What's the advantage of a focusing mount?

[MattCarey]

Hello,

I just got a lens that came in (surprise to me) a focusing mount. Is there any advantage to this? I There is some advantage in getting the lens out front farther for closeups, or using longer lenses, but is there any real advantage to being able to focus using the mount rather than the bellows?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

If it's a very wide lens, a focusing mount might be needed with some cameras that don't have a bellows, or with a folding field camera that might not have a focusing mechanism with the bellows all the way in.

 

[jjstafford]

Hello,

I just got a lens that came in (surprise to me) a focusing mount. Is there any advantage to this? I There is some advantage in getting the lens out front farther for closeups, or using longer lenses, but is there any real advantage to being able to focus using the mount rather than the bellows?

Thanks,

Matt

It is handy with Infrared if marked for it and might be useful if your lens has known focus shift after stopping down. And if your camera is like the below, it is almost a requisite - no bellows.

http://elearning.winona.edu/jjs/sw4x5/

 

[MattCarey]

Thanks for the comments guys!

The lens is an 8 1/4" Wollensak Series II. Not a particularly long or short lens.

Matt

P.s. I thought I was getting the variable soft focus lens...the variable feature is only available on the larger lenses. This is the largest without it! Luckily I didn't spend a lot on this.

 

[jjstafford]

Matt, want to sell the focusing mount? Can you describe it?