Should I try this at home?

[Ken Grooms]

I'm thinking about buying a lens in shutter, but it does not come with a lens board. Should I try to mount the shutter to the board myself or is this a job for a pro?

[Jon Wilson]

What size of lensboard? Do you have a blank which needs to be drilled? What size of shutter? Assuming you have a lensboard and it is wood, then you can use a compass and ruler to find the center of the board and make the circle slightly larger than the lens. You can then drill a small hole on the circle and use a coping saw to cut it by hand following your circle's perimeter. It is not too difficult...mostly a question of whether or not you have the tools. Jon

[John Kasaian]

I agree with Jon. Of course it depends on the lensboard---a thick alloy lensboard like on say a Calumet 400 is going to be a lot tougher than on a wooden Graphic "C" board and even the thin metal boards used on the Pacemaker series will need the flanges riveted on (IMHO) so it can get a bit complicated. It also depends on if your lens has a flange (which is simple to screw on to the front of your wood lensboard with wood screws) or a little ring thing which you thread onto the shutter from the rear of the lensboard---which usually requires fairly close fitting in order to keep the lens from doing the "twist" on the lensboard like Chubby Checker. If you've got a metal lens baord or one thats very rare or expensive I'd send it to Grimes (or another good shop )for drilling and mounting. I wouldn't think they'd charge too much

[Ken Grooms]

I can get a pre-drilled lens board for my new lens. Is it hard to mount a shutter and lens to a pre-cut lens board?

[Oren Grad]

Is it hard to mount a shutter and lens to a pre-cut lens board?

No.

[Frank Petronio]

It is easy if you are buying a modern (>1970) lens from a major manufacturer (Schneider, Rodenstock, Nikon, Fuji) with a Copal, Compur, or Prontor shutter. Simply buy a predrilled lensboard for the appropriate sized shutter (usually a Copal 0, 1, or 3).

Older lenses, especially larger ones, often come in Alphex, Betax, and other kinds of shutters that use screw mounted flanges. These are slightly more complicated to mount because you have to drill screw holes into your lensboard.

When you get the lens, unscrew the rear half of the lens and it will come off of the shutter assembly, leaving a threaded section with a retaining ring. Unscrew this ring. Slip that threaded section through the hole of the lensboard. Screw on the retaining ring. Replace the rear half the lens and go shoot.

The key thing is to get the retaining ring tight enough that the lens/shutter doesn't just rotate around inside the lensboard. To get it good and snug you can use a spanner wrench to engage the slots in the retaining ring. Or you can use a nail or the tip of a thin screwdriver blade. Obviously you need to be careful and not slip or you could damage the lens or shutter.

I mounted dozens of lenses with a simple flat screwdriver tip to tighten the retaining rings. But now that I am wealthy, I spent $18 on this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rodenstock-Lens-Wrench-f-Mounting-Compur-Copal-Prontor_W0QQitemZ320057129011QQihZ011QQcategoryZ30076QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

It is much safer and a good item to keep in your camera bag in case your lens gets loose in the field.

One last note. Some lenses will come with a little screw sticking out of the rear of the shutter. This is an "anti-rotation" screw, meant to fit into a slot or hole drilled into a lensboard. Most people toss these screws away, but if you are anal you can try to drill a hole to take advantage of the screw, should your lens come with it still installed.

[Ron Marshall]

With a pre-drilled board it is very easy.

Make sure you buy a board with the correct hole size for your shutter (see link below).

Check if there is a tiny alignment screw protruding from the back of the shutter. If so remove it, but retain it in case you ever decide to use it.

Unscrew rear lens element. Unscrew retaining ring. Insert shutter into lensboard and secure with retaining ring. Carefully replace rear element.

This link has info on shutters and mounting:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lenses-primer/

Although this is understood I will say it anyway: do this where you won't be disturbed and where there is as little dust as possible.

Good luck


http://www.largeformatphotography.info/lensboard_hole_sizes.html

Definately get the lens wrench that Frank mentions below.

[naturephoto1]

Hi Ken,

It should not be difficult to mount the lens. Locking of the lens in place is best accomplished with a spanner wrench. Generally the rear lens cells must be unscrewed from the rear of the shutter before the lens is mounted onto the lens board. If the proper hole is drilled in the lensboard the lens should drop into the hole and the retaining ring should position the lens in the hole. Tighten down (but not tightly) on the retaining ring with the spanner wrench. Then when facing the front of the lens adjust the lens on the board so the lens is oriented with all of the all of the lens controls positioned properly. The shutter release socket should be facing up and the top surface of the socket should be close to parallel to the top of the lens board. After the lens is in the right orientation, flip the lens over and on a flat surface tighten the retaining ring firmly with the spanner wrench. After the lens is tightly seated on the lensboard the rear lens cells should be screwed back into the rear of the shutter (avoid cross threading the lens cell; if a spacer ring is on the rear (generally the front cells if there is one), make sure it is put back into position).

When handling the lens be careful of any of the exposed lens surfaces including the surface of the rear lens cells exposed after being removed from the rear of the shutter. Additionally, take care to avoid contacting the shutter blades and iris when installing the lens and shutter.

Rich

[Ken Grooms]

Thanks guys! Once again you have the answers!

[Ken Grooms]

Thanks Frank et al! Your simple instructions can teach even mildly retarded people like myself the basics of LF photography. I'm loving this!

[Per Madsen]

I mounted dozens of lenses with a simple flat screwdriver tip to tighten the retaining rings. But now that I am wealthy, I spent $18 on this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rodenstock-Lens-Wrench-f-Mounting-Compur-Copal-Prontor_W0QQitemZ320057129011QQihZ011QQcategoryZ30076QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

It is much safer and a good item to keep in your camera bag in case your lens gets loose in the field.



Get also the Toyo key if you needs a key to Seiko shuters. The Toyo key does not have the cutouts to the Copal 3/Compur 3 shutters.