lensboard sizing

[quixoticcassandra]

Hi,

Wondering what the different variables might be. The shutter I have is "copal 0", and the camera size is 6x9. So I need 110mm by 110mm, and I assume that I'm looking for something with #0 in the title. I also need a recessed board. But I'm not sure how deep. I have an Arca Swiss, and the lens is a Nikkor 65mm.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of good options. Looks like BH has them, but with a 6 to 8 week wait. And Badger has them, but only via special order. There is the following, but I'm wondering what the offset might be for (any guesses?) http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Off-Center-Copal-0-17mm-Recessed-Lens-Board-For-Arca-Swiss-6x9-format-/271312498076?pt=US_Lens_Boards&hash=item3f2b7c2d9c

Thanks in advance.

Evan

[Dan Fromm]

Are you sure that you need a recessed board? I ask because I have a 2x3 Cambo that will focus a 65 mm lens on a flat board to infinity.

I'm unfortunately not familiar enough with the Arca-Swiss system to know whether the tricks needed to do this can be used there. Here they are, anyway:

Trick one: put the tripod mounting block in front of the front standard or behind the rear standard. This makes it possible to bring the two standards closer to each other.

Trick two: take the rear standard off of the rail, rotate it by 180 degrees around the swing axis and put it back on the rail. This reduces minimum extension because the function carrier isn't centered on the swing axis, is possible because the function carrier is symmetrical, i.e., will accept lens boards/bellows frames/backs on both sides. Trick two makes it impossible to pull the dark slide unless the back is in portrait orientation (long side of the gate parallel to the uprights).

This brings us to trick three: to use trick two and shoot in landscape orientation, rotate the monorail 90 degrees in the tripod mounting block.

Before you spend a penny on a recessed board, take y'r new camera out, play and measure.

Re the board with offset hole, these beasties are useful with cameras that have minimal movements. Don't have enough shift? The offset will get more. No fall? The offset will get some. Need more rise than the front standard can give? Offset to the rescue. I'm not sure such a board is necessary with your camera. But if the price is good, get one. But first ask the seller what he can do for you in the way of boards with no offset.

Alternatively, ditch the Arca-Swiss and buy a Cambo SC-1. By an odd coincidence that won't bear much examination I have one more than I need. But be aware that boards for SC-1s are scarce and rarely inexpensive, also that the wretched things are heavy.

[Bob Salomon]

Trick number one:

Contact Rod Klukas at Arca and ask him.

[quixoticcassandra]

Trick one: put the tripod mounting block in front of the front standard or behind the rear standard. This makes it possible to bring the two standards closer to each other.

Trick two: take the rear standard off of the rail, rotate it by 180 degrees around the swing axis and put it back on the rail. This reduces minimum extension because the function carrier isn't centered on the swing axis, is possible because the function carrier is symmetrical, i.e., will accept lens boards/bellows frames/backs on both sides. Trick two makes it impossible to pull the dark slide unless the back is in portrait orientation (long side of the gate parallel to the uprights).

This brings us to trick three: to use trick two and shoot in landscape orientation, rotate the monorail 90 degrees in the tripod mounting block.

Re the board with offset hole, these beasties are useful with cameras that have minimal movements. Don't have enough shift? The offset will get more. No fall? The offset will get some. Need more rise than the front standard can give? Offset to the rescue. I'm not sure such a board is necessary with your camera. But if the price is good, get one. But first ask the seller what he can do for you in the way of boards with no offset.

Thanks Dan, but I don't think any of that is going to work on mine. I can reverse each standard, but then the bellows attachment point also become reversed...and they can't be separated from the rest of the standard. And as for trick #1, when everything is at its limits, the bases of the standards are already touching each other.

My vague recollection on some earlier thread is that there is a direct correlation between the use of wide angle lenses and the need for recessed boards. So I think I'll go ahead and get that Dayi (thanks for the info on the offset; that will come in handy, since I do a lot of front rises). I also found this (http://www.viewcamerastore.com/arca-swiss-lens-board-110x110-7mm-recessed-0/), but I'm finding that shipping from Asia is really quite fast lately.

