Conley new view 8x10 lens board mechanism

[walter23]

Hey,

I've finally taken posession of a beautiful 8x10 conley, but it doesn't have the proper lens board and I can't for the life of me figure out how one might mount. It's got a couple of metal strips that protrude around the lens board recession in the front plate, like shown in this image of the conley 5x7 (which has some kind of press board adapter as well):

http://www.fiberq.com/cam/misc/connew.htm

These metal strips don't seem to move. I figured maybe there'd be a lock mechanism on the lens board, but looking at that classic cameras page image I can't see anything like that. Does the lens board pop into place? Is it inserted from behind, through the bellows? Lens board opening is around 5.5" square. It seems I received a 6x6 deardorff board with mine.




Any insight would be greatly appreciated! I can't really figure how to build a lens board for this thing until I can understand the original mechanism. (I mean, I can probably hack something together, but I'd like it to be as functional as possible and I don't want to modify the original camera).

[Scott Davis]

From the looks of the one you posted the link to, it looks like it was intended to have a permanently installed adapter board to allow the mounting of smaller boards in the larger front standard opening. I suspect the same is true for the camera you have. WHY such an arrangement would have been designed is altogether another question. If you want, you can follow suit and do what they did, or you can modify the front standard to allow lensboards to be made to the full size, and interchanged at will.

[Randy H]

Originally it had a curved "spring" inside the upper part (curved down in center). The lensboard presssed upward into the recess, and then when pushed in level to standard, would "slide" into bottom recess. The knob on the top of the standard would "tighten" a little to hold the lensboard in place. I havethe Conley NewView BW. It is still in original configuration. If you want, I can get a few better detailed pics and simensions for you, Mine is the 6-1/2 x 8-1/2 size, so I am not sure if the lensboard would be the same size as the 8x10 or not, but I do know it is definitely larger than the 5X7 I have.
(BTW, just happens to be a guy named Scott-- on this forum that makes oiginal-style lensboards, hint hint)

[Dave Henry]

The secret in mounting or removing the lens board is the thumb screw above the board which is also used to hold the bellows ring. Unscrew the thumb screw and that will allow the board to be moved up slightly and then out. To mount a board make sure the thumb screw is untightened and then slip the top of the board in, push the bottom of the board over the bottom bar and tighten the thumb screw down.

Original Conley boards have a brass piece at the top on the inside for the thumb screw to tighten against. The top of the board is the beveled edge.

I hope it helps.

[walter23]

Originally it had a curved "spring" inside the upper part (curved down in center). The lensboard presssed upward into the recess, and then when pushed in level to standard, would "slide" into bottom recess. The knob on the top of the standard would "tighten" a little to hold the lensboard in place. I havethe Conley NewView BW. It is still in original configuration. If you want, I can get a few better detailed pics and simensions for you, Mine is the 6-1/2 x 8-1/2 size, so I am not sure if the lensboard would be the same size as the 8x10 or not, but I do know it is definitely larger than the 5X7 I have.

If you've got the time some detailed pictures would be really appreciated. Mine doesn't have any other knobs on the front standard though there's a little piece of black tape on the top that I figured covered a hole for the bellows hook (to hold the loops on the top of the bellows to prevent sag). I can't quite envision the mechanism you're talking about.

I guess the worst case scenario is I wreck the original design and install a sliding lens board clip.. but I'm hesitant to modify the original camera, just out of some kind of weird reverence for the thing or something.



(BTW, just happens to be a guy named Scott-- on this forum that makes oiginal-style lensboards, hint hint)

Hmm, might be useful. Scott is his full username?

[walter23]

Original Conley boards have a brass piece at the top on the inside for the thumb screw to tighten against. The top of the board is the beveled edge.

I hope it helps.

Thanks for the information - this helps. I found the hole (covered in a piece of old black tape) and it's got a threaded insert in it. I'll have to track down or manufacture a replacement for this thumbscrew and the metal strip then.

[walter23]

The beast:

http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/photoaday07-2/NEW0007.JPG

http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/photoaday07-2/NEW0001.JPG

http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/photoaday07-2/NEW0003.JPG

You can see the piece of black tape over where the lensboard locking screw was supposed to be on this picture, at the top of the front board:

http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/photoaday07-2/NEW0004.JPG

(Yeah, I'm going to make a new bellows.)

[walter23]

Well, got one part of the battle out of the way today. I had planned to go to work in costume today, but I've come down with a mild form of the plague or something and so I spent the day at home working on the lens board and bumming around being sick.

Thanks for all the info Dave and Randy. The description of the mechanism for inserting the board was especially helpful in figuring out how to make it, so thanks. And it turns out my lens board is slightly larger than the one for your camera, Randy, so I had to take some new measurements. Your measurements did help me confirm that I had measured mine right though, so it was quite useful.


I used model aircraft Birch plywood from a local hobby shop, 1/8" for the outside and 1/4" for the inside. I glued two sheets instead of doing more elaborate wood work. Used contact cement which is tricky; sets instantly and permanently on contact. It's pretty much light tight. It looked a tiny bit leaky (reflected light) until I painted it flat black so I might add baffling in the camera.

This looks pretty simple but with my "rough cut and sand down by hand" method of woodworking (using a skinny little coping saw that really isn't the best tool for straight cuts) it took at least 3 hours including gluing and painting, plus time to get materials and measure and build a cardboard mock-up.

Right now it's a blank, I'll cut it once I figure out whether to fit my Turner Reich to it or turn it into a technika board adapter so I don't have to build any more.

http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/mishmash/lensboard2IMG_4931.jpg
http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/mishmash/lensboard1IMG_4928.jpg

Flat black on the inside:
http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/mishmash/lensboard3IMG_4938.jpg

Birch plywood on the outside (will stain it or varnish it at some point, or maybe just paint it black):
http://ashphotography.ca/zenphoto/albums/mishmash/lensboard4IMG_4932.jpg

I think I'll mount the turner reich on this board, then make a second adapter board some other day. I have tons of plywood left.

Next problem: the bellows. Ugh.