Mounting lenses

I am trying out my first 4x5 rig. I bought a lens board with a 38mm hole, which the interwebs said was correct for my Ektar 127mm lens. The hole was a little big. No big deal, the lens still fits. However, I can't get it to tighten down properly to where it doesn't move when I adjust the shutter speed, etc. Am I supposed to use some kind of flange or something?

Yep, this lens should come with a rear flange which threads onto the back side of the shutter, about 35mm in diameter. Mine is mounted to a lens board that also has a 38mm hole.
The flange should be fairly easy to find online, as these lenses are pretty common.

How'd you screw it on? Did you do it by hand, or did you use a lens wrench. You have to screw them on pretty tightly, or they'll wobble and twist on you. To do that, it's best to use a lens wrench.

I screwed it on by hand, but it seems to have hit the limit of the threads, as though the lens board is too thin. Maybe not, though. I can always work out something with some poster board or something. I didn't know there was such a thing as a lens wrench, so I will look for that too. I'm very new to this, so thanks for the help.

Is that the same as a spanner?

A mount ring attaches to the rear of the shutter after it goes through the lens board. A mount flange attaches to the lens board with screws then the shutter screws into the flange.
The flange has to be clocked so that the shutter is in the correct position when tightened.

Most mount rings have a flat or rounded side and a side with a step. The step normally goes toward the shutter and takes up the space between the shutter and the lens board mount hole edge. If the ring will not tighten with the step down then reverse the ring and try again.
Once you have the ring tightening then clock the shutter as you want it, mark the 12 o'clock then back it off to 10 o'clock, run the ring down snug, hold the ring stationary and turn the shutter back to the 12 o'clock position.
One of the best designs made usually available from a U.S. seller. Ebay lens spanner search.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Set-DSLR...028271?hash=item4b558fb3ef:g:JfEAAOSwq6Nb257z

That lens shutter may also have a locating pin protruding, which may get in the way. might have to remove it to get it to go straight.

Ariston said:

I am trying out my first 4x5 rig. I bought a lens board with a 38mm hole, which the interwebs said was correct for my Ektar 127mm lens. The hole was a little big. No big deal, the lens still fits. However, I can't get it to tighten down properly to where it doesn't move when I adjust the shutter speed, etc. Am I supposed to use some kind of flange or something?

Click to expand...

You should have told us which camera you have.

If you have a Pacemaker Graphic -- these have thin metal lens boards -- and the board is not bored for the shutter your 127 Ektar is in, the centering ridge on the retaining ring will contact the back of the shutter before it clamps the shutter to the board. The solution to this problem is to reverse the retaining ring so that the centering ridge faces the rear and the rounded side faces the board.

Dan Fromm said:

You should have told us which camera you have.

If you have a Pacemaker Graphic -- these have thin metal lens boards -- and the board is not bored for the shutter your 127 Ektar is in, the centering ridge on the retaining ring will contact the back of the shutter before it clamps the shutter to the board. The solution to this problem is to reverse the retaining ring so that the centering ridge faces the rear and the rounded side faces the board.

Click to expand...

The centring ridge on the retaining ring of the 127mm Ektar is quite a lot taller than most retaining rings, I had to reverse the ring as you say to mount on a Pacemaker lens board, and later on a 9x12 camera.

Ian

I have the retaining ring in a position to where the widest ring is facing the lens board. I don't thing it would even contact the lens board if turned the other way, so maybe I instinctively reversed it. The ring also has three small holes around the wider part spaced evenly apart (triangulated from each other). Maybe if i had a tool to insert in those I cojkd tighten it more, but I'm not sure. Tightened all the way down, the gap between the lens and the ring appears about as wide as my lens board.

I have an Anniversary Speed Graphic, but I bought the lens board separately.

The ring with three holes is a flange. Your camera should have a wooden lens board. Use screws to attach the flange to the front of the board, then screw the shutter into the flange.

Or use nuts on short bolts. If you do this, put the nuts inside the board and blacken them after then flange is in place.

The three holes in the flange should be countersunk. Use screws or bolts with tapered heads.

Ok, I got the wrong lens board (mine's metal). I think I can rig something up. Thanks for all the help!

Ariston said:

Is that the same as a spanner?

Click to expand...

Yes, it can be. They also make lens wrenches that look like metal business cards with properly spaced protrusions for various sizes retaining rings. I use a spanner wrench though, as they come in handy for all kinds of things, like disassembling lenses and shutters.

Dan Fromann has the proper way to assemble that type of retaining ring. Many shutters do have a guide pin to orient the shutter on the lens board, but with most Anniversary lens boards (I do own one made of aluminum), you can just screw them on tightly and the pin will depress itself into the wood. I have a few shutters with this style of retaining ring and I usually just spin them around backwards so that the collar fits inside the lensboard and screw them in that way.

Some Anniversary lensboards have a lip cutout around the hole in the rear of the board to accommodate thinner shutter flanges. Others are the same thickness throughout (except around the outside edges, and even then there are exceptions). If your lensboard doesn't have this lip, you might look for one that does. One of my favorite things about the Anniversary Speed Graphics is how cheap and easily available lens boards are. Another great thing about wooden lens boards is if you get an old lens and can't find a retaining ring for it, you can drill a hole in the center of the board, just a hair smaller than the diameter of the screw mount (including threads). Then grease the threads and you can screw it into the board and the wood will compress around the threads like a lock but and secure it to the board. I did this for an old brass Petzval lens I bought (much cheaper than having a retaining ring machined).

Axel and JIm,

You set me straight! There IS a guiding pin. I did not notice at first, and (embarrassingly) had the lens board backwards where the guiding pin hole was on the wrong side. There is a hole in my metal lens board that the pin sets in perfectly and now mounts exactly right.

Jim, thanks for letting me know that you have an aluminum anniversary board - that set me to check mine again. All is right, now.

Thank you so much to everyone!!

Dan Fromm said:

The ring with three holes is a flange. Your camera should have a wooden lens board. Use screws to attach the flange to the front of the board, then screw the shutter into the flange.

Or use nuts on short bolts. If you do this, put the nuts inside the board and blacken them after then flange is in place.

The three holes in the flange should be countersunk. Use screws or bolts with tapered heads.

Click to expand...

Dan, here is a metal lens board that fits the Pre & Anniversary Speed Graphics perfectly, (as well as the MPP MicroTechnical cameras to MkVII), Do you know what camera it was meant for ? Mine came with an Ilex Paragon lens from the US, I screwed a piece of aluminium to the front to use smaller lenses with it.

Ian

Ian, I can't see it and even if I could I probably wouldn't have recognized it.