Hasselblad back on Wista 45

[victorknotzel]

So I asked about a back for the fuji peel-apart films (not 4x5), and the guy at my local camera store told me, that it is possible to convert the medium format polaroid backs to fit my 4x5. Has anyone here tried it? I have taken all the screws out, and now it is just a plain polaroid back. The opening in the back is almost the same size as a 4x5 sheet, and it can slide in behind the ground glass. How do I not mess up the distance to the film plane?

[Bob Salomon]

Wista makes an adapter to convert the standard Wista back to a Graflok back. Linhof makes an adapter to covert any graflok back to accept Hasselblad V backs. With these adapters no film plane conversion is needed.

[victorknotzel]

Wista makes an adapter to convert the standard Wista back to a Graflok back. Linhof makes an adapter to covert any graflok back to accept Hasselblad V backs. With these adapters no film plane conversion is needed.

It does have a Graflok back, It's the metal field camera, not a wooden Wista. But with a V adapter, it will only expose a small 6x6 part of the film. Since the back is just collecting dust at home, I thought it might be possible, instead of buying a PA-145 or a polaroid 405 holder.

[Bob Salomon]

It does have a Graflok back, It's the metal field camera, not a wooden Wista. But with a V adapter, it will only expose a small 6x6 part of the film. Since the back is just collecting dust at home, I thought it might be possible, instead of buying a PA-145 or a polaroid 405 holder.

A Polaroid pack holder will fit under the gg on a Wista with a spring back and a 45 Polaroid holder will fit any Wista 45.

[victorknotzel]

A Polaroid pack holder will fit under the gg on a Wista with a spring back and a 45 Polaroid holder will fit any Wista 45.

Yes sir, do you think it is possible to build one out of a hassie polaroid back? Any tricks to measure distance to the film plane?

[Brian C. Miller]

Yes sir, do you think it is possible to build one out of a hassie polaroid back? Any tricks to measure distance to the film plane?

It is entirely possible to build a direct adapter from the pack back to the Graflok, but you will probably come out ahead in money and time spent to buy the commercial product (405 or PA-145). If you know a good machinist who is familiar with cameras, then take the problem to him. This is a non-trivial project, but you can do it. What you need to do is read up on machinist measuring tools (depth guage) and things like that. Japan Exposures sells the PA-145, and also has used backs for a bit less.

[victorknotzel]

It is entirely possible to build a direct adapter from the pack back to the Graflok, but you will probably come out ahead in money and time spent to buy the commercial product (405 or PA-145). If you know a good machinist who is familiar with cameras, then take the problem to him. This is a non-trivial project, but you can do it. What you need to do is read up on machinist measuring tools (depth guage) and things like that. Japan Exposures sells the PA-145, and also has used backs for a bit less.

I just measured the depth as good as i could do it. Looks like the film plane is 2mm away from the edge of the holder, so adding a 3mm piece of plastic on top of this would make it work, or does this sound too easy to be true? If this and a thin metal dark slide is all there is to it, the 15000 yen for a used holder seems a bit too much

[Brian C. Miller]

It could work just fine, I don't know. It needs to be light-tight (of course), but that tolerance for a good, sharp image is very small. If you just want an idea of what the exposure will be and you're OK with some fuzz, then you'll be fine. If you want a sharp image, then you need to use a depth micrometer for your measurements, and a milling machine with that sort of precision.