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Fuji GFX and Cambo Actus Lens Options

lamoreauxphoto

New member
Hey guys - New member here. I tried doing some searching on this topic but wanted to be a little more specific as to what I'm looking for.

I shoot mainly Architecture and Interiors - I just got the GFX50r and wanted to adapt my GFX to either a Acra Swiss Rm3di or which seems to be the less expensive option would be the Cambo Actus.

Are any of you running this setup and shooting mainly architecture? Which lenses are you able to use successfully that resolve well with movements and the sensor size?
Am I better off using Digital Rodenstocks or Schenider lenses vs being able to use Canon TS-E (tilt-shift) lenses etc...

Any help would be great. Basically I want the ability to rise and fall and lateral shift simultaneously independent of each other.
 

scho

Well-known member
Hey guys - New member here. I tried doing some searching on this topic but wanted to be a little more specific as to what I'm looking for.

I shoot mainly Architecture and Interiors - I just got the GFX50r and wanted to adapt my GFX to either a Acra Swiss Rm3di or which seems to be the less expensive option would be the Cambo Actus.

Are any of you running this setup and shooting mainly architecture? Which lenses are you able to use successfully that resolve well with movements and the sensor size?
Am I better off using Digital Rodenstocks or Schenider lenses vs being able to use Canon TS-E (tilt-shift) lenses etc...

Any help would be great. Basically I want the ability to rise and fall and lateral shift simultaneously independent of each other.
I have the Cambo Actus G that I use occasionally with my 50R, but mostly for landscape. Lenses that I use are the 60mm Cambo Actar, Schneider 47 XL, Rodenstock 55 Grandagon, Sinar 75mm Sinaron, and an old Pentax 645 A35mm. Lenses wider than 50-60mm will restrict movements. I also have a Canon 24mm TS-E lens yay I use with the 50R, but I mount it directly using a Kipon AF EF to GFX adapter.
 

lamoreauxphoto

New member
I have the Cambo Actus G that I use occasionally with my 50R, but mostly for landscape. Lenses that I use are the 60mm Cambo Actar, Schneider 47 XL, Rodenstock 55 Grandagon, Sinar 75mm Sinaron, and an old Pentax 645 A35mm. Lenses wider than 50-60mm will restrict movements. I also have a Canon 24mm TS-E lens yay I use with the 50R, but I mount it directly using a Kipon AF EF to GFX adapter.
Thanks for the reply - So basically what your'e saying is I wont be able to go wide on this setup and have movements?
 

vvince

Member
You will have some shift/rise-fall capability, but most likely less than you might need.
I have the Cambo Actus G that I use occasionally with my 50R, but mostly for landscape. Lenses that I use are the 60mm Cambo Actar, Schneider 47 XL, Rodenstock 55 Grandagon, Sinar 75mm Sinaron, and an old Pentax 645 A35mm. Lenses wider than 50-60mm will restrict movements. I also have a Canon 24mm TS-E lens yay I use with the 50R, but I mount it directly using a Kipon AF EF to GFX adapter.

Hello,
I am waking up a somehow older thread...
I am interested in the Actus to mount my Fuji GFX 50R on it, and before buying I am collecting some infos on the usable lenses, so I am really interested in comments on those lenses...
How is the Schneider 47mm XL performing? No problem to focus at infinity? Is there a reasonable amount of tilt and shift available? And how does the image quality compare to a GF lens?
And what about the Actar 60mm, is it any good in comparison to the GF lenses?
There is also the Fujinon SWD 65mm (analog lens) which is not too difficult to find at a reasonable price, which could be an option. Has anybody used it on a GFX?
Lastly I would also have the same questions regarding the more recent digital lenses from Schneider or Rodenstock : the Schneider 60mm digitar and the Rodenstock HR 60mm.
I would also take any other advice regarding large format lenses working well on the GFX, especially in the range 45-65mm...
Thanks for any info,

cheers
Vincent
 

asnapper

New member
I have a Cambo Actus Mini which is used with a Sony A7rIII plus 3 SK Digitars the 47mm f5.6, 90mm f4.5 & 120mm f5.6 & I'm considering getting the Fuji 100s & upgrading to the Cambo GFX, so I am also interested in also hearing feedback on how the SK 47mm performs with the larger GFX sensor. According to Cambo lens chart, the SK 47mm isn't suitable for either the Cambo Actus / Sony or GFX setups, but as I & others have found it works, & focusses at infinity with the Actus / Sony combination, even with standard bellows, allowing plenty of movements, & I suspect you would get full movements if the bag bellows were used.
 

vjbelle

Well-known member
Vincent...... you will not be able to focus to infinity with the 47XL. The widest Schneider lens you will be able to use and focus to infinity is the 72mm. The Actar will focus to infinity but with limited movements. I have not used it so cannot comment on the lens quality.

This may be of some help:

Victor B.
 

Attachments

vvince

Member
Vincent...... you will not be able to focus to infinity with the 47XL. The widest Schneider lens you will be able to use and focus to infinity is the 72mm. The Actar will focus to infinity but with limited movements. I have not used it so cannot comment on the lens quality.

