Whiteymorange
Subscriber
Oh boy! Two posts that show my ignorance in one day! Ah well, ignorance is a treatable desease- and I'm doing what I can to remedy it.
I have a 9 x 12 plate camera with an all-metal body made in the very early 20's, a Rietzschel Clack. I know something about the history of the company and I love taking pictures with it, but there are some things about it that are mysteries to me. I thought that perhaps one of the experienced folk in this forum could help me understand more about it.
The attachment of the lens standard to the bed has a sort of front plate, with a slot cut in it that scribes an arc left to right. There is a moveable pin in the slot that will stop the forward slide of the lens standard (when you open the camera) at different points depending on how it is set. Infinity is at one end of the arc and an arrow facing back toward the lens is at the other. In between, there are stops for the numbers 2, 3, 5 and 9. In practice, only the infinity stop seems to bring the lens anywhere near the infinity focus for the lens that came on the camera, a Rietzchel f6.3 150mm Linear Anastigmat. I have indicated the plate with a # 1 in the photo attached
There are three separate focus scales affixed to the bed, two of which start at infinity and go to 1.5 (meters, I assume) and one which simply has an infinity symbol and the words "Hinter Linse." This last one I have labeled #3, the others are indicated with the #2.
My original assumption (aren't assumptions great?) was that the lens must be a convertible, and that the back cell alone would focus on infinity at the mark for "Hinter Linse," and that the other two plates would be used for either both cells or the front cell moved to the rear. Unfortunately, it will not focus with the rear (unmarked) cell alone given the bellows that is on the camera. I can see no easy way to switch the bellows for another focal length.
Anyone want to take a shot at this?
Whitey
I have a 9 x 12 plate camera with an all-metal body made in the very early 20's, a Rietzschel Clack. I know something about the history of the company and I love taking pictures with it, but there are some things about it that are mysteries to me. I thought that perhaps one of the experienced folk in this forum could help me understand more about it.
The attachment of the lens standard to the bed has a sort of front plate, with a slot cut in it that scribes an arc left to right. There is a moveable pin in the slot that will stop the forward slide of the lens standard (when you open the camera) at different points depending on how it is set. Infinity is at one end of the arc and an arrow facing back toward the lens is at the other. In between, there are stops for the numbers 2, 3, 5 and 9. In practice, only the infinity stop seems to bring the lens anywhere near the infinity focus for the lens that came on the camera, a Rietzchel f6.3 150mm Linear Anastigmat. I have indicated the plate with a # 1 in the photo attached
There are three separate focus scales affixed to the bed, two of which start at infinity and go to 1.5 (meters, I assume) and one which simply has an infinity symbol and the words "Hinter Linse." This last one I have labeled #3, the others are indicated with the #2.
My original assumption (aren't assumptions great?) was that the lens must be a convertible, and that the back cell alone would focus on infinity at the mark for "Hinter Linse," and that the other two plates would be used for either both cells or the front cell moved to the rear. Unfortunately, it will not focus with the rear (unmarked) cell alone given the bellows that is on the camera. I can see no easy way to switch the bellows for another focal length.
Anyone want to take a shot at this?
Whitey