Hi, i know this barely covers 4x5; but are there any movements you can get away with on this lens? i know any lens tilts/shifts are out of the question, but can you get just little tilt/swing from the back to adjust convergence and stop down a whole lot instead of front tilt?
65mm is pretty wide, so unless you're photographing a skyscraper from ground level across the street (which would look really foreshortened anyway with too much front rise), you can usually get the camera level to avoid convergence and crop excess forground as necessary, or just stop down when you need the extra DOF.
I have a 65 f8 Ilex Acugon, a similar lens. It's mounted on a flat board on my Tachihara so the bellows are really compressed. I can get 1 or 2 mm or rear movement with it. That's all my bellows will allow but it's enough for my landscape shooting.
I agree with David, a little rear tilt is about all that I can get on my Wista field 4x5. Be careful, it's not hard to get horrible distortion in architectural shots.
Does anyone know if the 5.6 version of this lens offers any more coverage?
The consensus is that the the f/5.6 SA's all have more coverage than their f/8 counterparts.
A look at the Schneider website should confirm this. But your bellows will still be just as compressed with the faster lens.
The SA 65mm f8 is a lovely little lens, with care some movements are possible, so front tilt with a small amount of fall compensates for any possible vignetting. It is tight but the lens can be very useful.
The 75mm f8 SA might be a better option, I use one on a 6x17 camera and I'm sure it would be a very usable lens on 5x4, the Schneider website seems to indicate it covers 5x7 with no movements. They seem to be available at very resonable prices second-hand.
But your bellows will still be just as compressed with the faster lens.
No it might not. The old f8 usually had a shorter flange focal length then the 5.6.
So a 5.6 would not require as much bellows compression as an 8.0 but a recessed board would usually be recommended so you can eliminate some of the compression and get more movements. A bag bellows in combination with the recessed board would allow the most movement and the least compression.
The flange focal distances are also listed on the Schneider site. There is absolutely no need for guesswork and speculation.
I have both the 65/8 and 75/8 super angulons. If you wish to use some movements, the 75 is a much easier lens to use in every way.
My 65 is too tight with the bellows to do much more than a rear tilt and the image circle is so close that I don't think I'd want to rise or shift much at all.