can farichild shutter lens cells be removed?

**johnielvis** · 2-Jan-2012, 04:02

this is for sale on apug and if I can get the cells off I think I'll go for it....but the guy selling it don't know....

ANYBODY ever fiddled with these things enough to know if I can get the front/back cells off to mount in a barrel?

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum379/...ct-anyone.html

**Dan Fromm** · 2-Jan-2012, 07:56

j, my late friend Charlie Barringer once gave me one of those B&H monstrosities whose cells had been extracted from their shutter and mounted in a collar that clamped around them and spaced them, we thought, more or less correctly. I later gave it away to someone through this forum's for sale section. So I don't have it in hand and can't give details. I hope the idea helps.

But why do you want to put the cells in a barrel? I believe that the shutter they're in can be locked open and it has a diaphragm. Unless you want to shoot the lens only wide open, I don't see how putting them in, say a collar like mine, will do you any good.

If I really wanted another one -- I don't, I have a lighter and more easily used 900 -- I'd watch for one on ebay. Or I'd try to haggle with the seller. $500 is a lot for a doorstop.

**johnielvis** · 2-Jan-2012, 08:17

I figure all the weight is in the shutter---yeah..500 is a bit much in my thinking too, but that's still not the whole cost too..IF I can get the thing apart THEN I gotta find out how much time it'll take for my machinist to make a barrel for it...THAT is the cost.

just seeintg what 's what practically speaking---this will give nice rigidity for 36" efl for the short back focus (19 or so inches it says)---so the cells come out apparently with out too much incident...hey--that's good--FIRST gotta see if the machinist even WANTS to screw around with it.......

**Tracy Storer** · 2-Jan-2012, 09:57

You might be surprised at how LITTLE of the weight is in the shutter, these things were machined from fairly thin precision castings from a very light alloy. Most of the weight is usually in the glass and brass cell mounts. Heaviest part of the shutter is a brass/bronze "star / spider" that is the frame of the shutter blade mechanism.

**Dan Fromm** · 2-Jan-2012, 11:08

j, I'm with Terry. Like him I've had the joy of looking closely at one in its shutter. Since you didn't respond, I'll ask again. Would you shoot the monster only wide open?

Re strain on the front standard, with a monorail putting a crutch under the lens isn't always difficult. I don't know what your monster camera is -- remember, you'll need 36" of extension to focus at infinity -- but if you think hard about it I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to support a crutch. In many ways that's the least of your worries ...

**johnielvis** · 2-Jan-2012, 11:15

really....hmmmmmmm....well...man....now thats another complication....it's like 25 pounds this thing and if putting it ina barrel isn't going to at least halve the weight, then it's not worth it...the extra weight will cause more problems than the backfocus shortend distance would solve....25 pounds just for a lens is insane...if that's the lightest or even say if I can reduce it to 20 pounds...that's still no good--i was thinking get it down to like 10 pounds or something then i'd have something....I have a lens though with 6" glass in it up front and about 4" rear..pretty thick the front glass and its way less than 10 pounds--the barrel is like bakelite, so I was thinking this looks about the same glass size and quantity so that would result in similar weight...but if there's more glassin there than it looks like...well...that about blows this idea up....

anybody else have an idea of the shutter weight on these--this may be an unusually heavy one...it's pretty big

**Dan Fromm** · 2-Jan-2012, 11:59

Ten pounds? No way! And remember, I had one with the cells held together by a very light collar. It weighed > 20 pounds.

Bakelite barrel? No, enameled brass. Bakelite is too fragile ...

Lenses stripped from aerial cameras are often -- not always, but much too often -- poisoned gifts. If you must have a 36" lens, look for a process lens.

To give you an idea of what you're up against, my 900/10 Apo Saphir weighs 4.1 kg. There are lighter 36" Artars, Apo Ronars, ... I just checked, 36" Apo Nikkors aren't that much lighter.

**Tracy Storer** · 2-Jan-2012, 12:06

I just checked. My 24" f/6 Aero Tessar (in barrel mount) overall weighs around 11 pounds, close to 8 of that is the glass, the empty barrel with diaphragm aperture weighs about 3.5# your shutter may weigh 6-7# on the 36"....I no longer have my old fairchild shutter.

You might look for an f/14 or f/16 Apo-Ronar for lighter long lenses. My 800 f/9 Ronar weighs about 8#, don't remember the weight on my old (sold) f/14 1000mm Apo Ronar, about the same I think.

**johnielvis** · 2-Jan-2012, 13:38

man...guess looks are pretty deceiving....oh well, that's the end of THAT idea...

i really just assumed that the shutter was the ...it LOOKS like the biggest part...and it's all metal cast looking, you know?

I already got a 42" proper lens....yeah...i can make a stiffer camera with less weight easier than smaller bellows....that is LIGHTER and stiffer...i want something that I don't have to carry in 2 trips, you know.

ok, thanks guys, i'm gonna forGET about this idea.