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For mainly closeup portraits I don't think the 105 1:1 is what you'd want. Its 135 equivalent is just 63mm. It's a heavy, bulky, slow lens for its focal length, with a 67mm filter size instead of 62mm. It's a great macro; very high image quality. I just think for all that bulk and weight, a longer lens would be more suitable for portraits.
For closeup portraits, the 150 is limited without an extension tube. The 150 focuses to 1.5 meters; both the 135mm (81mm equivalent) and the 180mm (108mm equivalent) focus to 1 meter. So for close portraits I think the 180 is the way to go. Not that I actually have one; I'm going by the specs.
I did a quick check, with three of my lenses, of what is seen top to bottom in the viewfinder in portrait (vertical) orientation at closest focus:
75mm: approx. 11.5 inches @ .6m/2ft.
135mm: approx. 11 inches @ 1m/3.3ft
150mm: approx. 15.5 inches @ 1.5m/5ft.
The 180 has the same close focus distance as the 135 so it's obviously going to get you tighter. My guesstimate is it would get you to between 8 and 8.5 inches top to bottom. The downside of the 180 is it's larger and heavier, and slower at f/4.5, than the 135. The 200 only goes to 2 meters, and the 250 to 3 meters so they're not going to get you closer without an extension tube.
An extension tube would work to get closer with any lens, if you don't mind the hassle of losing distance focus.
What could work well with portraiture, where some softness can be a good thing, would be to use the PE 2X teleconverter with the 75mm f/2.8 lens. That would give you a 150mm f/5.6 that will still focus to .6 meter. That gets you about 6 inches top to bottom in portrait orientation. I've found some pleasing effects with teleconverters on lenses at their close focus limit; just a sort of smooth softness. I don't know if the 75 will give pleasing results close up on the converter, but you would probably not be all the way at closest focus. Depth of field won't be as shallow wide open at the same magnification compared to the 135, 150, or 180, but should still be pretty shallow, as this is medium format. You could get an idea by seeing how it looks through your 150 at f/5.6 at closest distance. At closer focus DoF will decrease more, of course.
If you didn't like the results, you could still use the converter to turn your 150 into a 300 f/7. 
It's hard to say, other than the 180, what longer lens would most useful to you. I got the 250mm because I wanted the reach, and it was the longest before going to 500mm. A 300mm f/5.6 (180 equivalent) would have been nice, if they'd made one.
Last edited by lxdude; 03-19-2010 at 06:08 AM.
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Ok well I really appreciate all the info from everyone.
Yes I do have very specific shooting styles. I always have. I've also always been an Ultra-Wide fan, but I can do that with my DSLRs. I think having the 50 / 75 / 150 will be a really great trio. I may add a 60 in there eventually.
I'm just going to have fun with all of this, It's been so long since I've shot film I have to start all over, I don't know if I have my old processing stuff anymore. Probably got lost in storage over the years.
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I have one more question.
Regarding the 50mm f/2.8 lens, is the MC version acceptable? Or is the PE significantly better? Would I be unhappy with the MC 50mm?
Only reason I ask is there is a rather enormous price difference. The PE 50mm lenses on ebay seem to range between $395-800 which is way way more than I'm looking to spend currently.
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 Originally Posted by agphotography  I have one more question.
Regarding the 50mm f/2.8 lens, is the MC version acceptable? Or is the PE significantly better? Would I be unhappy with the MC 50mm?
Only reason I ask is there is a rather enormous price difference. The PE 50mm lenses on ebay seem to range between $395-800 which is way way more than I'm looking to spend currently. the only advantage you have with the PE is a better coating and the possibility to use half-stops. Other then that there is little difference. I use the MC and can say it's an excellent lens, wouldn't want to spend several hundreds of dollars more for a PE.
Sure, I could give you a boring explanation who I really am but I rather let the Origami do the talking.
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Keep looking. Some of those vendors will be sitting on those Buy-It-Now lenses for quite a while. The 'bay can be a strange place anyway, as you probably know. I've seen thrashed cameras or lenses go for more than a pristine example. On February 7th a 50mm PE looking to be low-BGN on the KEH scale went for $76 on ebay. That's unusually low, but shows what's possible. KEH has an MC 50 in BGN for $76. That will get you a great lens at a great price. As I recall, when they have 50 PE's they go for around a hundred bucks more than an MC in similar condition, maybe somewhat more.
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Well as luck would have it, I just found a 50mm f/2.8 PE in 9+ condition (pics looked good but we'll see when it gets here) on eBay and won it for $140. Considering the closest one I could find on eBay was $395 I'd say that's a good deal
Now I just need to find that crank arm.
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The 105/3.5, which was not made in a PE version , focuses to 3 feet and is nice for portraits.
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Originally Posted by agphotography Well as luck would have it, I just found a 50mm f/2.8 PE in 9+ condition (pics looked good but we'll see when it gets here) on eBay and won it for $140. Considering the closest one I could find on eBay was $395 I'd say that's a good deal
Now I just need to find that crank arm. Crank arm? Do you mean the winding crank? If you do, Koh's should have it new for, IIRC, $31.
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Originally Posted by lxdude Crank arm? Do you mean the winding crank? If you do, Koh's should have it new for, IIRC, $31. Yes I meant that, and no They don't. Talked with Jimmy this morning. I waited too long!!
I need to get a bunch of little things actually, such as: body caps (full set), prism cap, winding crank, waist level finder, hoods for all 3 lenses.
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KEH. www.keh.com They don't have everything right now, but you could get a lot. Keep your eyes open and you'll locate everything you need.
They presently have:
Crank.
Hoods for 50 and 150.
Back and top body caps.
Prism cap.
WLF, though Koh's has them new, at a great price.
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