Lensboard for 5 x 7 Seneca View

[sharpnikkor]

Does anyone have the lensboard measurements for a 5 x 7 Improved Seneca View. This camera has black lacquer paint with nickel hardware. I need the following: the outside dimensions,,, the edge width and thickness,,, and the back measurements. I'll be eternally grateful to whoever takes the time to post these measurements. Thanks, Scott

 

[Curt]

Hi Scott, mine measures just slightly less than 4 1/4" square and the thickness is 1/8" and an inner step square light baffle that is 4" square and is about 1/4" thick. The back frame of it is 8 1/4" square.

I bought a Shen Hao 4x5 and it uses a Wista lens boards. Since I have Kodak 2D's, Seneca's, Home made, Calumet, and who knows what, I am giving considerable thought to making adapters for these cameras that take the Wista boards. The Wista Boards are thin, light and nearly all of the lenses I have will fit on them. I am getting tired of making lens boards and then having to change out the lenses afterwards.

Curt

 

[PHOTOTONE]

I bought a Shen Hao 4x5 and it uses a Wista lens boards. Since I have Kodak 2D's, Seneca's, Home made, Calumet, and who knows what, I am giving considerable thought to making adapters for these cameras that take the Wista boards. The Wista Boards are thin, light and nearly all of the lenses I have will fit on them. I am getting tired of making lens boards and then having to change out the lenses afterwards.

Curt

I have done just this to cut down on having to switch lenses around. Just mount all your lenses to the boards that fit the smallest board camera you have, then make adaptor boards to upsize to the other cameras you have.

 

[sharpnikkor]

Thank you Curt for the lens board measurements. One question: What did you mean by "The back frame of it is 8 1/4" square." ?? Was that the back of the lens board or the back frame of the front standard? I'm a little baffled on that measurement.

Using Wista lens boards is a smart idea for standardizing among a varity of cameras with god knows how many different sizes to contend with. If you go to the S.K. Grimes website, they have an 4" x 4" insert adapter for 5 x 7 Deardorffs to use with Wista or Linhof style boards. That idea could be used on some of the other wooden field cameras with small lens board sizes.

Any ideas Curt on shimming out my Senneca GG.

Scott

 

[Curt]

I thought you were asking about the back standard of the camera. The wood lens board is 4 1/4" square, 1/8" thick with a 4" square that is 1/4" thick. It steps down to fit into the front standard. This stepping down provides a light baffle. Given that light can't bend around corners. You could make one that is 4 1/4" square and 1/8" thick and put felt on the back extending to the edges so it is light tight. Or take two pieces of plywood, baltic burch, one of 4 1/4" and one that is 4" square and glue them together. the 4 1/4" piece would have to be thin enough, 1/8", to fit under the metal lens board retainers.

The back of a Wista lens board has a circle of metal that when in place fits into the circular opening of the front standard of a Wista type standard. That is the front standard of a Wista design has a round hole for the lens to fit through and the lens board is rectangular. The light baffle on the board is a circular protruding metal ring that goes into the hole in the standard. That makes an additional step when making Wista boards. It's not just making the board but adding a circular ring for the light baffle.

Even though the Wista type boards are a little more complex in design, not being square and having that light baffle I can still make them out of aluminum. The boards on eBay and new ones are about $30.00 each so I will be making mine. I bought two and have since made one. I have found that $3.00 is better than $30.00.

Curt

 

[Curt]

Do you have a digital caliper? I bought one at Harbor Freight, I would have loved to have a Mitatoyo caliper, they are the best, but a digital caliper form the HF company is fine. It has mm and inch and can be zeroed so it will do. You can determine the size of the shims with it. Or you can find shim stock at Small Parts .com or Mc Master Carr. You will need to know the film holder depth and then check that against the camera gg placement. The ISO standard is .228 but it can vary. For example the thickness of films. Ideally you would want to put a piece of film in the holder and measure the depth. Then ideally the spot of focus on the gg would match that depth. If the glass does not match then figure the difference and shim that amount until the glass is at the same depth. If the difference is less then material must be removed from the wood where the glass rests, sits, or is placed. That is usually not the case and that is why you hear of shimming and not removing material. Shim stock can be purchased or made. Remember that the glue must be taken into account in the shimming. That's why many suggest CA cyanoac..... what ever it's called. Instant glue. It's a gap filling and doesn't build like contact cement. You could put in three or four very small flat head screws and adjust like a camera with interchangeable screens do. I don't know of anyone who does this but it does offer the advantage of adjustability which no large format camera has. They were just built to specs and that was followed in the film holder business. Plus or Minus as they say.

Good Luck and let us know what you are doing.
Curt

 

[Curt]

One additional note, a 12" square of aluminum just arrived by UPS and the cost of each Wista lens board is costing me $2.22 per board plus the labor to go out to the shop and cut them out on my dedicated metal cutting table saw. It has a metal cutting blade and I make several passes and the cuts are right on. I make the notches on grinders and sanders and drill the holes on a drill press of course.

So $2.22 is a lot better than $30.00 plus shipping.

Curt

 

[sharpnikkor]

Hi Curt, a digital caliper from Harbor Freight is a darned good idea. That would be a good Saturday am shopping trip. I do have a plastic caliper that is ok but not great. I have a whole box of 5 x 7 film holders, some wooden and others modern. The wooden holders are all over the place regarding depth measurement. Come to think of it, some of those holders may closely match the depth of the Seneca GG at .190. I may pair those holders to the Seneca. Otherwise I'll have to look for shims of .038 depth to bring the GG out to the .228 standard depth. I'll check out both Small Parts .com and Mc Master Carr.

It looks like the wooden lens board measurements are pretty straight forward. The Wista boards don't look too bad either but I'll stick to making the wooden boards first. A $27.88 savings per board begins to add up.

I'll let you know how the Seneca turns out. I may start taking photos with this camera yet. Scott

 

[Curt]

http://www.mcmaster.com/
http://www.smallparts.com/

Just about anything needed can be obtained at these two places. McMaster is really quick. I ordered a sheet of aluminum a couple of days ago and didn't expect it until next week, it came by UPS today. They pack very well too, now I have a nice big box to put stuff in!

The one thing that makes your skills better is ordering by "specification" instead of going to a store and trying to find something that will work. For lens boards in metal I can specify exactly the size and material. If building a camera you can literally build to spec's knowing that the material for the parts will be correct.

I think making wooden lens boards for your camera makes sense. It's easier and matches the look of the camera.
Curt