lens board for Tachihara 5x4

[mo alam]

Hello Everyone,

Could you please help with two questions:

I am aware that Tachihara 5x4 takes Linhof lensboards. Are there other makes of board that will also fit (e.g. Wista, etc.)?

If I wanted to make my own wooden boards for the Tachihara, what kind of wood sh ould I use and what are the dimensions? Is metal better?

Thank you for your help (and indeed to those of you who have helped me in the re cent past with questions!)

Mo.

[Eugene]

Mo, metal is better. The throat opening on the Tachi is round. Needs a ridge to act as a light baffle. This would be difficult to cut into a wooden lensboard, unless you had access to a lathe. Check with keh.com, and mpex.com. They usually have used Linhof-type lensboards for around $20-25. Hardly worth the effort to make your own. Wista and Shen Hao use the same lensboard as the Tachi.

[paul owen]

You could always try Ebony - the best of both worlds - aluminium panels with a veneer of ebony wood!!

[Ed Balko]

It really isn't necessary to have that circular ridge at the rear of a Tachihara lens board. A flat panel will seal light tight provided it comes reasonably close to the edges of the recess in the front of the camera.

I can state this with some certainty as I've made (and used sucessfully) two panels for a Tachihara out of flat 1/8" and 1/4" thick aluminum plate. The Tachihara/Linhor/Wista boards are 2mm thick; it was necessary to mill the 0.125" and 0.25" aluminum down to 0.084" along the top and bottom edges to permit the panel to fit into the lensboard clamps. It is probably worth the trouble to find 2mm plate in the first place.

The lenses, BTW, are a 150mm mounted on a flat board and a 375 (15") APO Raptar mounted on a 2" extension tube screwed into the thick panel. Pretty neat arrangement but I would'nt want to use a longer tube or heavier lens than the 15" raptar on the seemingly delicate Tachihara fron standard.

[neil poulsen]

I'm wondering if plastic would work. Use a thinner piece of plastic, the same thickness as the metal, for the primary shape, and then add a circular piece that's just a tad smaller than the hole for that portion of the board. The second piece would help prevent light from entering, and it would provide stability. You would glue them together.

With Technika board, the problem is that the metel is relatively thin. You wouldn't want your lensboard to break while in use.

[Kevin Crisp]

I did exactly what Neil suggested, out of black acrylic and the cost was $7 each. They work fine and they are very light.

[Brian Ellis]

Wista boards will fit a Tachihara, Horseman boards made for the Horseman Wood Field (I think it's called) will fit (but not other Horseman boards), Adorama sells boards under its own brand name that will fit. All are considerably less expensive than Linhof boards and in my experience work just as well. Wistas even have a nice little crest, similar to the Linhof crest.

[Paul Coppin]

You can readily make good wooden lensboards for the Tachi - search out a hobby shop that specifically caters to the radio control model aircraft hobby - most carry a product known as "aircraft ply" (Finnish ply, Baltic ply, other names. It originates from the full scale aircraft industry, I believe)) This is a very high quality thin birch plywood available in thickness from 1/32 up, and in the thickness required for a lensboard will be 3 to 5 ply. It can be stained and varnished to match the camera if you wish. Avoid a similiar product generically known as "liteply" - it is a softwood ply, not hardwood, and is less satisfactory for the application.