Lens Board

Barney

Barney

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Name
Wayne
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Have you seen the prices of these>

I am Making my own -


Cut the ally and check the fit

Lens Board-4.jpg

Lens Board-3.jpg


Lens Board.jpg


I like the colour match...
 
I admire your tools and skills.
The first image looks like something from a horror movie.

More to the point, you're probably going to want to paint the inside of the lens board matt black, to avoid light bouncing around inside (just like bellows are black inside)
 
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I make quite a few lens boards, and also lens board adapters. It is worthwhile, well done.

Most of mine are wood, but a few are Aluminium, just a hacksaw and files :D

Ian
 
Kevin Allan said:
I admire your tools and skills.
The first image looks like something from a horror movie.

More to the point, you're probably going to want to paint the inside of the lens board matt black, to avoid light bouncing around inside (just like bellows are black inside)
Click to expand...

The Acrylic Matt black is arriving tomorrow, I already have the Sodium Hydroxide to prepare the surface, I used to use acid etch but am not buying a can for three little boards, I just need a chemist to tell me a suitable solution strength, enough to dissolve the Aluminium oxide in about 30 seconds without going mad, eating the aluminium and dissolving my new lens board. :)
 
Barney said:
The Acrylic Matt black is arriving tomorrow, I already have the Sodium Hydroxide to prepare the surface, I used to use acid etch but am not buying a can for three little boards, I just need a chemist to tell me a suitable solution strength, enough to dissolve the Aluminium oxide in about 30 seconds without going mad, eating the aluminium and dissolving my new lens board. :)
Click to expand...
I know you like the home chemistry, personally I'd just scuff it up a bit and spray it with a can of etch or epoxy primer.

Actually these days, I would draw one and 3D printed it.
 
zx9 said:
I know you like the home chemistry, personally I'd just scuff it up a bit and spray it with a can of etch or epoxy primer.

Actually these days, I would draw one and 3D printed it.
Click to expand...
I want to get the camera working and me taking some photo's and making darkroom prints, in the latter part of the year I will be making a camera incorporating the use of 3d printers. I can only learn so much at once and my photography comes first. No doubt I will struggle even getting a photo!
 
Like Ian I've made quite a few, including adapters to odd lenses...
Ply, plastic, aluminium & occasionally even card (for barrel lenses I don't expect to use beyond a first visual trial)
I find plastic the easiest to get close to the standard Toyo design for my cameras, as their boards have a rim, and I can simply cut a groove to replicate the seal this gives.
 
Not sure there's a "safe" concentration of NaOH solution that doesn't risk pitting/similar of aluminium.

Pan scourer sponge & white vinegar solution for me (and I hate the smell of vinegar)

Edit: autocorrect trypo
 
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With Aluminium, I just use wet and dry paper (wet, and then once dry spray with etch prime, then finally finishing with Satin black paint. It's quick and easy and lasts for years.

Ian
 
Ian Grant said:
I make quite a few lens boards, and also lens board adapters. It is worthwhile, well done.

Most of mine are wood, but a few are Aluminium, just a hacksaw and files :D

Ian
Click to expand...

Petrochemist said:
Like Ian I've made quite a few, including adapters to odd lenses...
Ply, plastic, aluminium & occasionally even card (for barrel lenses I don't expect to use beyond a first visual trial)
I find plastic the easiest to get close to the standard Toyo design for my cameras, as their boards have a rim, and I can simply cut a groove to replicate the seal this gives.
Click to expand...

You two must have saved a fortune, I like the flexibility of being able to get any lens and just make a board for it.
 
hunnymonster said:
Not sure there's a "safe" concentration of NaOH solution that doesn't risk putting/similar of aluminium.

Pan scourer sponge & white vinegar solution for me (and I hate the smell of vinegar)
Click to expand...
Citric acid solves the smell problem :)
 
Barney said:
You two must have saved a fortune, I like the flexibility of being able to get any lens and just make a board for it.
Click to expand...
Not so sure in my case. It means I've wasted money on loads of lenses that aren't too useful for photography.:oops: :$
 
Barney said:
You two must have saved a fortune, I like the flexibility of being able to get any lens and just make a board for it.
Click to expand...

