Imagon 300 question

[John Brady]

I have an Imagon 300 in a copal 3 shutter. I have been playing with making still life images with it recently. I have two of the h disks but find that I really like the crazy effects achieved by shooting it wide open without the disks.

There is no aperture scale on the shutter, which leads me to two questions.

What is the size wide open without the disks in place? I am guessing around 5.6 or larger based on some images I have made.

Is there a way to get an aperture scale to use this lens without the disks and still stop down?

I hate the wierd star effect in the highlights when using the disks. Thanks

www.timeandlight.com

[Mark Sawyer]

Hi, John ~

The Copal 3 has a maximum aperture of 45mm, so the maximum for a 300mm Imagon would be f/6.66 (the aperture of the Beast!). I used mine with the conventional aperture of my bigger Compound, (which allowed f/4.65, really wild). The effect with the conventional aperture is slightly different, but I often liked it better than the h/stop disks, as even the most open disk was quite restrained.

I never marked the sizes on an aperture scale, I just measured and divided for each exposure. Hope this helps...

[John Brady]

Thanks Mark, do you have any examples of 4.65 images with the Imagon? I would love to see it. The effect with the Copal 3 wide open was pretty impressive on its own. Really made the highlights glow!

[Mark Sawyer]

Here are a few old one's, wide open. As I said, it got pretty wild. Like the Verito and Kodak Portrait Lens, I liked it better around f/6 to f/8, but every once in a while, my baser insticts just couldnt be helped!

[John Brady]

That's some crazy swirl! Like them all but that first one is my favorite!
Thanks for posting them.

[Mark Woods]

I love my Imagon wide open. I have the 300mm and 200mm.

[Colin D]

I've just acquired a 300mm in barrel which I will put on a 4x5 with a Sinar shutter. Will it have a different look to the models mounted with a shutter? Also, what would it's widest aperture be without using the discs ala what Mark has done?

[Mark Sawyer]

Divide 300 by the diameter of the lens (in mm) to find the f/stop.

[ImSoNegative]

I just bought a 250 imagon, havnt used it yet, in fact it just came in the mail today, i havnt even seen it yet, am so looking forward to burning a few sheets tomorrow, actually it was one of mark's images above that sealed the deal on my buying it. thanks mark

[Ed Bray]

Hi, John ~

The Copal 3 has a maximum aperture of 45mm, so the maximum for a 300mm Imagon would be f/6.66 (the aperture of the Beast!). I used mine with the conventional aperture of my bigger Compound, (which allowed f/4.65, really wild). The effect with the conventional aperture is slightly different, but I often liked it better than the h/stop disks, as even the most open disk was quite restrained.

I never marked the sizes on an aperture scale, I just measured and divided for each exposure. Hope this helps...

Just out of curiosity Mark, Schneider supplied both the Symmar S and Apo Symmar 300mm 5.6 lenses in a Copal 3, wouldn't using a 300mm imagon in one of those shutters then have the correct aperture scale?