Lensboard thickness and lensboard sizes

[eric]

8x10 shooters, can you measure the thickness of your lensboard? Can there be a maximum thickness to where the lens cannot mount anymore? Does it depend on the lens and/or shutter type? I would imagine a wood lensboard for 8x10 is thicker than a composite type.

Also, in general, are the lensboards anywhere between 6x6 up to 9x9?

TIA

 

[Ian Grant]

As there's no real standard and so many different sizes your question is not so easy to answer.

Some lenses fit a flange that is screwed to the lens board so thickness is immaterial as far as the lens is concerned. So for instance my 12" Dagor sits on a 6"x6" board 1/4" thick flange screwed to the board.

However my Nkon 300mm is on a board the previus owner had made for him and needs a much thinner part of the board to allow the retaining ring to be fitted to the rear of the lens (Copal shutter). So a smaller Cambo board I'd guess about 3/32" thick has been fitted to a wooden board which has had about a 3" square taken out from its centre.

Hope that helps.

 

[Nick Zentena]

I don't think it's an 8x10 thing. Look at the back of your shutter and measure. If it gets too thick you won't be able to mount the retaining ring on the back. You can bore a recess in the back but that will only gain you so much.

On the Skgrimes website they have diagrams for various shutters but I can't figure out how long the back is.

 

[Nick Zentena]

My Cambo is 0.4 cm thick. about 20 cm square.

 

[wfwhitaker]

Lens boards I've seen for 8x10 and larger cameras are anywhere from 3/8" to 3/4" thick. Generally they tend to be thicker the larger they are, which makes sense. As Ian pointed out, if your lens uses a mounting flange rather than a retaining ring, the board thickness becomes all but irrelevant. And as Nick suggested, the mounting hole can be counterbored in the back to allow using a retaining ring. I've seen this especially for boards intended for a Copal 3 shutter which uses a retaining ring.

Also, in general, are the lensboards anywhere between 6x6 up to 9x9?

Generally, yes. Wisner uses 5 1/4" (nominal) lens boards. I think Canham uses 5 1/2" boards, but I'm not certain. I think that's also the Sinar size. Deardorff, Burke & James and some Agfa/Ansco cameras use 6x6. Other Agfa's use 7 1/2" boards. Larger cameras, esp studio types, use 8" (Deardorff, with rounded corners) or 9" (Agfa, B&J). There are a few odd sizes larger than that, but those sizes are typical of what you'll encounter.

 

[herb]

lens boards for 8x10

It always made more sense to buy a flange that had screw holes in it and then screw the lens into the flange. I have never been completely comfortable with the retaining nut on wood boards, especially #3 shutters and larger.