Putting a new shutter on a old lens

Dear contributors, I would like to know how do you go about adapting a second hand shutter to a sec ond hand lens. The question is maybe wrongly formulated because I should make cl ear what the problem (according to my doubts) is. If you have a lens with a old or damaged or untrustworthy shutter, you better change the shutter, only, there is very little chance to find the same shutter on the second hand market. If yo u are lucky enough to find a shutter which fits your lens it might originally ha ve come frome a different type of lens(e.g. focal length) therefore the aperture s indicated on the aperture scale won't match when used on a different lens. I h ave a Ektar 203mm f 7,7 mounted on a prontor shutter which is a difficult shutte r to work with in portraiture because it has no position in which it stays open for focusing. O.K. you can focus with the lens on " B" but you must admit it is just that little nuisance which you don't need while taking pictures. The same p roblem applays to other vintage lenses which you can find on the second hand mar ket. Thanks!

I know you can buy modern shutters. Adorama shows them in thier catalog, and Im sure B&H and others cary them also. I dont know how standard this stuff is, especially in older US made items, which often were not metric. I would let someone like Steve Grimes do it. (He is on the net, but I dont remember the address).The Ektar 203 is a great lens and worth using.

I agree 100% with Ron Shaw. You do have a WONDERFUL lens! Steve Grimes is my repair/installation guru, and I've been a working pro for 40 years. Steve is as wonderful as your lens, and even has vintage shutters, in addition to new. Steve Grimes e-mail <skgrimes@skgrimes.com> Web page {a whole tutoral} www.skgrimes.com

You won't go wrong with Steve.

Definitely talk to Mr Grimes. Ask him to mount the lens in a Kodak Supermatic shutter if you want to be authen tic.

I used my 203 Ektar for many years on many different cameras, including my 8 x 1 0.

Thanks everybody about suggesting the services and advice of a true dedicated large format scientist such as mr. Grimes. I had seen its site other times but only took time yesterday in exploring it and discovering the wide range of incredible work mr. Grimes does. Here in the Netherlands or in Italy, where I come from, I've never seen or heard anything about anybody like him. I'll consider, in the future, shipping a number of lenses to him, even though, it has to be said that you have to weigh the cost of repairs against buying (second hand but in a better state or newer) lenses. However I was somewhat puzzled by Tony brents contribution about using the EKTAR 203 7,7 on a 8x10, I knew that it could be done on a 5x7 but I had no knowledge of its use on a 8x10. Could anybady elaborate on that? Andrea Milano

The info on this lens from the Graflex.Org site lists the 203 as having a 216mm circle of coverage.