Lens element stuck in shutter

[simon]

Hey guys

New to this forum, and new to LF-photography in general, I have a somewhat basic question:

For my Linhof Technika IV (which I received for free from a friend), I have the Schneider Super Angulon 90/8, it's mounted on a Compur-Shutter. Serial-Nrs. say that both must have been manufactured around 1963. I suspect they were not used for a long time before I got them.
Now, I can't get the front element out of the shutter. Rear element comes off fine, but the front element is stuck as hell. Applying some force, I fear to break the shutter as I grip it with my fingers... What to do???? Spray it with WD-40??? I guess not...

Larger context of this question is: I have three lens boards and three lenses (Super-Angulon 90/8, Symmar 150/5.6 and Componon 135/5.6), but only two shutters. I'm especially confused about the Componon enlarger lens, as this is the one that came without the shutter. Could I use it with the shutter of the Super-Angulon? Or could it be that it was in fact used without a shutter at all??

Best,
Simon

[Dan Fromm]

Enlarger lenses are almost always in barrel. The exceptions were sold for closeup work.

Y'r Componon was designed printing at 8x to 12x, so as a taking lens it would be best from 1:8 to 1:12. This limiting. FWIW, none of the enlarging lenses (that is, lenses designed to work best somewhere between 2x and 12x) has been particularly good at distance. So posters here have reported getting good results with long (considerably longer than your 135) Componons at distance.

Y'r best bet is to happy with your SA and Symmar. 135 mm is quite close to 150 mm. If you want to add lenses, try y'r Technika with the 90 and 150 to find out whether you need a lens shorter than 90 mm or one longer than 150 mm and then go shopping.

[AtlantaTerry]

An enlarger lens such as the Componon does not need a shutter. This is because you control the enlarger's light bulb with a timer.

Enlarger lenses are not designed to be used as camera lenses. Yes, most any lens can be used on most any camera but that's not the point. You can either pack up the Componon until such time as you have a darkroom or sell/trade it now to get a lens that is designed to be used on a camera.

›

No, do not use a penetrating oil such as WD-40 because it will work it's way into the shutter and probably gunk up the diaphragm.

BTW, why do you want to remove the front element from the shutter?

[simon]

Thanks for the hints. - I mean I was aware that the primary field of work of an enlarger lens is in the darkroom, after all I used one in the darkroom for smaller formats (35mm / 6x6). But I guess what irritated me was that it was in fact mounted on a lens board without a shutter when I got it. So I thought it was used in the field after all. That's also why I wanted to dismantle the Super Angulon, as I thought I could maybe use it with the shutter that was attached to this lens. The diameter seemed about right... probably it won't work, but now the simple fact that it doesn't come off annoys me - can't be a good sign :-)

But as Dan suggested, I'll stick to the 90mm and the 150mm for the moment. The 150mm can even be used three-ways, back-element only, front-element only or both together... that way I can get up to 265mm.

[Bob Salomon]

Thanks for the hints. - I mean I was aware that the primary field of work of an enlarger lens is in the darkroom, after all I used one in the darkroom for smaller formats (35mm / 6x6). But I guess what irritated me was that it was in fact mounted on a lens board without a shutter when I got it. So I thought it was used in the field after all. That's also why I wanted to dismantle the Super Angulon, as I thought I could maybe use it with the shutter that was attached to this lens. The diameter seemed about right... probably it won't work, but now the simple fact that it doesn't come off annoys me - can't be a good sign :-)

But as Dan suggested, I'll stick to the 90mm and the 150mm for the moment. The 150mm can even be used three-ways, back-element only, front-element only or both together... that way I can get up to 265mm.

When the IV and V were available Linhof also made a light source and negative carrier that mounted to the camera so it could also be used as an enlarger. And, of course as a copy camera. So they had a system called a Linhof Reprocord. The absolutely complete system included a copy stand, 4 lights, a vacuum easel, a timer, individual dimmers for each light, a cold light lamp head, a condensor lamphead and an Agfa color head.

There were also accessories for photo macro photography and photomicrophy, focusing and metering enlargement system, UV lighting, parallel alignment mirror system as well as many other acessories, including enlarging lenses on Technika 45 lens boards.

So that 135mm lens may not have been on the Linhof board for taking. It could also have been originally on it for enlarging.

[Will Frostmill]

I'll point out that this 135 Componon would be good for photographing things between 3 feet and 5 feet on the long side, so for a still life, you could set it up without a shutter, and use a flash for your exposure time. So, specialized, but not useless. You might find it good enough for your purposes at longer distances. I'd try it for full length portraits, but I like wide angles for that sort of thing.
(Math here: 1:8 works out to be 5"x8=40" /12= 3 1/3 feet, 1:12 would be 5"x12/12" = 5 feet)