I'm mostly making lens boards for the various Wood & Brass cameras I restore, there's nothing available commercially. In addition, I make boards and adapters so I can use my lenses on Linhof/Wista, or Pacemaker Graphic, lens boards on my Kodak Half plate Specialist 2, or Agfa Ansco 10x8 cameras. Also, various other vintage lenses 8" to 20" on the Agfa Ansco with either its 10x8 back, or 7x5 and 5x4 reducing backs.

This is a recent lens board I made for a Thornton Pickard All Weather Press Camera I bought last Autumn, it's a half plate camera with a spring back.

allweather000.jpg

I just need to find a 18cm lens, in a focus mount. The focal plane shutter was hanging when I got it home, the next day it began running like new, it just needed exercise.

In general, I tend to buy lens boards when cheap, I have maybe 30 spares for 5x4 cameras.

Ian
 
Barney said:
Please tell!
Click to expand...
The only examples I have images to share are a Delta 77 projector lens which has to sit VERY close to the ground glass for infinity focus (less than 1") mounting it within the bellows allows an image like this:
delta 77 - GG removed by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

Seems to work
delta 77 - deluxe & GG by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr
I think this lens works out around a 90mm focal length with a fairly fast aperture (~ f/1.4) though there's no iris or shutter.

Then there my unbranded 5" diameter monster perhaps a 180mm/1.3 or 150mm/1.2 again with there's no iris or shutter. The flange for this lens is so big I can only fit four of it's six mounting screws even on the giant 158mm lens boards used by older Toyo monorails:
A challenging lens by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

I don't currently have any suitable shutters for either of these though I have at least made crude paper apertures for the bigger one.

Many of the longer focal length projector/process lenses lenses I've played with don't have enough coverage for more than medium format (& IQ sometimes isn't good enough even for one frame of roll film).
 
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Petrochemist said:
The only examples I have images to share are a Delta 77 projector lens which has to sit VERY close to the ground glass for infinity focus (less than 1") mounting it within the bellows allows an image like this:
delta 77 - GG removed by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

Seems to work
delta 77 - deluxe & GG by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr
I think this lens works out around a 90mm focal length with a fairly fast aperture (~ f/1.4) though there's no iris or shutter.

Then there my unbranded 5" diameter monster perhaps a 180mm/1.3 or 150mm/1.2 again with there's no iris or shutter. The flange for this lens is so big I can only fit four of it's six mounting screws even on the giant 158mm lens boards used by older Toyo monorails:
A challenging lens by Mike Kanssen, on Flickr

I don't currently have any suitable shutters for either of these though I have at least made crude paper apertures for the bigger one.

Many of the longer focal length projector/process lenses lenses I've played with don't have enough coverage for more than medium format (& IQ sometimes isn't good enough even for one frame of roll film).
Click to expand...
You must get some lovely unique images from those lenses Mike!
 
Barney said:
You must get some lovely unique images from those lenses Mike!
Click to expand...
Not yet. but they should offer some unusual options once my skills improve & I get a shutter sorted...
 
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Petrochemist said:
Not yet. but they should offer some unusual options once my skills improve & I get a shutter sorted...
Click to expand...
Is there such a thing as a behind the board shutter where the possibility may exist to operate with multiple lenses?
 
Barney said:
Is there such a thing as a behind the board shutter where the possibility may exist to operate with multiple lenses?
Click to expand...

Yes.Sinar Copal shutters, with speeds of 1/60 - 8 seconds and X & M flash sync. They typically sell on eBay for £300-£400, however I bought mine at a camera fair for £20, I guess the seller thought it was broken as it didn't work with a normal cable release.

In fact, it just needed a special heavy duty, extra long throw, cable release, these are not cheap. There were various versions of the Sinar shutters, the electronic versions are now virtually all toast, the most sophisticated had a metering probe that went under the camera back.

