Help in mounting the ilforld mg filter holder!!!

I got the filters holder for ilford mg filters systems, but can not mount it on the enlarger. Mine is a meopta opemus 3, now with a m39 lens board and a nikkor 50mm lens!
The "tripod" that holds the filter drawer is to big and so the lens can not be screwed on the enlarger. And the filter holder it self, I can't screw it to any ware.
I tried to get the manual online but I was unsuccessful, any one has it on pdf, or knows where I can look. And have some idea to get the holder in place.

You attach the lens to the enlarger.

And then use the "tripod" to attach the holder to the lens.

No, because the tripod is smaller and I can not attach it to the lens after I screw the lens to the board!

As far as I recall, the 'tripod' flange fits between the lens and its mounting plate. The lens, when screwed in, holds the 'tripod' in place. Sometimes the flange does not have enough space to allow the tripod to sit flush under the lens. The alignment of the filter holder is not crucial, so any improvised device to secure it in place should work. Can you trim the part that sits under the lens to make it fit, or devise some sort of spacer that it can be attached to? I hope you find a solution.
Alex

There is a possibility that the holder is too close to the lens mounting board like mine was. I adapted the enlarging by using 2 separate 40.5mm filter holders (old filters with the glass removed) and screwed them onto the Nikon lens tandem fashion This gave me almost another 1/2" clearance to get the holder in place.

I was planning to buy this same Ilford under-lens filter holder, but in the meanwhile I fashioned a holder from a very stiff piece of heavy gauge solid copper wire ( with plastic insulation on it ). It works so well that I never bought the holder. So if you can't get it to work, do think about improvising... mine took all of about 15 seconds to make... although I refined it so that it travels with the lens ( my original attempt needed to be adjusted when the enlarger was raised or lowered... now it it stays at a constant distance under the lens. )

Does the Opemus-3 need to have the lens-mount reversed, to 'concave' orientation, for a 50mm lens in the same way as a later model of Opemus?? If so, then the tripod arm attachment won't really fit very well due to the size of the concave shape of the lens-mount.

My alternative was to bend a simple L-shaped bracket from some scrap alloy strip, duct-tape this to the plastic filter-holder, then fix the L-bracket to the focussing stage by using the accessory-mounting-screw (usually holding the arm with the red filter) through a hole drilled in the L-bracket. It is simple to do and once made can easily be removed from the enlarger, then re-fitted to the plastic tripod mount on another lens as required. I put the alloy L-bracket on the filter-holder upside-down, so that it did not get in the way. The (atrocious) quick digi-pics show the bracket and the fitting to the enlarger. I coloured the shiny alloy strip with an indelible black marker pen to reduce glare and reflections for when I use the filter-holder the 'right way up' with the tripod fitting.

On another enlarger I used the same idea, but with the filter-holder tray made from a piece of foamboard. It is more than strong enough to take the couple of grammes weight of the Multigrade filter. This meant that I could use the same set of filters across a couple of different format enlargers, without having to remove and reattach a filter-holder each time.

If the “50mm Nikkor” lens is the 50mm f/2.8 EL Nikkor, the front threads are 40.5mm φ x 0.5mm p.


Here is one way to attach the filter holder to the lens if it is recessed too deeply to use the rubber-tipped setscrews of the holder to snug it to the lens and in those cases in which the supplied “tripod ring” adaptor doesn’t fit.


Remove the 3 setscrews and nuts from the holder. Install a 52mm-62mm step-up ring inside the filter slot of the Ilford MG Filter Holder with the 52mm threaded end in the lens clearance hole. Thread the 52mm male threads into the 52mm female threads of a 40.5mm-52mm step-up ring with its 40.5mm end threaded into the lens.


The holder now sits on the upper surface of the 62mm end of the 52mm-62mm step-up ring. The portion of the bottom step-up ring inside the filter slot occupies only the upper 3mm of the 15mm tall filter slot leaving plenty of clearance to insert & remove the filters and leaves free access to the aperture ring.


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/809750-REG/Sensei_sur40_552_40_5_52mm_Step_Up_Ring.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/809615-REG/Sensei_sur5262_52_62mm_Step_Up_Ring.html

MartinP said:

Does the Opemus-3 need to have the lens-mount reversed, to 'concave' orientation, for a 50mm lens in the same way as a later model of Opemus?? If so, then the tripod arm attachment won't really fit very well due to the size of the concave shape of the lens-mount.

Click to expand...

Yes, it has. When I got the lens board I mount it in a convex orientation, screw the lens and after I switch on I only saw a small spec of light and something that was shapes. After some guessing and fear of the lens being bad, I decided to reverse the board and presto!

Thank you all for the ideas. I going to see if I can do something whit them during the Xmas days!

As I had the same issue with the Durst M605 and the rodagon lenses, I used a Cokin filter holder together with the Ilford Filter tray as described here: http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=5063&highlight=filter+holder+cokin (scroll down to user vanannan)