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View Full Version : 90mm f8 in recessed lens board?



kenj8246
10-Apr-2014, 06:09
I've read that it may not be necessary to put a 90mm lens in a recessed board. What are the effects of actually doing it? Good or bad? I have a Ilex-Calumet wide field Caltar 90mm f8 in a Copal 0 shutter and the couple boards I have are not that good a fit with respect to the existing hole. The threaded part of the shutter is approximately 32.5-ish mm and the existing hole is somewhat larger. Too large in my opinion, as there's some 'slop' movement.

I want to use it on a Graphic View 4X5. I have done some cursory searches :) but didn't find much information.

Kenny

Ben Calwell
10-Apr-2014, 06:45
I think having to use a recessed lens board depends on the camera design. I had to use a recessed board on my old Calumet monorail, because the front standard wouldn't get close enough to the ground glass to focus my 90mm Nikkor on a standard board. On that camera, it was a pain to use the recessed board, because I had trouble reaching the aperture and shutter levers with my fingers. I had to use a pencil to reach in and move the aperture lever and cock the shutter. If your camera allows a bag bellows, or you can focus the 90 Ok using a regular board, you don't need a recessed one. I can focus my 90mm on my Wista field camera without problems using a standard lens board.

kenj8246
10-Apr-2014, 06:53
Thanks, Ben. Yeah, it would be tight fiddling with the controls on this lens, as the front element blossoms out quite large and longish. I can focus it okay on my graphic view; the front and rear standards are quite close together.

Bob Salomon
10-Apr-2014, 07:15
Thanks, Ben. Yeah, it would be tight fiddling with the controls on this lens, as the front element blossoms out quite large and longish. I can focus it okay on my graphic view; the front and rear standards are quite close together.

Focusing at infinity is the first problem. Then can you still do camera movements with it? That's the second problem. A recessed board will give you a little more room to do them. A bag bellows will give you the flexibility to do them. But does your camera take a bag bellows?

kenj8246
10-Apr-2014, 07:47
All very good questions, Bob. I don't have any answers yet. Just got the lens yesterday and, truthfully, I'm a noob at LF at this point. I have an old Graphic View II for which I have a 8 1/4" Caltar and the Ektar 127 from my Crown Graphic. The Ektar isn't quite wide enough for this little project I'm working on at the moment. I'm trying to get around to all the old architecturally-pleasing TX county courthouses; a 'bucket list' project, if you will. The courthouse squares on which the bldgs sit are, for the most part, too tight for the Ektar and especially for the Caltar and I felt that a 90mm would be the better choice. Movements will, indeed, be integral to my project so I need to get out and see what's what. I'm not sure about the Graphic View taking a bag bellows; if I had to guess, I'd guess not or, if it does take a bag , the bad would be virtually impossible to find. That seems to be my luck. :) Plus, I'm trying to keep all this 'on a budget'.

I have a DIY board but the hole I made is sloppy and a little too large IMO for this shutter. I can mount it but there's some play and I just don't like it. The Ilex-Calumet 90mm mounting threads measure 32.5-ish mm so a 33mm hold would be more to my liking. This is all subjective, I know, and not on point, but I was a cabinet-maker in another life and just can't stand poor fitment. :) I will probably have a board fabbed locally with a correct hole and then I will see what else I need to see with regard to movements, etc.

Kenny

Bob Salomon
10-Apr-2014, 08:00
All very good questions, Bob. I don't have any answers yet. Just got the lens yesterday and, truthfully, I'm a noob at LF at this point. I have an old Graphic View II for which I have a 8 1/4" Caltar and the Ektar 127 from my Crown Graphic. The Ektar isn't quite wide enough for this little project I'm working on at the moment. I'm trying to get around to all the old architecturally-pleasing TX county courthouses; a 'bucket list' project, if you will. The courthouse squares on which the bldgs sit are, for the most part, too tight for the Ektar and especially for the Caltar and I felt that a 90mm would be the better choice. Movements will, indeed, be integral to my project so I need to get out and see what's what. I'm not sure about the Graphic View taking a bag bellows; if I had to guess, I'd guess not or, if it does take a bag , the bad would be virtually impossible to find. That seems to be my luck. :) Plus, I'm trying to keep all this 'on a budget'.

