushing the apertures a bit to see how bad diffraction actually is. A lot of it is also inexperience as well, so I really appreciate the tip!
@@ChrisDarnell There were few if any "hobbyist" view camera lenses made over the history of view camera lenses. The modern view camera lenses such as this 300mm f5.6 Fujinon, 90mm f4.5 Nikkor and similar modern view camera lenses designed and produced by Rodenstock, Nikon-Nikkor, Schneider, Fujinon are far more similar than different. Driven by the commercial view camera market from that era (mid-70's to late 90's) the big four view camera lens brands essentially agreed to apply f22 as an industry standard for optimal lens aperture. This is based on a number of optical design trade-offs and real world image making demands from those using a view camera from that era. The optimal taking aperture extended to APO process lenses once used to make color separation films (Red-Green-Blue) as the beginnings of the color printing process. Example of what a good Goerz APO artar (circa 1950's) process lens can with at taking aperture of f16 at essentially infinity at this link. Small section of the 5x7 color transparency was magnified to 260x using a wild/Leica M420 macroscope then imaged using a APS-C sensor size digital camera. Scanner image is part of this example:
www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?164451-5x7-Ektachrome-Epson-4990-scanner-vs-Wild-M420-microscope
View camera lenses should be tested in this way and more before accepting the target view camera lens for ownership. Most common problem with view camera lenses is the shutter, second damage to the lens elements (not so easy to do). Know these view camera lenses, even the most recent production lenses are decades old and lots could or have happened to them.
Image exposure aperture depends entirely on print image goals, at times the goal is to achieve as much of the image is in perceived focus as possible. Others, only specific areas of the image is on the lens plane of focus. This is much a creative artist decision using the tools available.
The f64 idea/belief goes back to Group f64 as an image making step away from Pictorialism. Contact prints made with a lens taking aperture of f64 or smaller would be difficult to see the optical effects of diffraction due to the resolution limits of print paper, if projected printed, the effects of diffraction can be very visiable.
Unless you are enlarging an image to 40x50 inches or more you won't be able to notice any difference between f22 and f45.
More on large format lens resolution can be seen here: web.hevanet.com/cperez/results.html
@@johnearley9924 If the evaluation of print goal quality was this simple as numeric values of "Lines Pairs Per mm" performance of a photographic lens... NO.
Having made 30"x40" Cibachrome and Ilfordchrome prints from 120 roll to 8x10 color transparency film, there are absolutely differences in print quality at x4 enlargement.. Even at 2x print quality differences are visible if one knows what to look for and how to evaluate a print.
Why believe stuff found on the web without direct personal evaluation and real world experience ?
Part of Kerry and Christopher's motivation for doing that lens test that was published on the web decades ago came out of our conversation after taking delivery of one of the six Schneider 110mm f5.6 Super Symmar XL's hand carried back from Schneider Germany by Robert Kipling sales engineer for Schneider in the late 1990's.
www.thalmann.com/largeformat/future.htm
Great shots, well done! I used to have this lens as a standard lens on 8x10" but swapped to the Nikkor M for weight reasons. Do you do your own film development?
Thank you! I currently am not developing my own, but that’s something I may experiment with in the future!
Eventually I'll manage to find all your videos, RUclips be damned. I must say that the size of your equipment is rather intimidating. I'd be exhausted just carrying that around all day. ;-)
Ha! While I’m certainly not regretting the weight reduction, I do miss shooting that old beast of a monorail, might have to take it out again soon. It’s just so ridiculous to carry, so it’ll likely be for shots close to the car 😆
I have had that lens for about 40 years
That's quite a long time! There's something fun about using equipment from long ago..
Where the heck does everyone find these GINORMOUS focusing /negative loupes!?!? I can’t find one anywhere 🤷♂️
@@308Savagebolt Here's the one I have: amzn.to/3Z2CzZ3
@@ChrisDarnell Ordered!! Thank you!
At one point Weston used a 20 dollar lens.
f/64??? Wow what diffraction. 35mm at f/8 would give better resolution.
300mm @f/64 will be diffraction limited to no more than 2894x2315 pixel / 6.7 Megapixels equiv. DOF = 0.83" (assuming 30" from lens to target)
A 35mm with 100mm lens will have a max res of 6545x4375 / 28.6 Mpx and a DOF of 0.93"
f/64 is why your image looks VERY soft. Large format is never good close up. Wrong tool for the job.
Thanks for your critical analysis Stephen