Need advice: Lens for 5x7 Vageeswari

[ambermai]

Hello!
I'm the proud new owner of a 5x7 Vageeswami, which is hopefully making its way to me next week from India. The bellows extend to 15in, and the lens board provided has a 38mm lens flange.
Could you advise me on what lenses I should be looking for? I'd rather have a brass lens than a new one but I'm not fussy, just want to get my wet plating off the ground soon. I'm finding the choice on ebay bewildering.
Thanks in advance!
Amber

[Andrew Plume]

Hello!
I'm the proud new owner of a 5x7 Vageeswami, which is hopefully making its way to me next week from India. The bellows extend to 15in, and the lens board provided has a 38mm lens flange.
Could you advise me on what lenses I should be looking for? I'd rather have a brass lens than a new one but I'm not fussy, just want to get my wet plating off the ground soon. I'm finding the choice on ebay bewildering.
Thanks in advance!
Amber


Hi Amber

welcome to the forum, that would be the camera recently advertised on the large auction site by an Indian seller I believe.....................?

that's not to me, a generous amount of bellows, I'm afraid but I'm more than happy to be corrected by other forum members. You may prefer to wait until you get the camera and then measure the bellows yourself - personally I'd ignore the fact that you will already have a flange as 'mating' a lens with a flange is always tricky - far better to buy a lens which already comes with a fitting flange

and not for me to perhaps also say but inserting this ad in the classifieds under a 'WTB' heading may be better

good luck with the camera anyhow

regards

andrew

[Ken Lee]

Vageeshwari or Vagishwari, is a traditional feminine name in the Sanskrit language. Like most Hindu names, it describes a divine quality. Literally, it means Goddess of Speech. Naming a camera company with such an honorifc title, is akin to our naming a car Mercury, or a theater Apollo.

The Indo-European root vak is the source of our English words vocal, vowel, vocation, etc.

[fenderfour]

Yes, you should get a lens for your camera. It should probably fit the camera opening unless you are ok modifying something. The lens should also probably cover 5x7, unless you don't want it to for artistic reasons. It's cool. The lens should probably have less than a 15" focusing distance, unless you have a lens tube, or are ok shooting closer than infinity, then that's ok too.

My lens never stopped me from taking a bad photo.

[Ole Tjugen]

Assuming a lens with a barrel diameter of 38mm will have about 30mm max glass diameter, a 240mm f:8 Aplanat would fit well. ;)

[ambermai]

Assuming a lens with a barrel diameter of 38mm will have about 30mm max glass diameter, a 240mm f:8 Aplanat would fit well. ;)

Thank you, Ole, that's very helpful. I shall go on the hunt for it!

Andrew, yes it was up on eBay, I thought it was a bargain price and was really happy to find a 5x7. I don't have a problem creating a lens board to fit a lens. I know that I have to take the length of the bellows into consideration when buying a lens, and also the size of the image projected by the lens, but am not sure of the relationship between the two.

[ambermai]

Also, Andrew, I just joined the forum despite have been reading posts for weeks now, so I can't post in the Classifieds for another month, unfortunately.

[Dan Dozer]

I used to use my Schneider 90mm Super Angulon and 210mm Symmar on my old 5 x 7 Rochester Improved Empire State camera. However, with the bellows compressed for the 90 mm, I wasn't able to shift the lens at all with it so I was restricted to having the lens only in the center of the film axis. 90mm is a pretty wide angle lens for a 5 x 7 which is why the bellows needs to be compressed so much. The 210 worked well with it so I would think that your first lens might be something between about 200 and 270 might be a good focal length to start with.

I also agree that you should try to get a lens with a flange already on it. The possibility that the flange in the board that's coming with the camera will fit your first lens is pretty slim. That means that you will probably need to be looking at getting/making a couple of new lens boards to fit the camera for the new lenses you will be getting. I would advise you wait to get the camera before you try to get some lensboards for it so you know the exact size required.

[Andrew Plume]

Also, Andrew, I just joined the forum despite have been reading posts for weeks now, so I can't post in the Classifieds for another month, unfortunately.

Hi Amber

thanks for your two posts mentioning me and good luck with your search

where are you located by the way?

best

andrew

[ambermai]

Thank you for your advice, Dan. I will definitely wait to get my hands on the camera before proceeding. I also need holders for it so I want to take a look at the back of it properly before buying/modifying any.

Andrew, I'm located in SW Florida...and contemplating what the heat will do to the whole wet place process!

[Bill_1856]

Think of a 10" or 15" Tele-Rapter They cover 5x7 nicely, don't need a lot of bellows, fast enough for easy focusing, and are often found on eBay and quite inexpensive.