150mm G-Claron

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I had hesitated buying the Schneider 150mm F9 G-Claron for quite some time. I wanted a lens better suited to close-up work than what I had but didn't want to spend the big money for a Makro-Symmar since close-up is a small part of my photo work. The G-Claron seemed ideal but I was cautious about it being good at infinity. When I found a used one for $300 I said what the heck.

Well I just finished looking over my first batch of negatives and I can safely say this lens was an excellent choice for me. Both infinity and 1:2 shots look great. Have not had the opportunity for 1:1 use or greater yet. This lens seems fantastic. I took some test shots at varying distances from about 8 to 150 feet with the G-Claron, my 90mm f6.8 Grandagon N and the 210mm f5.6 Symmar-S MC. I cannot see any significant differences in these lenses for sharpness or contrast in these test shots.

This lens is very small and light weight. Coverage is decent although you could easily run out of image circle at infinity focus and 4x5 film, then I would switch to one of the other lenses. The only complaint I have is that filters and filter holders for the 35.5mm filter thread are hard to come by. I have a step up ring on back order that will get me up to a more readily available 49 or 52mm thread.

-- Dave Schneider (dschneider@arjaynet.com), November 17, 1999


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