wollensak 15 inch tele lens

[sgelb]

hi folks I just bought a 15inch wollensak tele lens f/5.6 such a beast...

does anyone know what size hole it needs for mounting in a speed graphic board? how do you mount it? it seems to have a flange. do i just find a board that fits and slap it in there? (i guess?)

thanks.

[Bill_1856]

In barrel or shutter? Actually, either way you just measure the diameter of the (rear) threads and cut a hole that size in the board, stick the lens into it, and screw in the flange to hold it in place. Don't expect to focus closer than 15-20 feet.
A great lens, but it is indeed a beast.

[sgelb]

its in barrel. 15-20 feet? I think it will be a great landscape lens for 4x5.

[Kirk Fry]

Most (all) of these lenses came off F8 Keystone aerial cameras which were 5X7 ish roll film cameras. Unless the previous owner had a flange made they didn't come with one. The cheapo flange trick is to use an adjustable drill or hole saw and cut a hole a bit smaller (0.5mm) than the threads in a piece of plywood or possibly black pvc sheet plastic and then just screw the lens in. You can then attach the flange to the lens board. My guess is that they are pretty good at infinity. I just bought one so we will see.

They tend to make the speeder a bit nose heavy. Good luck.

K

[al olson]

I have one of these lenses mounted in an Alphax self-cocking shutter (shutter speeds to 1/50 and without flash synch). The lensboard opening is 64.5mm, but I am sure that this is different with your barrel lens.

I use it as the sole lens for my 8x10 Arkay Orbit (a kin of the Calumet C-1) so there is no problem with it being nose heavy. I wouldn't want to drop it on my foot. The lens has no filter threads so I use Cokin filters with tape when needed.

It produces nice, sharp images on 8x10 film! It does focus closer than 15' as I have some still lifes that were made at around 6 or 7 feet, but the bellows are cranked way out.

It is an interesting telephoto design because when focused at infinity the distance from the film plane to the estimated aperture node is close to 9", which is 60% of the focal length. Rudolph Kingslake said in one of his lens books that it is very difficult to get a reduction less than to 80%.