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Thread: Establishing and marking infinity stops?

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jun 1999
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    133

    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    I have a couple of older press cameras and am starting to get an extra lens or t wo. I've checked around (Midwest Photo, etc) and have been unable to locate the proper infinity stops to fit the rail. Is there a typical manner that the rail /standard can be marked for infinity without moving the existing stops? And eve n more elementary, is there a standard method to determine where this should be? Am I asking too much to mark on the rail some sort of distance scale? I suppo se all of the could be possible using the ground glass exclusively, but for a be ginner, the things seems to help alot. Suggestions greatly appreciated.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Sep 1998
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    114

    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    hi Roger, as for setting the infinity stops, i just took my camera outside one night and focused on a street light a couple of blocks away, and then i screwed the stops down. but it seems to me for lenses of different focal lengths you would require different cams for each lens??? do you have a different cam for each focal length you have?

  3. #3

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    Jun 1999
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    133

    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    Dave, Well...that's another problem. One of the cameras is a Busch Pressman and the other a Super Graphic (long story how I got two such similar cameras). I have figured a different cam for the Pressman beyond even asking and again unable to locate the correct cams for the Graphic. I haven't thought of this as being so big a problem, as I do much of my focusing off the ground glass. Though the distance scale on the two has been helpful in fading light. How did you permanently mark your infinity focus.

  4. #4

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    Sep 1998
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    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    Hi Roger, with regards to the infinity stops. When I got my speed graphic it was in pretty good condition, and I figure it was pretty much the factory set-up. It's a 4*5 with 127mm, and I assume everything is properly mated to sync with the range finder. But to check it, I took a screw driver and losened up the infinity stops on the rails and slid them out of the way (slide them to the front, and becareful not to lose them in the process). Then adjust the rails to where the indicator on the metering index matches up the two infinity symbols, the one on the rail and the one on the bed. Now, with the camera on your tripod, when it is good and dark out, focus the camera on a point of light far off in the distance (of course you do this with the ground glass), and you do this by sliding the front standards up and down the rail by hand. When the light is in focus, flip the lever and lock the front standards in place, and that place is infinity. Now slide those little stops up to the front of the standard, and then lock them in place. Assuming you have the right cam, and assuming that the range finder is properly adjusted, you are set. If the range finder is not adjusted, then you will have to go to the Graflex Society home page and look over their records. Good Luck, David.

  5. #5

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    Jun 1999
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    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    Thanks for your patience in explaining that. It will certainly help when I get ready to set up for infinity. Yet what I'm hoping to figure out is the occation when I'm in the field and have an extra lens ready to go on a lensboard and would like to swap out the lens then and there for a better perspective. I'd hate to move the infinity stops around like you described in that situation.

  6. #6

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    Sep 1998
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    114

    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    hi Roger, the infinity stops (at least the ones on my speed graflex) are hinged, and for instance when i use a 240mm lens for portraits or whatever, I just reach down and fold the stops over, and then you can crank out the standards and extend the bellows. however for a lens with greater wide angle you wouldn't reach out to the stops, i wouldn't think? anyway, my stops just flip up or lay down depending on what you want to do with them, and this doesn't effect their anchor point for my main lens. best regards, David

  7. #7

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    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    This is sort of how I had pictured things going and is actually what I've done a few times. It would seem convenient to have a point of reference for infintity with the second lens that might be a spot of white-out or something on the rails to match up with the front of the standard. Perhaps it would be possible also to tape a small distance scale next to the rail that would indicate where the standard should be positioned based on some predetermined testing with the second lens and help with DOF? This could make up for my lack of appropriate cam to a degree. Or maybe I'm trying to oversimplify this based on my inexperience, and it will all come with more practice.

  8. #8

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    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    Maybe I'm missing something here BUT I think this is fairly simple.

    I'm basically a newbie who has a Crown Graphic that came with a 135mm lens and those flip metal infinity stops. With the 135m lens pulled to the stops, I measured from the film plane to the lens and noticed that it was ... 135mm. Rather obvious in retrospect, I believe.

    So, when I buy new lenses, I pop them in their lensboard, pop them in the Crown Graphic, pull it out to the focal length, and make a black laundry-pen mark on the rails on both sides. Then when I change lenses, I merely unlock the bed, push/pull the bellows/standard out to the proper black lines and flip the lock to lock it in. It may not be perfect because I didn't spend an inordinate time looking for exactness, but it's pretty close. It can be as close as you want to spend the time for in being meticulous.

    However, in answer to the original posted question: it seems that the infinity stops would be located so that, when the bed is pulled out to them and locked, the lens is the focal length away from the film plane.

    Caveat 1: Without the Crown Graphic/ Pacemaker Graphic cams, the rangefinder won't work. The method I've described works fine if you will be using ground glass focussing.

    Caveat 2: If you are doing this for a tele-photo (true telephoto by construction) lens, you would need to use the flange local distance instead of the focal length.

  9. #9

    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    I did the same as Richard, use the black marker, fine point, and then when you change focal lengths, just move the front standard to the appropreiate mark. Almost a no brainer. Pat

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jun 1999
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    Establishing and marking infinity stops?

    As simple as it seems, that helps very much and now I know what to do. Thank you. I would suppose even simpler might be to verify the infinity stops of the first lens, and for subsequent lenses, rather than measure the distance from the film plane to the lens, measure the difference between the first lens infinity and the second on the rail as the difference of the two focal lengths.

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