Toyo 45A question

[oscholland]

I have a Toyo 45A camera body but this lens will not not focus. There appears to not have enough extension for the bellows. I was told this lens would work with this camera body, but I may have been given bad information. Can anyone tell me if this lens will work with this camera body, or do I have a defective lens? Thanks.

[Dave Parker]

Knowing what lens it is, would go a long ways to helping to answer your question as well as helping to solve your problem.

Dave

[oscholland]

Silly me. It is a Nikon 300mm f/9 Nikkor-M Lens with Copal #1 Shutter.

[Jean-Marie Solichon]

A Nikkor 300 M is completely suitable for a Toyo 45AII. Should be the same for an 45A.
Did you think about extending the "rods" of the back ?

[oscholland]

Jean-Marie,

Thank you. I did some research and I have found another amazing feature of the 45A. I found the rear extension locking knobs and was able to extend the bellows out further and was able to focus using the Nikon lens. Thanks.

[Jean-Marie Solichon]

Well, my english may not be good enough. Let's try : in order to achieve maximal extension of your camera you have to extand the front standard on the rails and the back standard which stands on two "rods". In order to release these rods you need to unscrew two knobs under the bed.

[steve simmons]

The lens may work at infinity, approx 100 times the focal length of the lens, but not be able to focus closer. I usually recommend that the bellows be at least 25% longer than the longest lens you want to use.

steve simmons

[Ted Harris]

With maximum extension ... both front and rear ... the Toyo AII has ~ 324mm of bellows draw which is adequte for a 300mm lens at infinity but not a whole lot closer. You can further extend the capability of the camera with an extension back, adding ~ another 4"/100+mm. IIRC, you can actually add two of thse extensions if you want. I use the AII but neither own nor have ever used the extension so I can't comment on its functionality but it appears to be sort of a 'kludge' to me. I do use a short 'top hat' extension on a lensboard every once in a while just to give me a tad more reach with the 300 or to use a 360 at infinity.

[Toyon]

Toyo sells a very well-made 4" extension back for the "A". Very useful for long lenses and close-up work. Its a bit bulky though.