210mm Heliar.

[tony lockerbie]

Hi everyone. I have just procured, thanks to Santa, a 210mm Heliar lens. I have tried it with the lenscap on/off shutter, but would like to fit it to a shutter so I can do some faster exposures. It almost fits a Copal #3 that I have, but the thread pitch seems different? Has anyone tried to re-thread one of these lenses? Should I try to get another shutter, and if so, any suggestions as to where I might find one in the correct size?
Cheers, Tony

 

[Chazzy]

Mine is in a Compound shutter, if that helps.

 

[Ole]

A 210mm f:4.5 Heliar should be a drop-in in a Compound #3 shutter.

I know that my 150/4.5 can swap with a 150/4.5 Xenar as well as a 150/4.5 APO-Lanthar, and that the 210/4.5 APO-Lanthar I once owned could swap with a 210/4.5 Xenar in a Compound #3 shutter. So the assumption is fairly safe - especially as those lenses span an age difference of almost 50 years.

 

[edtbjon]

I got me a barrel 210 Heliar a couple of years ago. After some time with a Sinar shutter, I wanted something a bit more quiet and by coincidence found a Schneider Xenar 210/4.5 in a nice working Compound #3 at around $100 on the german feebay. (The very same combo which Ole speaks about.) As Ole says, just swap the back and front elements and you have a shutter with a calibrated aperture scale. Both lenses comes from the between -39 and -42. As your lens is a barrel lens, I can imagine that it holds some vintage too.
While these Compounds may not be the most exact shutters by todays standards, they look and not least sound beautiful. Especially when used at longer times where there is no "whirr", just a soft silent "click .... click". Besides, any good camera technician should be able to CLA this shutter.
I havn't done any side to side testing yet, but I doubt there will be any difference between the lenses, except when fully open, where the Heliar has its very original signature. (The Xenar should also be nice fully open, but not the same as the Heliar.)

Last, congratulations on your latest little piece of "holy glass" .

//Björn

 

[tony lockerbie]

Thanks all, I will just have to track down a Compound no.3, might put an ad in the wanted section. I also have a 360mm Tele Xenar in a compound shutter, too small for the Heliar though, must be a no.2. Have to agree with the sound of the Compounds, they are good!
Tony

 

[Ole]

The 360mm Tele-Xenar should also be in a Compound #3 shutter, and unlike other Compounds there's only one size of the #3.

As listed here: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?p=223663#post223663

 

[tony lockerbie]

Hi Ole,
I just tried the compound on the Tele-Xenar, and it's quite a bit too small for my Heliar. I have a Copal no.3 which almost fits but the thread pitch is different. The Heliar is a 4.5 and has an aperture ring. I also have an old Cook Aviar, which seems to have the same size thread as the Heliar.
Tony

 

[tony lockerbie]

Hi again Ole,
Just measured the thread across the back, seems to be about 62mm....could only find a tape measure!
Tony

 

[Alan Sugiyama]

Hi, Tony. I have a very recent version of the 210/4.5 Heliar mounted in a Compur #3 Electronic shutter, which, I believe has the same mounting spec's as the Copal #3. The lettering on the lens is in sans serif and the serial # is 100000xx. Not sure of the manufacture date but the lens has a factory amber/purple coating.
Hope this is of some help.

Alan

 

[tony lockerbie]

Thanks Alan,
My Heliar also has the amber/magenta coating, so I gues that it is a fairly late model. Serial number is 6594790, tried it also in a copal no.3 from my Imagon, doesn't fit that either. Looks like I may have to get some sort of adaptor made.
Tony