Ian
 
StephenM said:

Packard-Ideal Shutter Company | Made in the USA since 1885

packardshutter.com packardshutter.com
Click to expand...

There are a lot of other options as well.

I have maybe 100 Thornton Pickard Roller Blind shutters, some front mounting, others between lens (that is between the lens and lens board -and often interchangeable), Focal Plane 0 5 or 6, Eyelid. Gitzo, Luc, AGI, etc front mounting leaf shutters, then Connely and Norks barn door shutters. And a few more . . . .

So I have shutters for virtually all my barrel lenses, in fact there is only one exception . . . . . .

That Mike @Petrochemist gave me one of these, no chance.
Petrochemist said:
Click to expand...

Ian
 
Ian Grant said:
So I have shutters for virtually all my barrel lenses, in fact there is only one exception . . . . . .

That Mike @Petrochemist gave me one of these, no chance.


Ian
Click to expand...
Have you managed to get anything from it yet? I suspect it may not be worth the effort, but it is intriguing.
My shutter options are much more limited than yours & I've not even had another go at shooting with a Galli shutter (two darkslides...) In reality a low light subject is likely to be the easiest option.

I am making progress with a small darkroom at the bottom of the garden, one that;s finally finished I'll hopefully make some progress on developing (something I've done very little of in the last 40 years - and not all that much before then)
 
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Need to make a nice storage box now.
 
I find dividers which look like the ones here, if arranged at an appropriate separation, let me slot a board into the groove.

Can't paste the link...
www.cases-and-enclosures.co.uk

Flight Case Dividers for ROC Cases

Shop flight case dividers for ROC cases, providing customisable organisation and secure storage for your equipment, enhancing protection during transport.
www.cases-and-enclosures.co.uk www.cases-and-enclosures.co.uk

... until I left and closed the tab on this page, then came back in and hit edit.
 
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Barney said:
Need to make a nice storage box now.
Click to expand...

Usually the standard lens stays on my LF cameras, even when folded up. The exception is my Toyo Half Plate View Camera, which won't close with a 150mm lens fitted.

My camera and lenses are stored in my Temba backpack. 75mm, 90mm, 210mm and 360mm Telephoto.

Ian
 
Ian Grant said:
Usually the standard lens stays on my LF cameras, even when folded up. The exception is my Toyo Half Plate View Camera, which won't close with a 150mm lens fitted.

My camera and lenses are stored in my Temba backpack. 75mm, 90mm, 210mm and 360mm Telephoto.

Ian
Click to expand...
I fancy walnut or mahogany with inlet brass reinforcing corner brackets and green flock lining, The box for the camera has space inside so I will measure up so it fits in there.
 
Barney said:
I fancy walnut or mahogany with inlet brass reinforcing corner brackets and green flock lining, The box for the camera has space inside so I will measure up so it fits in there.
Click to expand...

I found a great source for green felt last year. I needed some when restoring a Gandolfi tripod. I can't remember the companies name, they trade almost totally online, but are a mile or so as the crow flies from my house, quite a bit more by car :D When I went in there was maybe one other customer, but many staff members cutting and packing orders, very efficiently, and a huge variety of materials.

The idea of a Mahogany box with inset brass reinforcing brackets is a great idea, but I guess it's better to spend the time making images. There's plenty of packaging we all get that can be repurposed for next to nothing.

Ian
 
Ian Grant said:
I found a great source for green felt last year. I needed some when restoring a Gandolfi tripod. I can't remember the companies name, they trade almost totally online, but are a mile or so as the crow flies from my house, quite a bit more by car :D When I went in there was maybe one other customer, but many staff members cutting and packing orders, very efficiently, and a huge variety of materials.

The idea of a Mahogany box with inset brass reinforcing brackets is a great idea, but I guess it's better to spend the time making images. There's plenty of packaging we all get that can be repurposed for next to nothing.

Ian
Click to expand...
But I like making things, I have only just stopped myself from getting some stainless and making a 5x4 developing tank. :ROFLMAO:
 
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