New to Me 1000mm F16 Apo Ronar

[Daniel Unkefer]

Those are some big ones! The longest lens I have is a 600mm APO Nikkor. Even it's a bit of a pain to use.

Thanks Peter.

This project is going to be a hoot. I may have to send the lens to S.K. Grimes for a proper fit, it's a twelve pound + lens, so FEDEX I think. Will not be cheap to do, but will prolly be one of a kind. Sinar used to advertise that the Norma works with lenses from 47mm to 1000mm. So now I will be able to prove that assertion. But really Mr Wolf set this rig up hundreds of times so I know this will work. At the 1975 Photokina exhibit "Faces of Buildings" the photographs were mural sized.

Probably $250 a ring or more (quite fair for CNC made flanges IMO) and I'll include a design drawing to them, along with a couple of Norma Boards with beeg holes. They cut the holes and I'll mount the flanges. The rear flange will need to extended, to forward space the lens, so the rear cell doesn't strike the Norma shutter blades. I'll give them the exact dimension, Sinar always said the rear cell should be within 1mm of the shutter blades, which may or may not be possible

The other option would be to convert the Norma (front) standard on this pair into a cradle of sorts. I wish I could see more detail in the original photograph of Mr. Wolf working at a Spanish Castle. I have two Norma standards without focus capabilities, which makes no difference for this project. In fact I'm using up something I have been storing up to this point. I will dedicate these two broken standards to this lens strictly for this project. Always wondered what I would do with them.

Did you know there was a Guy in Spain who had a vacation package offered, you photograph Spanish Castles on your vacation, just like Mr. Wolf, using similar equipment. Don't think I'll be able to ever do that but I've got some appropriate local Architecture in mind as subject matter.

[Tin Can]

Interesting

Long and heavy!

I am going to weigh a few lenses

but you may have the heaviest!

[Daniel Unkefer]

This is the exact camera I am building. And yes that is the exact lens I have acquired. If you look closely you can tell.



I have all the parts (no prob there), even the two tripods. I will use identical FOBA C40 tripods, Sinar included them in the original Norma catalog, so you know they are the realio dealio. Will easily support heavy 8x10 Norma rigs. I have one with a triple center post which I think will be helpful setting this up.

Don't tell Drew

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

This is kind of my idea, so far....

[Mark Sampson]

Well now you have to find some castles- or at least some skyscrapers!
Remember that Mr. Wolf's most difficult issue was gaining access to the roofs of the NY buildings that he photographed from... long before sunrise to boot.
Getting that done took a great deal of skill and persistence, I can tell you.
As you can probably tell, I admire Reinhart Wolf's work, and am following your project with interest. Best of luck!

[Daniel Unkefer]

Thanks for your interest Mark, I'm moving forward slowly but surely with this. Life tends to step in. 5x7 and 13x18cm both are also an upcoming side project, which will enable even more telescopic effect (and I can enlarge 5x7 and 13x18cm). Mark, if you look at the giant photo of his rig in "New York", it looks like Arnie Croelle (sp) said was an earlier 1000mm Zeiss process lens, and that's definitely a 5x7 Norma rear he's using to great effect.

I think my fave view in "New York" is the World Trade Center, with a beautiful cloud drifting by, but it is only at the building 1/2 point! Really gives you a notion of how high up, to literally be "above the clouds". A close second fave is his taken of the Flatiron Building, which looks like maybe ground elevation? He has a wide angle view of it that is really Cool, too. I do like the way he viewed Architecture. "Villas of the Venito" was his third book and I've had his books for quite a while. They are all great IMO.

[hiend61]

Maybe you have realized that the size of the lens is much larger than the Sinar Copal hole. You'll have no problem to focus, but the f stop required to shot is f32 or smaller. f22 is larger than the Sinar Copal hole!.

[Daniel Unkefer]

Maybe you have realized that the size of the lens is much larger than the Sinar Copal hole. You'll have no problem to focus, but the f stop required to shot is f32 or smaller. f22 is larger than the Sinar Copal hole!.

Thank you for that! I will probably be shooting HP5+ at EI 200, so F32 or F45 should not be a problem. F32 is only two stops down from Max aperture! LOL

At some point with this brute of a lens it becomes essentially a pinhole.

[Mal Paso]

I got a heck of a deal on a 1200mm f18 Nikkor and built this. The rear rail has been changed to 26" for a 42" rail. Close focus is 25'. It is a true telephoto so infinity focus is 755mm. A fresnel ground glass helps bend the image to work with a reflex viewer. Recent additions besides the rail are stiffeners that clamp between the tripod legs and the monorail. I had no idea anyone else was into large format telephoto, very nice to see!

[Daniel Unkefer]

How much does it weigh?

Hi Oren,

It weighs 12 pounds by my bathroom scale. Would be great for building body strength LOL I'm not kidding

30 inch and 40 inch Rodenstock Apo Ronars by Nokton48, on Flickr

[Daniel Unkefer]

I got a heck of a deal on a 1200mm f18 Nikkor and built this. The rear rail has been changed to 26" for a 42" rail. Close focus is 25'. It is a true telephoto so infinity focus is 755mm. A fresnel ground glass helps bend the image to work with a reflex viewer. Recent additions besides the rail are stiffeners that clamp between the tripod legs and the monorail. I had no idea anyone else was into large format telephoto, very nice to see!

Thanks Mal Paso. Amazing what can pop up on the radar. What you have there is a bit more modern than mine

NICE.