The aperture in this lens should be centered between the lens cells. I don't know exactly what using a lens cap aperture would do do the image, but it can't be good. You might experiment to check this.What if you had a Rapid Rectilinear 150mm f/8 covering 4x5+ with stuck aperture, and you only ever wanted to use it at f/22?
Is it easy to get into this type of lens to place a plastic cutout aperture? It's from a Kodak Autographic. Would it be terrible to make an "f/22 lens cap"?
Thanks
Have you tried the obvious route of...fixing it?
The aperture in this lens should be centered between the lens cells. I don't know exactly what using a lens cap aperture would do do the image, but it can't be good. You might experiment to check this.
Yes, I'd try the fluid-flush as suggested and if that doesn't work it might mean one of the blades pins have slipped out of its slot and jammed the aperture. Most of these old shutters have the aperture directly behind the shutter blades in the rear of the shutter. That means the guts of the shutter have to be removed to get at it. Not a lot of fun. If the flush doesn't work you have a choice of sending the shutter out for repair or try your hand at fixing it. If it were mine I would try to fix it myself, but I'm pretty lucky sometimes. If I ended up trashing the shutter and loved the lens I would then hunt down a parts shutter/lens combo and put my good cells in the good shutter. I think it would be cheaper doing that than sending the shutter out for repair. That's just me.
Here’s a possible shutter donor that they are basically giving away if your repair attempts go awry?
Thanks Erik, good option, hopefully one camera will do the trick though.
@Erik L It did not have any aperture blades. I was able to get a 6mm aperture in there that I drilled out of plastic card. Excited to go try it! Need a sunny day.
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Well I feel stupid now! I thought the aperture lever was just decoupled from the ring. What size film are you looking to use in it?
You might be able to get by with no film rail guides if your aperture is small enough, but you'll find out after one roll.120, I have the spool adapters, and will try it as is, but I might need to put rails in it for film flatness.
You might be able to get by with no film rail guides if your aperture is small enough, but you'll find out after one roll.
@Erik L @John Wiegerink
Just wanted to give an update. The camera did work and made a correctly exposed negative with the plastic f/22 aperture. I used a yellow filter and neutral density 400 filter stacked for a 30 second exposure with Fuji Acros 100. I don't notice variations in sharpness due to the film flatness so I think adding rails to flatten the film more won't be necessary. Was pretty fun to use!
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I think you have inspired me to try to use one of the many old relics I have similar to yours!
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