I have a DIY board but the hole I made is sloppy and a little too large IMO for this shutter. I can mount it but there's some play and I just don't like it. The Ilex-Calumet 90mm mounting threads measure 32.5-ish mm so a 33mm hold would be more to my liking. This is all subjective, I know, and not on point, but I was a cabinet-maker in another life and just can't stand poor fitment. :) I will probably have a board fabbed locally with a correct hole and then I will see what else I need to see with regard to movements, etc.

Kenny

Just get a thin piece of opaque plastic or sheet aluminum and mount it on the back of your lens board and then mill a proper size hole in it.

kenj8246
10-Apr-2014, 08:03
Wow! ESP! I was thinking the same thing. Great minds and all that, I guess. :)

Bob Salomon
10-Apr-2014, 08:18
Wow! ESP! I was thinking the same thing. Great minds and all that, I guess. :)

Note, I said mill and not drill. Important to keep in mind.

Brian C. Miller
10-Apr-2014, 08:31
When I bought a 75mm lens for my Toyo 45AX, I thought I would need a recessed lens board. So I bought one and mounted the lens. The first thing I had to do was to buy a shutter release extension, as I found out there is no way that a normal cable can be screwed in there. Yes, the controls are a bit tight to use. The plus side is that I have a bit more leeway with the bellows.

A 90mm definitely doesn't need a recessed board. Anything that is light-tight and fits will be fine.

kenj8246
10-Apr-2014, 08:31
Point taken, Bob. A huge difference.

ic-racer
10-Apr-2014, 17:09
As I recall the recessed board for the Graphic View is quite thick. It may be too thick to mount a 'modern' shutter safely. Keep this in mind.

jbenedict
10-Apr-2014, 19:14
Hi:

I have that same lens and used to have a Graphic View and found that I really needed to have a recessed board to be able to use rise or shift. It was just too jammed together to do otherwise. Recessed boards are/were available for the Graphic View and it was necessary to have a special release to work with the recessed board. Presently, I am using the lens on one of the Calumet Wide Angle view cameras with the really short rail. I was using it with a flat board and it was OK. However, I obtained a recessed board in another deal so tried it out with this camera. It was an improvement and was easier to deal with the movements even though it is a "wide angle" camera.

YMMV

Jeff

mdarnton
11-Apr-2014, 07:15
Since it's cheap to use a dedicated cable release in such situations, I'm going to try, sort of like on a Packard shutter, a hole for the release cableto comfortably exit the side of the recessed box of my boards, take a gentle turn, and then exit pointing forward, all via grommets from the hardware store. That's all theoretical at this point, of course.

kenj8246
11-Apr-2014, 07:25
Since it's cheap to use a dedicated cable release in such situations, I'm going to try, sort of like on a Packard shutter, a hole for the release cableto comfortably exit the side of the recessed box of my boards, take a gentle turn, and then exit pointing forward, all via grommets from the hardware store. That's all theoretical at this point, of course.

Hmmmm, this sounds interesting. And fun.

Kenny

Doremus Scudder
12-Apr-2014, 03:15
Chiming in a bit late here :)

I mounted an SA 90mm f/8 on my Graphic View II with a generic metal 4x4-inch recessed board. I solved the cable release problem by finding a cable release that could make the bend inside the recess; no drilling or grommets were needed. There is also a right-angle cable release adapter available from B&H and others that should work as well. That lens is now mounted on a recessed Technika board, with the same cable release. I work the aperture control with the plunger of the cable release or a pencil. Everything else I can get to with fingers.

IMO, having the 90mm on a recessed board on the Graphic View helped a lot. You do have to mount both standards in front of the tripod block to make infinity focusing easier and to avoid getting the end of the rail in the shot ;)

Best,

Doremus

Noah B
12-Apr-2014, 06:22
Last summer I was shooting on a Cambo monorail and with a 90mm 80% of the time. I got a recessed board for it because I could focus at infinity with ease. It was hard to get to the controls sometimes and very finicky, but I had to do it. On a field camera I used a flat board with the 90mm and it was fine, I mostly used rise and fall and it was pretty good.

kenj8246
12-Apr-2014, 15:17
Thanks to all who have responded. Very good information to have. Some very practical things I hadn't even considered, too. Thanks again, y'all.