Question about buying lens with or without lens board

[NoBob]

Is is just less hassle to buy a lens on the correct lens board than without? Unless the price of the one without is good? Just that KEH has a lens I'm interested in but no board for it.

[DrTang]

if you have a rat tailed file - you're good to go

[Jac@stafford.net]

if you have a rat tailed file - you're good to go

It is hard to make a board larger with a file. :)

Seriously, NoBob, the lens is everything. There are many who will make a perfect board for you.
.

[DrTang]

well..you need the right board..but if the hole is too large..you can screw or glue a plate over it withthe right sized hole

and if the hole is too small - you just hog it out with a file




'hog it out' - hahahaha

[Vaughn]

Also important is the presence or absence of a retaining ring/flange. Usually one is present if the lens is already on a board, but one needs to know if a board-less lens comes with the proper flange.

[NoBob]

Thanks. I see them on eBay for about $20 each.

[BrianShaw]

The board is the least of your worries. Getting the right lens at the right price on the board you need is a very convenient coincidence... but not worth waiting for if you see the lens of your dreams.

[Tin Can]

In the end, you end up with many 'spare' lensboards. I always find a use for them.

One can never have too many lens boards, yet I often make my own 8X8" or larger boards from high grade plywood, handsaw, 1/2" drill motor and hole saws.

And sometimes I buy a custom one when the lens is very heavy...

[jp]

If you have a camera that uses real simple boards (and a tablesaw+drillpress), you can make lensboards in a matter of minutes out of thin plywood. Otherwise, there are plenty of used/new/aftermarket lensboards predrilled that you can use or adapt as the others have explained.

[Alan Gales]

The board is the least of your worries. Getting the right lens at the right price on the board you need is a very convenient coincidence... but not worth waiting for if you see the lens of your dreams.

+1

[goamules]

I've got about 10 uncut lensboards for each size camera I use, 6x6, 9x9, etc. I'd never expect a seller's lensboard to fit, or not have a crack or bend. If a lens happens to come on a lensboard, I often chunk it. Now I'm talking mostly 100 year old lenses, not 1950s standardized stuff.

[Tin Can]

One seller here had all his lenses, some so big I never thought his chosen lenses would fit, mounted on 4x5 Technika lens boards.

Then another poster showed a non Technika Lensboard cracked. I now fear the Technika knock off lens boards.