Lens doesn't fit?

[blevblev]

I finally got a deal on a Schneider f5.6 210mm lens on Craigslist. I mounted it onto a lensboard and attempted to mount it on the camera - a Wisner-style Zone VI 4x5. I really had to do a lot of jockying to get it to fit. The rear element of the lens hits the edge of the opening. I haven't tried to take it off yet, but I may have to take the back off and remove the rear element off to get it out.

Did I buy a lens for an 8x10 or something?

[Nick_3536]

What lens did you buy?

[blevblev]

Schneider-Kuznach APO Symmar f5.6 210mm.

[Murray]

Well, it is FAST for a 210. Probably looked smaller on the web...

[Nick_3536]

If I'm reading the Schneider data sheet right it's got an 80mm rear. That's pretty big for a small lensboard opening.

You might need to install it from behind if it's too hard.

It's not an 8x10 lens. 5x7 at most.

[Oren Grad]

The 210 Apo-Symmar has a 70mm rear cell diameter (I just double-checked mine). It happens to be the biggest of the late model 210 plasmats in that respect - the Rodenstock, Nikon and Fuji versions all have smaller rear cells.

The 210 Super-Symmar HM is specified as 80mm, but that comes in a Copal 3 and is a very big and heavy lens overall - it's hard to mistake it for a 4x5 lens.

[Per Madsen]

When Schneider started making Apo-Symmar-L lenses one of the changes was that the rear end did use the same filter size as the front end.

The 210 mm Apo-Symmar-L uses 77 mm filters both on the front and the rear.

The 210 mm Apo-Symmar uses 72 mm filters on the front and has a 70 mm rear element.

The rear element of my Nikkor W 210 mm is 60 mm.

So do you have an Apo-Symmar or an Apo-Symmar-L ?

[Brian Ellis]

The 210 APO Symmar was the first LF lens I bought and I've used it on quite a few different cameras - Tachihara, Technikardan, Shen Hao, Technika, Ebony, and Chamonix. I've never had any trouble with the rear lens element being too big for any of them and it's certainly surprising that the Zone VI alone among those types of cameras would have a problem with it. Sounds to me like something's wrong somewhere but surely somebody here uses that lens on a Zone VI and can tell you if they too have the same problem. Or maybe Bruce Barlow or Richard Ritter would know.

[RichardRitter]

Can you provide a picture of the front bellows frame. It could be one of the early plastic bellow frame and needs to be modified.

[blevblev]

I'll have to measure when I get home, but I do know that the front lens cap, and the rear one aren't interchangeable. The front one is bigger.

When I said it doesn't fit, I didn't mean to indicate that the diameter of the rear element is bigger than the side to side (or top to bottom) dimension of the square hole. It fits in the hole fine, as long as it's not in the lensboard. After mounting it on the lensboard, I inserted the lensboard into the retaining clip at the bottom of the opening, and then I tilted the whole thing into the opening. It's when I am tilting the lens back that the "not fitting" happens. The very top of the rear element hits the top of the opening at that point.

I'll take pictures and post them when I get home.

Thanks.