Lens boards - wood or metal?

[blevblev]

Does it matter? What does each bring to the table?

[Rob_5419]

Wood: cheapness, easiness, convenienceness and does the job; multiple quantities easily made. Great DIY option.

Metal: more expensive; can be the only option for some types of lensboards.

Depends on your purpose really...

[Gene McCluney]

On most cameras you do not have a choice, as they are engineered for one or the other, and to (for example) adapt wood as a lensboard material on a camera engineered for a metal board would require shaving down the edges of the board to the thickness of the metal board, and this would put serious compromises on the structural integrity of the wood.

On a camera engineered for wood...the issue would be making a metal board thick enough.

One compromise is on larger wood-board cameras, making a wood adaptor board that will accept a smaller metal lensboard. This is a quite successful endeavor.

[blevblev]

Re: On most cameras you do not have a choice...

I guess my question was based on seeing both wood and metal advertised for my camera - a Zone VI. Is this one of the exceptions?

[Sanjay Sen]

I have a Zone VI (4x5) and use wooden lens boards on it. I don't recall reading about anyone using a metal board on one. All the ones I've seen (online) had wooden boards.

[Alan Davenport]

I have a Tachihara that uses Linhof-type boards; I've never tried anything but factory-made metal boards on it.

I also have a late model Calumet monorail, which uses the same 6 3/8" square boards as Cambo. I've made several lensboards for that camera from 1/8 birch plywood, as well as an adapter so I can use my Linhof boards from the Tachihara without remounting lenses. The wooden boards work just the same as the metal ones. Don't weigh as much, though.

[Eric Woodbury]

Mine are all metal, but I don't think it matters. A friend of mine used to make them out of cardboard.

[blevblev]

Re: I don't recall reading about anyone using a metal board on one

here are 2

http://cgi.ebay.com/METAL-COPAL-0-LE...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/METAL-COPAL-3-LE...QQcmdZViewItem

[Dave Parker]

It is interesting, I often times, find that LF users over think things, I have been shooting LF for over 20 years now, and really with the hundreds of cameras I have owned, the least of my worries were what the lens board was made out of, as Eric said, I have also made them out of cardboard. Properly used, I really can say, I don't believe it makes a difference!

Dave

[Keith Pitman]

There are (at least) two Zone VI cameras: an early one is a rebadged Wista which takes metal, Linhof-type boards. The Zone VI manufactured cameras take wood boards. They are not interchangeable.