This may be of some help:

Victor B.
Thanks for the document Victor, I had found it already but wanted to hear some opinion from people who tried the lenses (like Carl, who apparently uses the 47XL on the Actus GFX).
I would also be interested what is exactly meant by "limited movement" in the Cambo charts : it could mean that a substantial amount (but not full) of movement is possible, or that barely no movement is possible. It probably mean one or the other depending on the lens...
 

vvince

Member
I have a Cambo Actus Mini which is used with a Sony A7rIII plus 3 SK Digitars the 47mm f5.6, 90mm f4.5 & 120mm f5.6 & I'm considering getting the Fuji 100s & upgrading to the Cambo GFX, so I am also interested in also hearing feedback on how the SK 47mm performs with the larger GFX sensor. According to Cambo lens chart, the SK 47mm isn't suitable for either the Cambo Actus / Sony or GFX setups, but as I & others have found it works, & focusses at infinity with the Actus / Sony combination, even with standard bellows, allowing plenty of movements, & I suspect you would get full movements if the bag bellows were used.
Thanks for the info, that's good to know, and gives some hope for the use of the 47XL on the Actus GFX. Are you happy with the optical quality of the 47XL and 90mm? Is it on paar with Sony native lenses?
 

asnapper

New member
Vincent...... you will not be able to focus to infinity with the 47XL. The widest Schneider lens you will be able to use and focus to infinity is the 72mm. The Actar will focus to infinity but with limited movements. I have not used it so cannot comment on the lens quality.

This may be of some help:

Victor B.
Thanks for the information, I suppose an alternative would be the Apo Sironar Digital 55 f/4,5, though I do have several Pentax 645 & 67 lenses I could use on a Cambo GFX, the widest being the 645 35mm. I am attempting to keep the weight down, & the digitars are compact & light lenses
 

asnapper

New member
Thanks for the info, that's good to know, and gives some hope for the use of the 47XL on the Actus GFX. Are you happy with the optical quality of the 47XL and 90mm? Is it on paar with Sony native lenses?
I'm very happy with the Digitars & they are on par with the Sony native lenses. I also use Pentax 645 & 67 lenses with the Actus with mixed results. Cambo have manufactured a dedicated Pentax 645 lens board. l wish they would do one for the Contax 645 lenses but there is no demand, though you can have the Contax 645 35mm lens converted at the Cambo factory but it costs over £1k.
 

vvince

Member
I'm very happy with the Digitars & they are on par with the Sony native lenses. I also use Pentax 645 & 67 lenses with the Actus with mixed results. Cambo have manufactured a dedicated Pentax 645 lens board. l wish they would do one for the Contax 645 lenses but there is no demand, though you can have the Contax 645 35mm lens converted at the Cambo factory but it costs over £1k.
Thanks, that speaks well of the Schneider Digitar optics. I need to find some at a reasonable price now...
Would you recommend any Pentax 645 or 67 lens in particular? And how did you adapt the Pentax 67 lenses on the Actus, I could not find a specific lens board. Is it the same as for the 645? I heard good things on the Pentax 67 55mm f4 with the Fuji GFX, so this could be an option if mounting it on the Actus is not too complicated.
Converting the Contax lens is too expensive for me, as this comes on top of the price of the lens, which is not cheap itself...

Otherwise, if anybody has experience with other lenses in this focal length range (47-65mm), please share.
 

asnapper

New member
I use a P67 to P645 adapter to use Pentax 67 lenses with the Cambo Pentax lens board. I use a HD Pentax D FA 645 35mm f3.5, which is the latest version of this lens, which I find to be superior to the 2 previous versions, but others prefer the much older Pentax A 645 35mm f3.5, I also recommend the Pentax D FA 645 55mm f2.8 & the Pentax FA 645 75mm f2.8 & the Pentax FA 645 120mm f4 Macro lenses. As for the Pentax 67 lenses a nice 3 lens set would be the last version of the Pentax 67 55mm f4, the Pentax 67 75mm f2.8 AL (I don't have this lens but its supposed to be sharper than the 645 75mm lens, plus it has a larger image circle, but expensive), & the Pentax 67 105mm f2.4.
 

vvince

Member
I use a P67 to P645 adapter to use Pentax 67 lenses with the Cambo Pentax lens board. I use a HD Pentax D FA 645 35mm f3.5, which is the latest version of this lens, which I find to be superior to the 2 previous versions, but others prefer the much older Pentax A 645 35mm f3.5, I also recommend the Pentax D FA 645 55mm f2.8 & the Pentax FA 645 75mm f2.8 & the Pentax FA 645 120mm f4 Macro lenses. As for the Pentax 67 lenses a nice 3 lens set would be the last version of the Pentax 67 55mm f4, the Pentax 67 75mm f2.8 AL (I don't have this lens but its supposed to be sharper than the 645 75mm lens, plus it has a larger image circle, but expensive), & the Pentax 67 105mm f2.4.
Thanks a lot for the detailed answer Asnaper.
For the 55mm, which one between the D FA 645 and the 67 would you recommend?
With the P67 to P645 adapter and the Pentax 67 55mm can you still focus to infinity and have some movement?
And is there also a reasonable amount of movement with the Pentax 645 35mm at infinity?

