Which Recessed Lens Board To Purchase (65mm Lens And Shen-Hao HZX45-iia)

[Paradine]

Hi,

I'm pretty new to large format and have done a little bit of research but thought I might have better luck just making a post:

Recently I purchased a 65mm Nikkor for use with the Shen-Hao I bought last year. I'm realizing now the need for a recessed lens board and bag bellows as currently I'm using with a flat board and standard bellows (which works but I'd like to get a little bit of movement out of it).


I purchased the camera from Badger Graphic and I see they also sell a recessed lens board for Shen Hao cameras, however $100 plus shipping is a bit steep for my college student budget especially when there are some half that on eBay with free shipping. What I don't know is the differences between them and if buy purchasing one from the bay I'm making a bad decision.. (I'm looking at getting the board before the bellows because it's cheaper..)


Here are some of the links I've been looking at from sellers:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12mm-recessed-lens-board-0-LINHOF-technika-w-cable-/140559020650?pt=US_Lens_Boards&hash=item20b9f8726a#ht_2522wt_1141
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Off-Center-Copal-0-20mm-Recessed-Lens-Board-Linhof-Technika-Wista-Shen-Hao-/270868506014?pt=US_Lens_Boards&hash=item3f1105659e#ht_2493wt_1165
http://www.ebay.com/itm/19mm-recessed-lens-board-0-LINHOF-technika-w-cable-/350141666901?pt=US_Lens_Boards&hash=item518611d655#ht_2561wt_1398
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-9mm-Recessed-Lens-board-Linhof-Wista-Shenhao-4X5-45-Camera-/330683724121?pt=US_Lens_Boards&hash=item4cfe493159#ht_1340wt_1398
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-Off-Center-9mm-Recessed-Lens-Board-Linhof-Technika-Wista-Shen-Hao-/280766139066?pt=US_Lens_Boards&hash=item415ef74aba#ht_3004wt_1165
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Recessed-Lens-board-Linhof-wista-Shen-Hao-4X5-Camera-/230732555456?pt=US_Lens_Boards&hash=item35b8bb64c0#ht_1556wt_1398

It appears as though some of them are more recessed than others. Are there any benefits of having a board that's more or less recessed? Badger Graphic doesn't appear to give any specifications on the board they're selling although they do have the benefit of being a USA seller.


Thank you in advance to any who reply,

Matt Beach

[Doremus Scudder]

Matt,

I don't have the Shen-Hao, but I have a couple of lenses (90mm and 75mm) on recessed Technika boards that I use on Wistas and my Zone VI camera.

A couple of things to consider:

First, one of my lenses would not fit in a recessed board with an off-center hole. However, unless you go with a more expensive Linhof board and with a flange mount, that seems to be all that is available. What I did with an off-center board was to file out the hole a bit (making it slightly ovate) to accommodate the lens . I put a thin black construction paper washer cut to the size of the lens threads to block any stray light. Works fine.

My thinking is, for a 65mm lens you may not need the deepest recessed board you can get. Sure, it will give you the most bellows flexibility and allow the most movements, but a 65mm doesn't have a large image circle, so maybe you don't need much recess. The down side to deep boards is that the lens' aperture and shutter speed controls are not so easily accessible and the scales are a bit harder to read. I set my shutter and aperture with the end of the cable release and can just cock the shutters with a finger on both my lenses, mounted in 19mm-deep boards. On the other hand, 9mm of recess is probably not worth it. I'd likely go for the 12mm recessed board.

You may want to try your 65mm on the camera on a straight board and see how compressed the bellows are. If you can make any shift or rise/fall movements at all, see if you run out of coverage. I run out of coverage easily with my Fuji 75mm with a 196mm image circle. Your Nikkor has only a 170mm image circle and will probably allow only very small movements. If you can vignette with the straight board on, then you don't really need a very deep recessed board (and, if the bellows aren't too compacted to use conveniently with the straight board, then you could just use it... I don't know how close the Shen-Hao focuses).

Maybe someone with your lens on a recessed board can let you know if it mounts without modification in the off-center hole.

Hope this helps,

Doremus

[Paradine]

Thank you for your response, I really appreciate your help.

It's a bit scary learning some lenses will not mount on boards with off center holes which makes me fear even more of making the wrong purchase. However the solution you described certainly sounds feasible. With my 65mm mounted, the bellows are really right up against the back of the camera. I get almost no front movement whatsoever nor can I make the lens vignette.

The 12mm is sounding like the best bet at the moment based off your post though I'm open to others opinions. However, I blew up the image Badger Graphic posted on their website and it resembles most that of the 9mm recessed board which is interesting..

[chassis]

I use a 58mm lens on a 12mm recessed board on a Toyo 45AII successfully. The Toyo uses a lens board with a centered hole for the lens.