Ilex 4 front mounted on 16.5 and 19 in Artar

[Simon Benton]

I discovered by chance that the back opening an old Ilex 4 Universal shutter I have (no lens) will screw into the front of my older 16.5 and 19 in (not red dot) Artars. The front barrel of the Artars have an external thread.

Looking at the image on the 8X10 ground glass I can see no viginetting but I have not taken any pictures yet. What kind of problems can I expect and has any one ever done this? I did a search but could find no information on this approach.

[John Schneider]

S. K. Grimes does this front-mounting regularly; see their table of lens-shutter mounting.

[Simon Benton]

Thanks for the reply John. I checked the Grimes site and the front mounts I found were the complete lens mounted on the front of the shutter. That is the back of the barrel lens is mounted on the front of the shutter. What I have is the back of the shutter mounted on the front of the lens. Sounds a bit confusing I know but I do not think SK Grimes have any examples unless I have misread the information.

[Vaughn]

Simon, I can see why this would work for longer, non-wide field, focal length lenses such as yours. I have heard (but never seen) of others mounting packard shutters in front of lenses, also.

So as long as there is no vignetting, I think you are set to go. Just tighten your front standard knobs well to make sure that the extra weight hanging out there in front does not pull the lens down.

Vaughn

Added: One thing you will have to watch out for is that you have the shutter exposed to the elements (moisture, cold, etc). I was using a Turner Reich convertable with just a 28" lens element on the rear -- leaving the shutter itself bare to the air. I was taking multiple short exposures of the moon coming out of a total eclispe (every 10 minutes.) After the fourth exposure, the cold mountain air kept the shutter from closing. So I ended up with three images of the moon getting more full and then a 10-minute white streak.

[Pete Watkins]

I've "Superglued" a step up ring to the front of my 15" Ilex and use a Copal 3 front mounted. Works well for me.
Pete.