Nikkor SW 90mm f8 and Meridian 45B-- will it fit?

[Ivan J. Eberle]

I have a Meridian 45B (front standard opening of 75mm), and am trying to determine what modern well-corrected optics will fit and still allow the camera to close.

Haven't found any dimensions for the Nikkor SW 90 on the web. Does anyone have one that can take a few quick measurements (i.e. rear cell diameter, rear flange to element distance, front element to board distance). Thanks in advance for saving me the grief of buying one sight unseen.

Having test fit one, I'm fairly confident that I can get the previous version of the Schneider APO-Symmar 210mm f/5.6 to fit and the 45B to close, provided I make a skinny board. However looking at the most recent data from the Schneider paged I see that in the latest L version they spec the OD of the rear cell to 80mm.

[Eric James]

I get 60mm, 28mm and 37mm, respectively.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Should be an easy fit-- thanks!

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Just wanted to follow up to mention that the Nikkor SW 90 f/8 did indeed fit and close with a standard flat lens board. (since I have a Bridgeport available to use, I milled one with a light trap very similar to the original Meridian cast aluminum one.) I did have to scrounge a generic lens cap in order to get the bed to latch closed, however.

A 90mm focal length lens at infinity finds the front standard extending to right where the inner rail made for W/A rack focusing meets the outer rail. That's with the back posts unextended. The Meridians, similar to Linhof Technikas, have back movements via articulating posts. What seems to work best with the 90mm SW is to extend the back fully so that the inner rail only is used, then drop the bed 90 degrees by unlatching the spring-loaded stays. Soon I'll build a simple right angle chock-a-block fixture to quickly zero out the posts equally at about 1/2 extension.

[Steve Sherman]

I owned one of these wonderful cameras for some time. I finally had a lens board made which permanently mounted the 90mm lens board off center (built in rise) because when the lens is inside the camera body any upward movement was near impossible.

FYI.

Cheers

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Steve, did you do this off-centered lens board with a lens having as large a rear cell as the Nikon SW 90mm?

It's also rather unclear to me what the exact benefit to be gained by doing this would be, when the Meridian 45B bed can be unlatched to drop 90 degrees out of the way for wide angles, and so keep the bed out of the frame?