DIY scale focus 6x6 camera

Hey folks,

I gutted an old Zeiss Ikonta that had lens separation and worn bellows.

I salvaged the shutter, which cleaned up and Is working great. I’m not sure what it is, but the thread looks to be 22mm. It had a helicoid with the original lens, but I stripped the brass base that the middle element seemed to be permanently mounted to.

I bought the taking lens elements from a Minolta autocord (chiyoko rokkor 75mm 3.5) which fit nicely in this shutter. Trying to figure out the smartest way to get a focus helicoid rigged. I’d rather make something more elegant than gluing to a step up ring and using an m42 helicoid. Is there an easy solution for the shutter I have?

Yes. A cheap old 50mm SLR lens. I sued a Pentax M 50mm f/2 lens. Rip it down to get the helicoid. Mount it to a plate, make a front plate and mount the lens. Speaking of Minolta, the focus lever is actually the stub from a broken focus lever on an Autocord. Level of elegance will be up to you. Gut the lens is the basic idea, put a plate on front to mount shutter, plate on back to mount to your body.

Epoxy will handle a lot of the attachment. A few screws always helps. This is a 47mm Acugon mounted to a Graflex 6x9 back.

I don't have any advice, just wanted to stop by and say this is a super cool idea. I would love to see someone transplant a wide angle lens onto one of these little folders. Fix the focus at infinity, fix the aperture at f11. A poor tinkerers SWC.

Grim Tuesday said:

I don't have any advice, just wanted to stop by and say this is a super cool idea. I would love to see someone transplant a wide angle lens onto one of these little folders. Fix the focus at infinity, fix the aperture at f11. A poor tinkerers SWC.

Click to expand...

One problem is finding an appropriate wide angle lens. Existing folders are almost always 75mm or above. The Fuji 6x4.5 series has a 60? There are the 6x4.5 SLR lenses but those are all hefty hunks of glass with long retrofocus lengths. View camera lenses are, again, large hunks of glass. The 47mm Acugon I found, above, and a 47mm Angulon are about the widest small lenses with coverage?

That’s actually what I was first intending to do, but then yeah, was hung up on the limited options for a lens. I considered adapting a mamiya RB lens for a bit, but it would be huge because of the distance needed between the film pane and lens.

I was going to go for a mamiya press 50mm, but wanted to try this first, because I missed my autocord and stumbled on this lens.

29neibolt said:

That’s actually what I was first intending to do, but then yeah, was hung up on the limited options for a lens. I considered adapting a mamiya RB lens for a bit, but it would be huge because of the distance needed between the film pane and lens.

I was going to go for a mamiya press 50mm, but wanted to try this first, because I missed my autocord and stumbled on this lens.

Click to expand...

I was going to suggest the Mamiya Press 50! You could also consider the koni omega 58mm but that's maybe not quite wide enough.

Another possibility is finding a 35mm lens with unusually wide coverage. One must exist but I'm not sure where to start looking. Perhaps at biogon-style designs?

Edit: My Nikkor 50mm 1.4-AI is pretty close to covering 6x6! Obviously nothing at the corners. But could be a cool effect.

Thought the KONI 58 was for a 6X9 negative.

John Koehrer said:

Thought the KONI 58 was for a 6X9 negative.

Click to expand...

The Mamiya Press is for 6x9, the Koni Omega is for 6x7. So either should be good to go for 6x6

Another idea is the 65mm or 55mm from the Mamiya TLR set. Quite compact and short flange distance.

Coupla comments.

On the one hand, any tinkering is good tinkering. On the other, adapting foul unclean alien lenses to conventional pocketable folding cameras whose front standards sit at a fixed distance from the film plane is extraordinarily difficult. This is especially the case for lenses shorter than the lens originally supplied with the camera.

About the lenses suggested. Dan, I'm all for solidarity among Dans but I found your suggestion of a "47 Angulon" impossible -- ain't no 47 mm Angulons, you must have meant Super Angulon -- and your recommendation of the 47/8 Ilex unkind. Unkind because these lenses are very scarce. Its great that you found one, but as a practical matter they just don't exist.

I've used 58/5.6 and 60/5.6 Konica Hexanons on my 2x3 Graphics. Both cover 2x3 without movements. They're a bad choice because their native shutters are fired by a lever that protrudes from the rear and connects with a linkage inside the Koni-Omega/Rapid Omega/Omegaflex body. They have to be reshuttered (#0) to be usable on other cameras. $$$. Their designs are different, the 58 is 8 elements in 4 groups, the 60 is 6/4. The 60's rear cell goes so deep into the rear of the shutter that it interferes with a #0 Press shutter's diaphragm. It can be used only in a cock-and-shoot #0. The 58 can be used with a #0 Press.

The Graflex XL'S 58/5.6 Grandagon, not mentioned yet, is another poor choice because of its very large rear cell.

This was an Olympus Six with a disintegrated bellows. The lens was the original, so the lens to focal plane distance is pretty easy to get right. You want it to be a scosh short and shim out the lens.