From what you said (correct me if I you think there are better options), I guess a nice set for me would be, depending on what can be found on the used market,
- a Pentax A 645 35mm f3.5 (the HD D FA 645 is expensive...)
- a Schneider 47XL
- a Pentax 55mm or a Rodenstock APO Sironar digital 55mm ; or a Rodenstock HR 60mm or a Schneider digitar 60mm
- a Rodenstock HR or a Schneider digitar 90mm or 100mm
 

Alkibiades

Well-known member
I would always prefer Schneider/ Rodenstock lenses over Pentax/Contax/Hasselblad lenses. Schneider/Rodenstock lenses are better in all cases, if you make architecture there is no question about it.
55mm Rodenstock- I think the most wanted lens for all solutions and all camera combos, digitar 60 mm has a small image circle, sharp but movements are limitated ( 80 mm has bigger imege circle, it would be a better choice), HR 60mm is very sharp, but also the imege circle is limitated. Schneider 60 mm XL is great, but rare and expensive- with a right calibrated 55 mm roddy you will get similar results.
47 xl digitar is a special lens indeed.It is the digitar schneider lens that was produces from the biginning of the digital photography till the end of schneider production.
there are maybe 20 years. The lens design based on the Super Angulon MC 47 mm but the mounting quality and the couting were improved in these 20 years.
When you can get lates exeplars it will be a creazy sharp lens on a 100 MP sensor. I tested one with the 43 xl and surprisly the 47 xl was sharper. The earlier 47 xl were less sharp as the 43 xl.
I now some guys that use 47 xl with Fuji, for this special Cambo parts are needed ( get this info from these users, I dont own Actus for myself)- I would ask directly Cambo, thay are always very helpfull.
anyway Arca swiss has no problems with wide Schneider lenses and Sony/Fuji cameras.
90 mm: you cant get any wrong lens, they are all really very good. Schneider 90 mm and 100 mm are very sharp and the image circle is bigger than you will need for the 33x44 mm sensor.
Rodenstock the same, great sharpness, even bigger image circle, the size of the lens bigger but not so much.
the nice thing is: all these lenses are cheap. You get 3 -4 lenses for a price of one Rodenstock HR-Digaron.
 

asnapper

New member
Yes the P645 A 35mm f3.5 would be a good wide angle & give you some movement, I was fortunate I found a cheap refurbished model of the latest version. Its been suggested in this thread that the SK 47 Digitar doesn't focus at infinity with the GFX cameras, a way to find out for sure would be to email Cambo & ask them. I believe the early SK 60mm digitar have a smaller image circle than the later version, the Rodenstock Apo Sironar 55mm plus the very expensive HR 60mm have huge image circles. The SK 90mm f4.5 digitar has a good reputation & is much cheaper & more available on the used market than the Rodenstock HR.

The cheapest & perhaps more adaptable way to build a set of lenses for use with an Actus GFX would be to use MF camera lenses from Pentax, Mamiya or Hasselblad. You will also be able to use them directly on the GFX camera with the appropriate adapter, making the lenses more versatile.

No promises but when I get time I will take some photos with my Actus / Sony setup with the 2 x Pentax 35mm lenses SK 47mm, P645 & P67 55mm lenses. I will focus at infinity & use f11 & also use maximum shift. I will post raw files on Dropbox. I'm not sure when I will do this we are in our 3rd lockdown & I am only supposed to go outside for exercise & for essential things like shopping & medical appointments. My partner has also been shielding, so I have to be ultra careful, though she did have her 1st C19 vaccination earlier in the week, & will have some immunity in a couple of weeks time & I'm not due to get my 1st jab until sometime next month.
 

vvince

Member
Thanks Alkibiades and Asnaper for your detailed answer full of valuable information, I really appreciate it.
I guess I get a clearer picture now.
I´ll try to find a Rodenstock digital 55mm for sure and see for the rest.
Some rodenstock HR rebrabded as Sinaron and mounted on Sinar DB plates can be found for nor crazy prices. Would you know if it can be simply unmounted and remounted on an Actus plate, as one would do with a lens mounted on a linhof plate?
Asnaper I really appreciate that you'll test your lenses, but no hurry : I am in prospective phase, won't be buying all the lenses at once, so take you time
And to all : stay healthy, that's the most important above all

Vincent
 
I would really appreciate some more feedback on the Cambo Actar lens options, when used with something like the GFX 100 (s). I am considering the 60 and potentially 120, with Cambo Actus, for my GFX 100.
The 80 and 90 are also interesting, but the FOV of the 60 and 120 combination would make more sense for my intended applications.
The 60 is the most intriguing option - stopped down at 8, where it will be most used, will the useable IC increase, and if so, by how much ?
Anyway, any experience with the Combo Actar 60, 80, 90, 120 lenses will be most appreciated.
 

asnapper

New member
I have no experience with the Cambo Actar lenses, but here is a video of a photographer using the 60mm Actar, & he is getting over 20mm of shift in either direction. Apologises for not getting the photos done, but things have been a little mad so far this year, due to covid.

 
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