Lens Board Adapter--I'm stuck

[Two23]

I've been trying to make an adapter for my 5x7 Gundlach Korona so I can also use my lenses already mounted to 110mm metal boards so I can swap them back and forth with with my Chamonix 4x5. I had a nice little wooden adapter made from walnut, but now I'm realizing I have some baffling clearance issues. The adapter will have the Chamonix boards going "sideways," because there wasn't enough clearance at the top. The green dots on the photo below represent a width of 7mm, and the red dot represents 10mm. I bought a set of lensboard keepers (top & bottom) from a guy on ebay, but they require I drill quarter inch holes for the swiveling keepers. Just don't have that room to do it. Also have a rounded flat brass strip but again there's clearance issues as it's too long. (Might just cut it some.) Front standard opening is about 4.5 inches square. Anybody have anything? The lenses will mostly be lighter weight, but I also hope to have some "regular" wooden lensboards made for the Korona so I can use my big heavy lenses on it, such as 300mm Velostigmat and 8 in. Voigtlander Petzval. These are just too big for my cute little Chamonix. I even had a cat scan done, but still no solution. So, any ideas here?


Kent in SD

[Dan Fromm]

Kent, it appears that there's not enough room do to what you want if the Chamonix board sits flat on the Korona board. Would it be possible to make an extension (short) board that will fit the Korona and accept a Chamonix board? In my minds' eye I see two boards with a short tube between them.

[Two23]

Kent, it appears that there's not enough room do to what you want if the Chamonix board sits flat on the Korona board. Would it be possible to make an extension (short) board that will fit the Korona and accept a Chamonix board? In my minds' eye I see two boards with a short tube between them.


Hmm. Sort of a reverse recessed lens board. I think this is why the 5x7 Korona is so plentiful and cheap on ebay--difficult to make a 110mm adapter.


Kent in SD

[Two23]

Looks like SK Grimes makes adapters. Their one for 4.5" Deardorff just might work. If not they could probably make a similar one that would work. Dang, $135 though.

http://www.skgrimes.com/products/lens-board-adapters



Kent in SD

[vinny]

Kinda like arca swiss locks, I used a single penny for a latch on one of my linhof adapters instead of a latch. Drill a small hole near the edge of the penny and screw it to the adapter in the middle (you could use two pennies) and tighten until it's snug. Rotate into olace to hold the board in place. I actually prefer this method to sliding locks

[David Karp]

Kent, it appears that there's not enough room do to what you want if the Chamonix board sits flat on the Korona board. Would it be possible to make an extension (short) board that will fit the Korona and accept a Chamonix board? In my minds' eye I see two boards with a short tube between them.

This is what I did with my Whole Plate Seneca. http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?26278-Whole-Plate-Madness-(with-Technika-Board-Adapter)&highlight=plate+seneca

The extended lensboard I made is crude, but it has worked fine for years.

For some reason I see that there are no photos on that post.

Here is a post that shows the camera and adapter with a lens on it. http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?118192-Question-about-mounting-an-Ilex-Acme-Synchro-3-shutter

[Two23]

This is what I did with my Whole Plate Seneca.

For some reason I see that there are no photos on that post.

Here is a post that shows the camera and adapter with a lens on it.


Well, that certainly gives me another idea of how to go about it. I really love the Senecas in black & nickel. The Korona is a great camera, but I certainly would have bought one of the 5x7 Senecas if I had found one with a matching 4x5 back as I did the Korona. If I ever totally lose my mind and buy an 8x10, it will most likely be a Seneca. I just love that look!


Kent in SD

[mdarnton]

Vinnie's cheap. I used nickels, and folded one edge up for a handle for turning, and to give clearance for removing the boards. :-) Something like that might, actually fit, but it would be tight. Dimes, maybe?

[Two23]

Vinnie's cheap. I used nickels, and folded one edge up for a handle for turning, and to give clearance for removing the boards. :-) Something like that might, actually fit, but it would be tight. Dimes, maybe?


POLISHED nickels would go with the original hardware! I think what I'm going to end up doing is something along the lines of opposing swivel locks on the left and right sides. The original Korona ones would be perfect, but I can't find a website so I can contact the Gundlach company. I generally don't tighten the lenses down on the Linhoff boards all THAT tight, so I can simply swivel them to upright when used on the Korona. The more I think about it, the more I might just mostly use the smaller lenses on the Chamonix and those big multi-pound lenses on the Korona with custom wooden boards. I've come this far though and will complete the project. It will be cool to use vintage lenses on this camera, and I am wanting to try some 5x7 b&w.


Kent in SD

[mdarnton]

I think that's a good idea. I've got a Cambo with all modern lenses, and a Crown view fitted with lenses appropriate to the period. It keeps everything in kind of a "right" place, and you always know which kit your lenses are with.

Actually, that's how I got my appreciation for the qualities of old lenses---I bought an Agfa-Ansco view and decided to fit it with period-appropriate lenses. I liked them so much that I haven't used the Cambo and its modern ones since.

[redrockcoulee]

We had thought of going that route with our Seneca Improved Whole Plate. We had several modern lenses and two flange mounted lenses and wanted to be able to use all of our lenses on both the Seneca and the Shen Hao. Our solution was to have a millwright make adapters for copal shutters to mount into the flanges, we had two made, a 0 and a 1. We then mounted the flanges on each type of lens board. It turns out that so far it is only the Copal 0 that is being used on both cameras and it does not even have a real lens but instead we have zone plate and pinhole lenses mounted on mat stock that we push into the front of the shutter. Got the adapters made for me for free (gave a bottle of home made wine but also had other work done as well) and the shutter, brand new, also free.

The tube system seems a little more complicated as far as being light tight but what works works.



This is what I did with my Whole Plate Seneca. http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?26278-Whole-Plate-Madness-(with-Technika-Board-Adapter)&highlight=plate+seneca

The extended lensboard I made is crude, but it has worked fine for years.

For some reason I see that there are no photos on that post.

Here is a post that shows the camera and adapter with a lens on it. http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?118192-Question-about-mounting-an-Ilex-Acme-Synchro-3-shutter

[Chauncey Walden]

I don't see the problem with what you have. Just add a thin strip of word or metal on the right edge of your adapter to slip your board under and a couple of small machine screws on the left edge of the board put in from the back with a metal arm pivoting on them and a small wing nut to secure the arm once you have swung it over the board.

[Tracy Storer]

Solution #1: make a thicker adapter that moves the 110mm hardware away from the camera body. ("reverse recessed board" in your words)
Solution #2: make an adapter that mounts the 110mm board off-center upwards, and utilizes the Korona topstrip, which then leaves room at the bottom of the adapter for 110mm retainer hardware.