G'Day from Australia

[Bauie]

Just joined up. I used to do a bit of 4x5 many years ago but then went back to MF. Very recently I purchased a 8x10 Wista field with a Rodenstock Apo Ronar 360mm f9: Rodenstock Sironar 240mm f5.6 (When I look up Sironar lenses there are 3 types W, S and N but mine does not have any letters after the word Sironar) and a Nikkor W 240mm f5.6 without a lensboard.

Eventually I'd like to use the 8x10 negs for some alternative processes but at the moment I'm using HP5 (developed in BTZS tubes) and contact printing on to regular paper.

I'm still trying to get my head around all the movements and in particular want to learn how to get very selective focus. I have been watching a series of Youtube videos by Cambo which describes the movements. Is the Stroebel book worth getting too?

My first question is about lensboards, my Nikkor lens doesn't have one. The lens boards I have are Horseman. I see B&H has a few different Horseman baords but am unsure which one is the right one for my camera as they look a bit different to the ones I have. And do I need a lens spaaner/wrench to install the lens in the board? Remember. I'm a total newbie to this stuff so sorry about the dumb questions.

I love seeing all the great images posted here, there are some very talented photographers in this group.

[andrewch59]

Hi Bauie and welcome to LFP, I believe that 8x10 wista has 140mmx140mm lens boards?, and the Nikkor W 240mm is in a copal 3 shutter. I had a quick look on ebay and there are a few 140mm square lens boards, just look for one with a copal 3 hole in it. I would buy the lens spanner, it is the retaining ring on the back of the board that you want nice and tight. For this you will need to unscrew the rear element of your lens off the shutter and unscrew the retaining ring on the back of the shutter. Mount the shutter on the front of the board and screw the retaining ring on the back of the board, once tight re-attach the rear element. Now when you unscrew the rear lens element take care, there are often (not always) spacers on the element which can easily fall to the ground without you noticing.
Good luck, and will look forward to seeing some of your work.

[Mick Fagan]

Hi Bauie, welcome to the forum.

I have the View Camera Technique 7th Edition by Leslie Stroebel; it is brilliant. There are other books out there, but nothing quite compares to this one. If you deign to come down to Melbourne, you can have a squizz at my copy.

Mick.

[Rainymac]

Hi Bauie, welcome aboard from another newbie located just north of Sydney. Your lens set should give you plenty of scope to get reacquainted with LF. I'm using a 4x5 Chamonix. Coincidentally I bought a Rodenstock Ronar 300mm yesterday with no lens board so I have very similar questions to yours about fitting the lens to the lensboard. I'll be watching with interest how you like your 360mm.

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to Large Format Photography Format. I will be in your neighborhood in November.

[Bauie]

Thanks for all the replies. It's good to know there are a few people doing LF in this neck of the woods.
I'm assuming this lensboard is the one I need?
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...Lensboard.html
Has a long lead time before its available. Maybe I'll have to go with Ebay and take my chances although its not really a hi tech piece of equipment.
I see Sirius Glass will be in our neck of the woods soon, anyone up for a meet-up? Maybe I could get some expert tuition on view camera movements.

[Bauie]

I just tried swapping the lenses around, recall I have 3 lenses and only 2 lensboards. I found that a engineers callipers make a nice lens wrench. Thanks for the tip about the spacer, when I started putting the orphan lens into the board I then realised the value of what andrewch59 wrote about the spacer, that it goes between the front element and the lensboard, all part of the learning curve. I think I'll keep the 360 and 240 in the lensboards until I get to use both as there isn't much use in having the two 240 lenses in the lensboards. I'll post a scan of my first contact print tomorrow.

[andrewch59]

eBay item number:273626713044, half the price.

[Bauie]

Thanks for the heads up Andrew, I just ordered it.