In Search of.....Tips and Advice

I'm sorry if this has been addressed before but I thought I would throw this out there and see if anyone would bite.

I am wanting to try and salvage some interesting lenses from older bellows configured cameras by removing the bellows assembly, creating a "lens board" of sorts and remount the bellows assembly with a contemporary mounting ring to either a SLR or DSLR.

I am curious if anyone here has tried anything similar and seeking input/advice. Thanks in advance to all who offer....

I have, in the past, taken a very old (1880's vintage) lens and stuck it on the end of a Russian made macro bellows which was then attached to a Canon EOS. So it is certainly possible to do.

It helps to have access to a workshop complete with a lathe along with a well stocked scrap bin of assorted lumps of metal along with a few dead lenses - The dead lenses are invaluable for that all important bellows<->camera mount.

I've never considered keeping the bellows, I only pull the lenses and mount them on a lensboard to use on my 4x5. I kinda like the round image on rectangular format. Example from 80mm lens off a Speedex 6x6.

I've a book "Hint's, Tips & Gadgets for the Amateur Photographer" written in 1944 (UK) when photographic goods were in very short supply, it has an article on using older cameras & lenses as long focus lenses - essentially using a Leica body attached to the back of a plate camera.

These days body caps are cheap and cheerful and can be used to mount any SLR to a plate to fit a 5x4 or 9x12 camera.

Ian

gnolanphotography said:

I am wanting to try and salvage some interesting lenses from older bellows configured cameras by removing the bellows assembly, creating a "lens board" of sorts and remount the bellows assembly with a contemporary mounting ring to either a SLR or DSLR.

Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan, but there are other approaches. Your plan as stated has two problems: a bellows by itself is pretty floppy and "a contemporary mounting ring" doesn't focus.

What I do, more for assessing the lenses' central sharpness than for serious picture taking, is attach the salvaged lens to a focusing bellows for an SLR. I shoot Nikons, have three bellows for 'em. Nikon PB-4, a Zenit in M-39 with an adapter to Nikon at the rear, and a Minolta Compact Bellows with adapter to Nikon at the rear. I use the first two with "salvage" lenses, prefer the Zenit because it is lighter. The Minolta Compact Bellows is a marvel but I use it mainly with macro lenses, e.g., Zeiss Luminars; it is too short to focus most of the lenses I've, um, salvaged.

Although I've salvaged a number of lenses from ancient folders, I don't limit myself to just these lenses. I've shot a variety of lenses intended for 4x5 and larger hung on bellows in front of a Nikon.

I mention Nikon only because that's what I use. What I've done with my Nikons can be done with most, probably all, other 35 mm SLRs.