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Thread: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

  1. #31

    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    Quote Originally Posted by AtlantaTerry View Post
    LOL! Yes, that's me!

    ... and I'm anal, too!

    .
    .
    .

    Being born a Virgo has been a real pain...
    Only if you're asked to do something you've never done before.

  2. #32

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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    Quote Originally Posted by Corran View Post
    I figured someone had already mentioned this by page 3, but I guess not.

    The Chamonix 45n1 I have is designed for the offset hole. If you have a center hole and crush the bellows down to minimum extension for ultrawide lenses, you'll discover this very quickly. It's impossible to drop the lens into the "correct" position with extreme bellows compression...
    Quote Originally Posted by xkaes View Post
    That's exactly how I discovered the need for an off-set board for my cameras. The "problem" is that camera A might need a 5mm offset while camera B needs a 15mm offset. That's where the graduate student comes in.
    xkaes: You're not confusing offset holes with recessed boards by any chance are you? I really can't imagine Chamonix making different models of camera that required lensboards with holes in different positions...

    Corran: I suspected that the Chamonix cameras required the standard Linhof offset. Thanks for finally confirming that. Using a board with a centered hole gets you a bit of extra rise, but at the expense of being able to center the lens on the film with very short lenses and very compressed bellows. Does the Chamonix take recessed boards? That might alleviate the centered-hole crush just a bit.

    In any case, unless one desires the extra rise at the expense of that or losing a bit of fall potential, one should probably get the boards with the proper offset for the Chamonix.

    Best,

    Doremus

  3. #33
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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    I personally have never seen a recessed board that is centered on the board. All of the recessed boards I have are offset (they are all Linhof I think except one made by Gaoersi which is also offset).
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  4. #34

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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    Quote Originally Posted by Doremus Scudder View Post
    xkaes: You're not confusing offset holes with recessed boards by any chance are you? I really can't imagine Chamonix making different models of camera that required lensboards with holes in different positions...

    Corran: I suspected that the Chamonix cameras required the standard Linhof offset. Thanks for finally confirming that. Using a board with a centered hole gets you a bit of extra rise, but at the expense of being able to center the lens on the film with very short lenses and very compressed bellows. Does the Chamonix take recessed boards? That might alleviate the centered-hole crush just a bit.

    In any case, unless one desires the extra rise at the expense of that or losing a bit of fall potential, one should probably get the boards with the proper offset for the Chamonix.

    Best,

    Doremus
    I wasn't talking about Chamonix cameras specifically. I know nothing about them. That is why I used the terms "camera A" and "camera B". Perhaps you -- or someone -- knows what the proper offset for the Chamonix is. But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, it needs to be specified -- OFFSET from where? Offset from the center of the board or offset from the center of the light ring? Those are two different locations -- at least on all of the Linhof-type boards that I have. Perhaps some energetic, graduate, photography student would like to but together a list of the needed offset of all large format cameras.

    I am "not confusing offset holes with recessed boards", but I'm not sure I know exactly what you mean here. I have several flat boards, an extended board, and a recessed board. My recessed board is offset -- both from the center of the board, AND the center of the light ring. I have seen recessed boards that are not offset, but the vast majority are -- if for no other reason than to allow the operation of the shutter functions (at least for larger shutters). All of my other boards are offset from the center of the light ring AND the center of the board -- offset lower (but as I mentioned in an earlier post, I did end up with a couple of boards that were NOT offset, by mistake, and had to sell them). But I actually have one flat board and one extended board that are offset from the center of the board, yet are NOT offset from the center of the light ring -- only because if they were offset any lower on the board, they would not fit on the camera. However, with these two lenses, I can center them on the GG after I attach the lens.

    I hope this clarifies.

    When we buy a Linhof-type board (whether flat, recessed, or extended), many of us never think about if it is offset, let alone how much it is offset, let alone how much offset our camera(s) need.

  5. #35

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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg Davis View Post
    You keep talking about energetic grad students doing all this work, but having been there myself I ask where the money to buy all those cameras and lens boards will come from? Or are you offering to fund this project?
    Having been a struggling grad student myself, all I can say is, nowadays grad students have an alternative that I never had. It's called "GO FUND ME". Beats the approach that I had to use -- digging pennies out of the couch!

  6. #36

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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    Quote Originally Posted by Corran View Post
    I personally have never seen a recessed board that is centered on the board. All of the recessed boards I have are offset (they are all Linhof I think except one made by Gaoersi which is also offset).
    I have several for my Cambos and one from Graflex. All have centered holes.

    Click for a series of photos of the Graflex one that I uploaded to Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/terryt...n/photostream/

    I also have one from Lihnoff in a box somewhere but can't remember about the center hole.

  7. #37
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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    Apologies if I was obtuse - I am talking specifically about Linhof-style 96x99 recessed boards, as are being discussed on this thread. I do not know much about any other lens boards since I don't use them.
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  8. #38

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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    You're not obtuse, but it's the perfect word to bring up in this discussion because the use of the terms "centered" and "offset" in this thread has been obtuse. When someone uses the term "centered", they should specify what it is "centered on". Similarly, when someone uses the term "off-set", they should specify by "how much". Otherwsie, it's clear as mud.

  9. #39
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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    Here is a random assortment of lens boards. From left to right: ShenHao brand centered #0 hole, Wista brand center #0 hole, Wista brand offset #0 hole, and Linhof brand offset #1 hole



    I am not taking lenses off boards (especially not recessed boards) to do a survey. The one or two millimeter differences between any two boards is not important to me. If it is to you, well have fun (I suggest buying the Linhof-brand boards for best consistency probably).

    I notice now that the centered ShenHao brand board is slightly higher than normal (centered usually means centered on the light trap) but perhaps this is because the batch I bought were factory rejects. I bought a large number of boards from a well-known eBay seller, not ShenHao, for about $8 a pop, and they all were marked ShenHao on arrival. That is complete conjecture though.
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  10. #40

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    Re: Why is the Chamonix lens board hole off center?

    MANY thanks for the pictures. I only have one empty board so it would have been a bigger task for me -- and probably would not have helped anyway. Your results show to me that a "centered" board for one manufacturer can mean centered on the board OR it can mean centered on the light ring. Shen Hoa centers on the board and Linhof centers on the light ring. I know it's only a couple of millimeters, but for some lenses and circumstances it can be important.

    Likewise, off-set might mean different things to different camera manufacturers. If you buy only their boards, everything might work out, but my camera company never made boards. Some companies, like mine, just say "uses Linhof boards" without details. But what my comany and Linhof used as off-sets may or may not be the same. My camera has a ZERO setting, but it is about 2mm off from the center of my ground glass when I use GENUINE WISTA boards.

    Maybe I should have just stuck with using subminiature cameras. Oh Well!!! From them, I learned that a "silly, little millimeter matters" -- oh no, that was from a cigarette ad:

    Click image for larger version. 

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