Help me convert... My lens.

[bmac]

Hey there,

Bellows is patched, focus cloth has arrived, lens is mounted... now what?

As most of you know, I bought a Turner-Reich Tripple Convertable lens for my 8x10. With both elements screwed onto the shutter I get an image that I can focus. With either of the elements only screwed into the back of the shutter I can't focus anything. Am I attempting to convert it wrong? The other thing about the camera is that I only have 15.5" of bellows draw. I am guessing that I am only able to use the lens at its shortest focal length (12") Is this correct?

Signed,
Confused in San Jose.

 

[Donald Miller]

Brian, You are correct that with 15 inches of bellows draw you are only going to be able to use the shortest componant of the triple convertible lens. The only way that you would be able to use a longer lens would be to get a telephoto design that would cover 8X10.

 

[Robert Kennedy]

I have an old Caltar convertible on my 4x5 and let me tell you, you need some serious bellows to use it with the front element out. Luckily I have a 24" bellows, but even that is getting dicey.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Sounds like you don't have enough bellows. 15-1/2" is pretty short for an 8x10" camera. Most have at least 24".

Is the bellows itself maxed out at 15.5" or is it the focusing track? If it's the bellows, there's not much that can be done, unless you want to build an extension lensboard or back or replace the bellows. If it's the focusing track, then it may be that there was an extension rail made for this camera at one time, and you could look around for one at places like www.mpex.com, or you could try to build a new one yourself.

 

[Donald Miller]

Brian, I don't remember which 8X10 that you bought. Along the lines of what David brought up, my Korona 12X20 had a supplemental track installed by someone before I bought it. This was a track that someone made by cutting a 1/4 inch dado into two separate track sections. They then glued a piece of 1/4 inch plywood into one of the dados and this became the "rib" that slid inside the other dado. This was obviously done under each of the existing tracks. A simple aluminum bracket was fabricated for a locking mechanism. This allows the Korona to now have 36 inches of extension. However if you do something like this a new bellows may need to be made(depending on what you now have) . Western Bellows has made the bellows for the 12X20 and also a couple of Deardorffs that I have restored. Cost was around 200 for the bellows on the 'dorffs. The Koronas are recognized as being "one off" productions. Therefore an extension track, if this is applicable to your camera, may not necessarily fit from one camera to another.

 

[bmac]

The track is maxed out at 15.5". But there is an extension track available. I've seen photos of it. Although it doesn't look like the bellows will stretch out much more. Looks like I'll be using the 12" only lens with this setup.