Dumb question about lenses in barrels

[Norm Buchanan]

Hi all,

All of the lenses I have came nicely mounted in Copal shutters and I am wondering if I could use lenses mounted in barrels with my Arca Swiss F-field C (110mm front)? I would like to experiment with some older/antique/beat up lenses and I often see them for sale in barrels. Can I get a blank lens-board machined to take a barrel or is this beyond anything reasonable that someone might do?

Thanks,
N.

[Vaughn]

It is done all the time. I use a couple barrel lenses on my 8x10 regularily. Look for barrel lenses that still have their mounting flange (it screws onto the back of t he barrel to hold it tight in the lensboard)...one can work around not having a flange (using hose clamps, for instance) but finding the proper flange after-the-fact is difficult.

Generally, using a barrel lens without a shutter means that you'll be using exposure times of a second or more...using the lens cap (or your hat) as your "shutter".

Vaughn

[Gordon Moat]

What would help is having a flange for each barrel lens. Many of the old flange mounts have screw holes. Then if you have a large enough hole in your lensboard, you can simply drill screw holes for the flange. After that, the barrel lens screws into the flange.

The tougher part would be adapting some sort of shutter to the barrel lens. Then you might need to have something more extensive done. The downside is that the lensboard, flange, and some sort of shutter might actually cost more than the barrel lens. That was the situation with my old 1935 Tessar 21cm f4.5.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[David A. Goldfarb]

Yes, if the lens has a flange or retaining ring, you can have the lensboard machined for the flange. If you don't have a shutter, you'll need to figure out something like a Packard shutter behind the lensboard, Luc shutter on the front, or the simple "black hat" method.

[panchro-press]

What about the adjustable lens flange?