nikon 90 lens in 135 shutter?

[jordanstarr]

i went to a new found camera store and saw a gorgeous wista classic (or traditional? -the one with the purplish bellows) with a nikon 90mm f4.5 lens, but it appeared to be in a nikon 135mm f5.6 shutter. he was about to close the store so i didn't get to pick his brain too much about that issue, but it just seems too bizzare. i looked through it and everything seemed fine with focusing. the aperature started at 5.6, which i guess isn't an issue considering i probably would never shoot wide open.
is this something that should draw upon some concern or is it just being picky? the camera is priced at a modest $1100cdn (i know you can probably get it on ebay for a little cheaper, but i'd rather support a local business if i can, especially when it's a used camera store). since i'm just getting into large format, i'd rather not get off on the wrong foot. what are some of your impressions about this setup with a nikon 90 in a 135 shutter? are there any specific questions i should bring up next time i go?
thanks in advance....jordan.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

i went to a new found camera store and saw a gorgeous wista classic (or traditional? -the one with the purplish bellows) with a nikon 90mm f4.5 lens, but it appeared to be in a nikon 135mm f5.6 shutter. he was about to close the store so i didn't get to pick his brain too much about that issue, but it just seems too bizzare. i looked through it and everything seemed fine with focusing. the aperature started at 5.6, which i guess isn't an issue considering i probably would never shoot wide open.
is this something that should draw upon some concern or is it just being picky? the camera is priced at a modest $1100cdn (i know you can probably get it on ebay for a little cheaper, but i'd rather support a local business if i can, especially when it's a used camera store). since i'm just getting into large format, i'd rather not get off on the wrong foot. what are some of your impressions about this setup with a nikon 90 in a 135 shutter? are there any specific questions i should bring up next time i go?
thanks in advance....jordan.

Shutters are made in various standard sizes - almost all modern lenses are designed to fit into a #0, 1 or 3 - #00, 2, 4 and 5 will be encountered only with older lenses. As both the Nikon lenses you mention were designed to fit into a #0 shutter, there is no reason not to fit the lens groups of a 90 f4.5 into a shutter originally used for a 135 f5.6, the only proviso being that the person doing this should take care that any shims present are also transferred. The aperture scale will of course not give the right values - fully open will be f4.5 (even though the marked aperture will be f5.6), 1 stop down will be f6.3 (marked f8) and so on. You can leave the shutter this way and make a mental adjustment, or you can make your own aperture scale from a sticky label, or you can have an aperture scale engraved and replace the old one with this (only 2 small screws to undo). You may be able to negotiate a small discount because of this.

Regards,

David

 

[jordanstarr]

now that i think about it, it could have been the wisner "traditional" 4x5 field camera. regardless, the question is about the lens.

 

[Nick Zentena]

Somebody remounted it like David stated. The question is was it done reasonably well. Short of shooting film I'm not sure you can really tell. Sure you could get your calipers out and measure against the Nikon diagrams.

Personally I'd check if B&H still has some new Nikons if that's what you want. The close out price was pretty good. I bet you could almost get a new Shen 4x5 and a new Nikon for the price you quoted.

 

[jimgalli]

Simple math indicates a 135mm aperture scale will be very nearly exactly 1 stop off from what a 90mm lens would call for. Take f8 as an example. Your slide rule will quickly tell you that at f8 on a 135mm lens the opening will be 17mm. Work backwards now with the 17mm divided into 90 and you're at 5.3. Close enough to 5.6 to call it one stop and be fine. The Copal shutters are a constant. The different scales you typically screw onto the shutter makes the difference for the possible focal lengths you install in the shutter. Constantly trying to remember to fudge the proper direction 1 stop is a trip to the nut factory. Mostly because you'll get a mental block on which direction the 1 stop needs to move to and half the time you'll be boogering expensive film compensating the wrong direction or forgetting altogether etc.