Come to Papa!

[lilmsmaggie]

Well, I've gone and done it. I've made my first LF purchase:

A 90mm Grandagon-N 6.8 from KEH should be arriving sometime middle of next week. :cool:

[Frank Bunnik]

I recently bought this same lens for my Crown Graphic. It delivers excellent quality. Congratulations.

[lilmsmaggie]

The Grandagon-N arrived today. It's bigger than I imagined. Somewhat exotic looking. I've given it a cursory once over. Used some compressed air to blow away any loose dust. It came with front/rear lens caps.

Since this is my first ever LF lens, I haven't the faintest clue as to how to check it out completely. Nothing like my 35mm lenses that's for sure.

[mandoman7]

The first thing I do is to check the 1 sec. shutter speed. That's pretty easy to estimate with the ear, and its often a problem area with shutters. Then I go shoot a picture. :)

[lilmsmaggie]

The first thing I do is to check the 1 sec. shutter speed. That's pretty easy to estimate with the ear, and its often a problem area with shutters. Then I go shoot a picture. :)

How do you do that? :confused:

No camera yet - No can take picture.

[mandoman7]

I have a loud clock in my kitchen that ticks at 1 sec.intervals. I set the shutter to one sec. and then try to fire along with the clock. Otherwise, you can count out one-one thousand, two one-thousand and you can hear a major discrepancy if there is one. If it works well at 1 sec., you're probably ok for most of the other speeds. The really fast speeds, 125th or 250th, don't get used much in LF.

Then you might want to check the lever that locks the shutter open, and get familiar with its location. Then, with the shutter open, look at the aperture blades as you move the aperture lever back and forth. Then you check your lens board to see how the lens fits and whether it a has a usable flange, which is the big nut that holds the lens to the board.

The big test is the image, of course. I like to shoot a photo within 24 hrs. of getting a lens as a general rule. Its kind of a mania...

[lilmsmaggie]

Let me try that again. How do you cock and release the shutter? I have no idea how the mechanism works. I'm concerned I may force something in the wrong direction.

This thing doesn't exactly look idiot proof. It's a Copal 0 shutter. That much I can tell. Other than that, I'm in the dark.

[lilmsmaggie]

I think I figured out to set and release the shutter. But it will have to wait. Got to get some rest for work tomorrow. 5 am comes really fast.

[lilmsmaggie]

I set the shutter to 1 sec and tripped it several times. Sounds even. No sudden starts or stops. So far so good. Tomorrow, I'll take it by a camera store to see if anyone can give me more info. They have quite a few LF & MF cameras there.