Will I have issues with this lens board now?

[SoulfulRecover]

When I bought my 4x5 from eBay, it came with an extra lens and lens board. The hole in the board was too small for the lens so I talked to a buddy who said he could use a hole saw to cut it out to the right size. He did, however, the saw walked on him a little and now the lens can move around in the hole if its not tight. So I can more or less center the lens visually but if it is off a little, will it cause any problems?

It didn't cost me anything so worst case, I buy another board with the right size opening.

[B.S.Kumar]

If it is loose, it may not be parallel to the film when all movements are zeroed, and you might get less sharpness on one side of the film. If the hole is not too large, you can put some black tape to hold it in place, or use a washer temporarily. In the long term, a replacement board is best.

Kumar

[SoulfulRecover]

If I tighten it down, it wont move anywhere. Just didn't know if it was off center would cause an issue. I would think the image circle would be large enough that it could handle a small shift to a side. I was thinking about maybe adding a little black felt between the board and lens ring just incase there is a light issue as well.

[Jac@stafford.net]

It is tightly fastened so it is probably not off by a significant amount. Besides, you probably have front rise or shift to accommodate the tiny difference. Use it. Enjoy.

[Doremus Scudder]

As long as it's light tight you should be alright. Try to position the lens as correctly as possible and tighten it enough so it doesn't shift around, but not too tight to damage anything.

Doremus

[SoulfulRecover]

Thanks everyone. I will give it a try this weekend

[Michael E]

You can use some hot glue to keep the lens from wiggling. Remove the retaining ring, fill the gap between the shutter thread and the lens board, replace the retaining ring. Hot glue can be removed later, if you don't need it any more.

It doesn't matter much if the lens is not perfectly centered. You check and adjust the image on the ground glass anyway.

[LabRat]

Sometimes, if the hole is a little oversized, you can put a thin o-ring over the lens threads to take up the gap, then tighten down...

You can also cut some mattboard, wood, metal, plastic, etc with a compass cutter to make an adapter to fill the gap...

Good Luck!!!!!!

Steve K

[Jim Graves]

Remember ... every time you use rise/fall or shift you move the lens off-center. Having it mounted slightly off-center shouldn't be a problem.

[Ray Heath]

Shoot some pictures, check out the results, what do you think?

[Doremus Scudder]

Remember ... every time you use rise/fall or shift you move the lens off-center. Having it mounted slightly off-center shouldn't be a problem.

As an aside, I sometimes purposely mount a lens on a board with a hole that is not "centered" to the camera, but a bit higher (specifically using center-drilled Technika boards instead of the offset boards; these latter are "centered" to the camera, the center-drilled boards mount the lens a bit higher than centered to the camera). This allows me to squeeze a little extra rise out of the camera before I run out of front rise. Similarly, I can often mount a lens on an offset board upside-down on the camera to accomplish the same thing. I've often thought that a design with a square lens board that could be mounted in all positions and a mounting hole drilled off-center to the camera center would enable a bit extra rise and shift than the camera movements themselves would allow with a centered lens. This would be convenient for those of us who are constantly running out of rise and shift on our wooden folders...

Best,

Doremus

[Jim Noel]

If I tighten it down, it wont move anywhere. Just didn't know if it was off center would cause an issue. I would think the image circle would be large enough that it could handle a small shift to a side. I was thinking about maybe adding a little black felt between the board and lens ring just incase there is a light issue as well.

Use the board.It should not cause you any problems. Use the money needed for a new board to buy film.

[John Kasaian]

Metal lens board? Or is it wood?

[Kyle M.]

Had the same thing happened when I drilled out the Copal #1 board on my Arca Swiss for my 15" Wollensak which is in an Ilex #4 shutter. The hole is a bit above center but I have enough rise/fall and enough coverage from that particular lens that it works out just fine.