Recessed Lens Boards

[Sideshow Bob]

I have a Schneider 58mm XL lens on a flat lens board but would like to get a recessed board for it but I don’t know how deep a recess I need. I’m using it with a Ebony SV45U; I have the bag bellows but I don’t like using the tilts to move the lens far enough back for focusing. I’ve seen after market boards that range from 11mm to 19mm but how deep is deep enough? Does anyone have this combination of lens and camera that can give me some advice?

Thanks,
Gale

[Brian Ellis]

Why don't you call or email Jeff at Badger or Jim at MidWest and ask for their suggestions? You're presumably going to order from one of them anyhow but even if not, they have likely dealt with this question before.

[Randy Redford]

I have the SV45ti and an 80mm lens. It will just barely focus at infinity without going to the wide angle settings for the camera. I bought a recessed board from Jim at MPEX and it works great. I can't remember the amount of the recess, but I believe it was about 11mm (Jim can confirm by looking at my order if you give him my name). I think that the closest that the standards will go in the normal position is approximately 80mm, so you will need at least the 19mm recess and maybe even greater. One other thing to consider is that you will probably get the bed of the camera in the frame, since the wide angle position significantly raises the lens above its normal position with respect to the bed.

[Eric Leppanen]

When I first used a SA58XL on my SV45U2 several years ago, I used a 10mm recessed board that I purchased from Badger. It enabled enough bellows flexibility for movements, but I still had to set the camera in the wide angle configuration.

The problem with recessed lens boards is that reading and accessing the lens controls can be difficult, especially in dim light. The deeper the recess, the worse the problems get. I finally got so fed up with mine that I sold it and limited my SA58XL use to my lightweight, wide angle camera (an RSW45), which does not require a recessed board at all.

The flange focal distance of the SA58XL is 70mm, and your SV45U has a rated minimum extension of 85mm in its standard configuration, so you theoretically will need a 15mm recessed board to focus your lens at infinity. IMO the big question is whether the wide angle configuration is more of a PIA than using such a deeply recessed board. I would definitely run this question by someone like Jim at Midwest Photo or Jeff at Badger to see what they think.