4x5 Rangefinder with 240mm Lens?

halfaman · Jun 24, 2020

Back in the day they were like this:

A127 or 135 mm, focusing near hyperfocal. f/16, 1/200, and a powerful flash used always (day or night, interior or exterior).

Donald Qualls · Jun 24, 2020

halfaman said:
Back in the day they were like this:

And when he wanted to not blind people in front of him, Weegee used infrared coated bulbs -- he called it his "invisible flash gun" -- with Kodak High Speed Infrared.

Arthurwg · Jun 24, 2020

Precision Camera Works in Fairfield CA says they can grind cams for Linhof.

hsandler · Jun 24, 2020

shutterfinger said:
The Crown and Speed use the same bellows in 4x5 format. The film plane is at the rear of the camera body. The Speed has a deeper body due to the focal plane shutter. The focal plane shutter curtain rollers are about 3/4 inch in diameter with no more than 1/8 inch clearance between the roller and bellows attach point.

So if the bellows are the same, but attach about 7/8 inch forward on a Speed, and if the bed rails are the same length as on a Crown, I would have expected 7/8 inch more focus extension available on a Speed than a Crown. It’s still a mystery why it’s listed as only 1/4 inch more (both on graflex.org and in Morgan and Lester).

Donald Qualls · Jun 24, 2020

hsandler said:
So if the bellows are the same, but attach about 7/8 inch forward on a Speed, and if the bed rails are the same length as on a Crown, I would have expected 7/8 inch more focus extension available on a Speed than a Crown. It’s still a mystery why it’s listed as only 1/4 inch more (both on graflex.org and in Morgan and Lester).

Perhaps the rollers are above and below the light path limits, and only the thickness of the curtain tracks need be accounted for in positioning the rear frame of the bellows.

shutterfinger · Jun 24, 2020

When one sits a Crown next to a Speed the only difference is the body depth.

Donald Qualls · Jun 25, 2020

If the tracks are mounted the same distance from the film plane, there's no effective difference (other than the bellows getting a little less taut at maximum close focus). I don't have any Pacemaker of any flavor so can't check myself (and I'm told there was no Anniversary model without the focal plane shutter -- that was Pacemaker only).

EdSawyer · Jun 25, 2020

for 240mm 4x5 portraits, I use a Cambo Maxiportrait, which uses a 240mm lens. I fitted it with the rangefinder from a Polaroid bigshot. It works great, perfect for head-shots, easily handheld. It's a bit of a one-purpose camera, but it is excellent for that purpose.

You could probably fit the Nikkor 240 to it, though it would take a bit of modification. The stock lenses it came with are the 240/6.3 Congo (Commercial Ektar clone), or the 240/9 G-Claron.

I can post pics if need be but they are easily found online too.

4x5 Rangefinder with 240mm Lens?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency