Zeiss Tessar Coverage

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Gordon and Kerry, a Compound V does not fit on a Linhof board. The Compound IV is the largest that can be used there. However, the Compound IV I have has a front thread of 68mm diameter. Since Gordon's lens is in an N60 barrel mount, I think, with 60mm mounting thread, front mounting on a Compound IV with an adapter ring should be feasible.

That sounds like the way to go. I believe Compound No. 4 shutter are also more plentiful and less costly than the No. 5 size. There just aren't a lot of No. 5 shutters floating around and they tend to command premium prices. There are some big, desirable lenses that just won't fit in anything smaller. The only reason I got a good deal on mine was the missing aperture diaphram made it unusable for central mounting some big, exotic lens with massive coverage (like a 24" Dagor).

The huge 171mm lens boards on my ARCA-SWISS makes me forget just how small those Linhof boards are. In general, I prefer small and light, but when it comes to ULF, some of the lenses are just too darn big to fit in those small boards - especially some of the more affordable long focal length process lenses.

On a side note, does anyone know where I can get some reasonably priced replacement flanges for the Zeiss barrel mounted Tessars? One of my lenses came without a flange and the N60 and N70 size from my 210mm and 250mm Tessars are currently being shared with two other barrel lenses (270mm Graphic-Kowa and 480mm f11 APO Ronar-CL) I'm using on the 7x17. I do have have an adjustable iris clamp, but for the heavier lenses, I'd prefer a dedicated rigid mounting flange.

Kerry

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Kerry,

The EBAY seller I got my flange mount from is called artinprogress. I originally ordered what I thought was the correct one, but was the wrong size. This seller has an exchange policy, and after a few e-mails to confirm my metric measurement and his standard measurement, he sent me another flange ring in exchange. The replacement was an exact fit. They seem to have many of these flanges.

Now if I could find a filter that fit on the lens, or figure out what might work, then I would be better off. However, maybe I want to hold off on that in case I front mount a shutter. It would be nice to know what the filter mount is supposed to be, since it seems non-standard (or at least not like modern sizes). Or maybe I have the front threading figured out wrong, and this is supposed to take a slip-on filter (Series size something or other)?

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Gordon,

Thanks, I'll check it out. They certianly have a lot of flanges for sale. Hopefully, they'll have something to fit my lenses. I need a couple N60 and one N70 flanges. Do you recall what size he specified that was a perfect fit for your 210mm Tessar with N60 mount?

Thanks,
Kerry

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Kerry,

Unfortunately I don't have many notes on the exchange left. The first one I got was listed as 2.45", which was too large. As best I can recall, the correct replacement was 2.42". Part of our e-mail exchange I mentioned possible sizes, and threading was a questionable aspect, but the seller seemed to think he had exactly the one I needed, and sent it; turns out he was right. I don't know how good their records are for sales or exchanges, but maybe the seller remembers my name; so feel free to mention me. A strange aspect of the replacement item is that it has a decal with Germany written on it.

I think on the measurement that including the thread depth might help. The seller had an error margin of + or - 0.025". I would think finding another N60 would be easy, though not sure on the N70. Hope that helps.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

[Kirk Fry]

Gordon,

I have one of these babies in a dial set compur that Grimes rebuilt. I put it on my 8X10 assuming it would cut the corners or make mush out of them. It seemed to cover. I used my loupe and it looked sharp in the corners but I never actually tried it on film. I figure mine is pre-WWI. Did Zeiss ever make a bad lens?

K

[Arne Croell]

Hello Arne,

The barrel on my Zeiss does indeed have N60 stamped on it, and threading measures approx. 60mm. I suppose a Compound IV shutter sounds more likely. Is there a reliable way to identify these, other than finding out the opening threading size (markings, numbers, etc.)? Would I be better off with one of those roller blind shutters? Thanks in advance.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

Gordon, the Compound IV has 1/75th of a second as fastest speed, the no. III 1/100th, and the no. V 1/50th, so that way you can distinguish them. In addition, the air brake on top is the same size for all of them, so if you have seen a few, it is easy to tell them apart by the size relation between shutter body and air brake housing.

[Gordon Moat]

Danke sehr Arne,

Great information on the Compound Shutters. Definitely 1/75 second would work fine for most of the shooting I do.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio

[Arne Croell]

Gordon, here is a size comparison of the III, IV, and V Compound shutters, from left to right. Note that the air brake stays the same size.

Arne

[Ole Tjugen]

Again referring to my avatar, that 300mm Xenar is in a #5 Compound. It worked just fine hand held, until my arms started to shake from the 8kg weight.

The photo I shot on that occasion is here: http://www.bruraholo.no/bilder/handheld.jpg
Looking at the negative, the branches of the small birch tree in front of the tallest waterfall are absolutely sharp. Some of the smaller twigs may have been lost, but all in all it's not bad for a 300mm at 1/75, hand held...

[Gordon Moat]

Hello Arne,

Okay, so the top mechanism is largely the same, while the overall diameter changes. It seems to me that your 24cm is about the size of my 21cm, so a Compound IV would be a good match. Looks like you have a flash sync post on two of these, unless that is something else?

Ole, I don't think I will be shooting handheld, unless maybe I get a Fig Rig to try that. Anyway, the idea of the shutter speeds was simply to stop some motion. I did a lifestyle shoot recently at 1/8 second off a tripod, though the strobes actually stopped the motion of the talent on this shoot. I think people shots are fine at 1/15 second, at least somewhat reliably.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio