Copal shutter & modern lenses for 4x5 Crown Graphic?

[Martin]

Hi,

Is there any problems with using modern Copal shutters and newer lenses with 4x5 Crown Graphic cameras?

Anyone else out here have experience with this? Is there any upsides or downsides?

Thanks,
Martin

[David Karp]

No problem.

I have only used modern lenses in Copal shutters with my Crown. There may be an issue with big lenses in Copal No. 3 shutters. I don't know if they will fit on the Graphic's boards.

[Glenn Thoreson]

I use everything from 1880s Aplanats to modern lenses in Copal shutters on my Crowns and Speeds. Anything that the bellows extension and the opening in the front standard will accomodate is fair game. No problem at all. Enjoy!

[Dave Parker]

Nope, it will freeze up and won't fire, that is terrible, old cameras like old lenses, there is just a certain mystic!













LOL

Only Kidding, you can use anything that will fit and the bellows draw will cover.

Dave

[wclavey]

Nope, it will freeze up and won't fire, that is terrible, old cameras like old lenses, there is just a certain mystic!

And when it freezes up, you can send it to me, since it will be of no more use to you.

[venchka]

And when it freezes up, you can send it to me, since it will be of no more use to you.

Just when I thought that Houston was a Digital Black Hole, someone else with an afinity for Graflex cameras appears. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Thanks for confirming what I thought was true. I'm not ready yet. I need to get to know the two lenses that came with the camera first. Someday I might like to buy a modern lens in the 210mm to 250mm range for my 1953 Pacemaker.

[Joseph O'Neil]

The Crown Graphic will take some amazingly large lenses, larger than you might think.
Also, I used to use a brand new 135mm APo Sironar N (the smaller one), and it was small enough, I could even fold up th camera with the lens & board still in place.

good luck
joe

[wclavey]

I have what I call my "borg" 4x5... a stripped down, rebuilt Crown Graphic that came from the the guts of 2 junk-box Crowns and an old Anniversary Speed. I put some pictures of it on another thread about Graphics refinishing a few months ago... But on it I use 5 lenses: the original 135mm Optar in a Wollensak shutter that came with it, a 170mm Kodak Anastigmat in a Kodamatic shutter, a B&L Rapid Rectilinear in a Kodak ball-bearing shutter, a 105mm Tominon in a Polaroid MP-4 shutter, and a 210mm Sironar in a Copal 1 shutter. The Crown handles all these perfectly... plenty of bellows. The 210 Sironar has become my "regular" lens - - it has huge coverage for the limited movements of the Crown. The others all have very limited coverage. I have tried a 90mm MF lens mounted on a Crown lens board, but the front standard was too far inside the box of the camera to make it usable.

And Wayne, I am always looking for someone to go shooting LF with in the Houston area and someplace interesting to go... I shoot MF & LF and my wife is a saint about going with me, but it is not her thing. And I occasionally go out with a friend who shoots a digital 35mm, and we just move at different paces, even when I am shooting MF (Bronica s2a or Mamiya TLRs). Look for me (email, PM, whatever) if you are interested in a photo expedition. I am in far west Houston (Green Trails, almost to Katy).

[venchka]

I have what I call my "borg" 4x5... a stripped down, rebuilt Crown Graphic that came from the the guts of 2 junk-box Crowns and an old Anniversary Speed. I put some pictures of it on another thread about Graphics refinishing a few months ago... But on it I use 5 lenses: the original 135mm Optar in a Wollensak shutter that came with it, a 170mm Kodak Anastigmat in a Kodamatic shutter, a B&L Rapid Rectilinear in a Kodak ball-bearing shutter, a 105mm Tominon in a Polaroid MP-4 shutter, and a 210mm Sironar in a Copal 1 shutter. The Crown handles all these perfectly... plenty of bellows. The 210 Sironar has become my "regular" lens - - it has huge coverage for the limited movements of the Crown. The others all have very limited coverage. I have tried a 90mm MF lens mounted on a Crown lens board, but the front standard was too far inside the box of the camera to make it usable.

And Wayne, I am always looking for someone to go shooting LF with in the Houston area and someplace interesting to go... I shoot MF & LF and my wife is a saint about going with me, but it is not her thing. And I occasionally go out with a friend who shoots a digital 35mm, and we just move at different paces, even when I am shooting MF (Bronica s2a or Mamiya TLRs). Look for me (email, PM, whatever) if you are interested in a photo expedition. I am in far west Houston (Green Trails, almost to Katy).

Absolutley will do. I'm more or less north of you at Hwy 6 & West Road. I may start with MF (Pentax 6x7) until I get things sorted out for developing 4x5 myself. Hmmmm...I wonder if the 150mm/2.8 Super Takumar would work on the Pacemaker? Macro maybe, but probably not anywhere close to infinity.

The 210mm Sironar would seem like a nice "regular" lens for a Graphic.

[Dan Fromm]

Just when I thought that Houston was a Digital Black Hole, someone else with an afinity for Graflex cameras appears. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

Thanks for confirming what I thought was true. I'm not ready yet. I need to get to know the two lenses that came with the camera first. Someday I might like to buy a modern lens in the 210mm to 250mm range for my 1953 Pacemaker.

Why buy a modern lens when the 203/7.7 Ektar is better than good enough?