Part of my existing problem is that it looks like I have some sort of lensboard adapter (linhof, maybe) which pushes the lens several mm's further away from the film plane. But even with a flat lens board, I'm quite certain that I wouldn't be able to focus at infinity.

[Dan Fromm]

Part of my existing problem is that it looks like I have some sort of lensboard adapter (linhof, maybe) which pushes the lens several mm's further away from the film plane. But even with a flat lens board, I'm quite certain that I wouldn't be able to focus at infinity.

Have you measured? I ask because the 65/4.5s Nikkor-SW's cataloged flange focal distance is 70.8 mm. The older 65/4 Nikkor-SW's is the same. Get out your depth gauge and ask the question.

[quixoticcassandra]

Have you measured? I ask because the 65/4.5s Nikkor-SW's cataloged flange focal distance is 70.8 mm. The older 65/4 Nikkor-SW's is the same. Get out your depth gauge and ask the question.

Is 70.8 mm's the distance from the lens board to the film plane at which infinity can be focused? (sorry, I have no clue)

[Dan Fromm]

Yes, exactly. That's what flange focal distance means.

[schneideritis]

Boy, it would sure help if you provided a pic of the camera so we could see the arrangement. One look might be all some of us need to tell you the answer.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

Hello from Besançon

I have a 6x9 Arca Swiss F-line and I use flat lens boards without problem down to the apo-grandagon 55 mm.
But below 75 mm I use the wide-angle leather bellows with fewer pleats ref#071010, max extension 15 cm, designed for focal lengths from 35 to 75 mm.
I only use a recessed board with the 45 mm apo grandagon.
With a 65 mm you probably won't need a recessed board if you have the wide-angle bellows ref#071010.
But you can try to keep the standard leather bellows ref#071000 and use a recessed board if you wish.
Using various bellows listed below with flat or recessed boards, you get some redundancy in the combinations.
Summary of available leather bellows for the Arca Swiss F-line series, 110 mm to 110 mm square fixture:
071000, 20cm, 55-150mm, universal, molded leather
071010, 15cm, 35-75 mm, wide-angle, molded leather
071011, ultra-flat, single-pleated flat bag leather bellows.

[quixoticcassandra]

Is 70.8 mm's the distance from the lens board to the film plane at which infinity can be focused? (sorry, I have no clue)

I just did a very rough measurement. It's somewhere between 80 and 85 mm's. But I have the Dayi recessed board on order, so it should help immensely.

[quixoticcassandra]

Boy, it would sure help if you provided a pic of the camera so we could see the arrangement. One look might be all some of us need to tell you the answer.
127918
Here it is. I think part of the problem is that the lens board is an adapter (linhof?) and so it protrudes outward. The standards are separated by about an inch in the photo, whereas the measurement I made (above) was made with them snug up against each other.

[Dan Fromm]

Thanks for the photo. A shot that showed the standards on the rail would have been more useful.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

The camera shown on the picture is an Arca Swiss Oschwald 6x9 and not a F-line.
Hence what I mentioned from the F-line catalogue is irrelevant to this Oschwald model, sorry for the mistake.
Oschwald 6x9 cameras were designed at a time when the shortest focal length available was the 53 mm Biogon (a very rare 45 mm Biogon is said to exist from 6x9 view cameras, though).
Oschwald 6x9 cameras probably have to use deeply recessed boards even for a 75 mm.

[Dan Fromm]

Emmanuel, the 45 Biogon (at one time Charlie had two) is for 6x7, the 53 is for 6x9.

[quixoticcassandra]

Thanks for the photo. A shot that showed the standards on the rail would have been more useful.

Here's a better photo that shows the rail. And a rough measurement from the lensboard to the groundglass is currently about 80mm's when everything's squashed together like that. I figure that when the recessed board arrives, it should be less than 60mm's (17 mm's due to the recession, and another 5 mm's or so due to the fact that the current board adapter forces the lens flange out a little ways). Hopefully, that, along with the offset on the new board, will allow some decent rise. 128094

[Dan Fromm]

Thanks for the 'nother photo. Wow!