Lens for 8x10

[Colin Corneau]

I got a Fujinon 300 f5.6 from a fellow Ape Hugger for a very reasonable price. It's in a #3 shutter and from the few sheets I've done so far, works great. Good lenses can be had for a good price but like anything else it takes patience and 'right place/right time'.

[Jesper]

There are quite a lot of symmars available and they are not very expensive either.
If you choose the older 5.6 versions you get two focal lengths for the price of one.
The 240, 300 and 360 cover 8x10, and they are easy to find.
If you need a wide angle it is not impossible to find a angulon 165/8 (the angulon 210 is usually expensive).

If you need anything small I can recommend Nikon 300/9

[jimgalli]

240 G-Claron in the barrel. Nice wide field and sharp corner to corner.

[coriana6jp]

If I were only going to have one lens for 8x10. I would start with one of the big modern plasmats, suchas the Fuji 300mm W F/5.6 or the Nikon 300mm W F/5.6 or any of the Schneider/Rodenstocks. You get the brightest lens possible, with generally alot of movements. The smaller Fuji 300C or the Nikon 300M are great lenses, but they are a stop or more dimmer which can make focusing difficult. For learning your way around 8x10 the biggest brightest lens is not a bad way to do things. You can always sell it later and get one of the smaller lenses.

Hope it helps.

Gary

[Fotoguy20d]

Wow. Lots of good advice and good options here, once I find a budget. Meantime, I just remembered that I do have a 15" Tele-Optar. From a quick check, it looks like it'll cover (that's more question than statement) as long as it doesn't rip the front standard off the camera.

Dan