Which lens boards for Wisner 4x5?

[Rider]

Which lens boards can be used on a Wisner 4x5? I am aware of two:

(1) The nice, not cheap ones sold by Wisner (I have one of these);

(2) The cheap, "custom made" from e bay (I have a bunch of these).

Are there any other possibilities, and adapters that allow use of more standard boards?

[Keith Pitman]

What's a "standard" board?

[Rider]

standard = widespread

[Kevin Crisp]

I've heard both ways that Zone VI boards from the Wisner-designed camera can/cannot be used. Not having one any longer, I can't check on that. Somebody might know. I know that Zone VI boards will fit a Deardorff special quite nicely, but it doesn't work the other way around since the DD boards are thicker.

I recently bought a bunch (9) of the eBay boards. They were $10 each, supposedly custom made for my DD. Every one required some minor modification (sanding an edge to get them to fit, mostly) and the baffle edges were not remotely sized like a real DD board. The finish didn't look at nice as the auction photo. They are also relatively thin. From what I can tell they appear to be light tight, mostly based on the snug fit. The routing on the back to thin them out for the lens ring was very nicely done. A long way from perfect, but for $10 not bad.

[Gary J. McCutcheon]

Richard Ritter makes custom boards to fit any Wisner camera. There is an adapter to use Linhof Technica boards of which I have one. S.K. Grimes or Richard Ritter may be able to supply you with one of these. I have one of the origional Wisner adapters which works very well. It is made of some type of injected molded plastic and fits where the wooden boards fit and the Technica style boards fit into the adapter.

[Jim Galli]

Zone VI boards, Deardorff 4X4" boards, good old Graflex "C" boards for the original Speed Graphics, and all kinds of aftermarket boards from the 1950's made for Burke and James press cameras etc. Most 4" X 4" boards are candidates. I took the 1/4" phenolic from the shipping on one of Dagor 77's ground glasses and cut it into 4X4 sections and made over a dozen lens boards one Sunday afternoon. Pretty, no. Functional, yes.

[Mark Sampson]

Metal boards from the old CC400 Calumets will fit if you loosen the slide locks on the front standard a bit.

[Louie Powell]

According to http://www.skgrimes.com/lensboards/index.htm, anyone with a modicum of woodworking skills should be able to make boards for a Wisner camera.

There are lots of options - Wisner, Ritter, Grimes, e-Bay, or DIY.

[Rider]

Thanks for all the suggestions. What I'm trying to do is to have each lens on one board that I can move between cameras without have to take the lens off and on all the time. I'm still not sure which board to use as my "standard" board, but I'll figure it out eventually.

[merlo.luca1961@libero.it]

I have just had a lensboard adapter for my Wisner 4x5 made by SK Grimes. It allows using the Techika lensboards with the Wisner. SK Grimes made a very good job in 5 weeks. It probably the cheapest and safest way to go.

Ciao from Italy

[phil sweeney]

Try Midwest. I got used boards for my 8 x 10, maybe they will have some for the 4 x 5.

[andy bessette]

I have just had a lensboard adapter for my Wisner 4x5 made by SK Grimes. It allows using the Techika lensboards with the Wisner. SK Grimes made a very good job in 5 weeks. It probably the cheapest and safest way to go.

Ciao from Italy

Yo Merlo,

I just got mine from Grimes also. Beautiful piece of work, and quite reasonable. I'll bet they made a small lot of them to include our orders. Very pleased with Grimes on several orders.

best, andy

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