Playing with making a focusable box camera. Anyone know someone who can put a modern LF lens into a helical mount, ala Silvestri and Cambo wide? (in the US, preferably; I'd rather not send my lens to Italy or Holland.) Don't need a focusing/d.o.f. scale--just a means of focusing without a bellows and rail. Any suggestions?

-- Simon (fourthpres@aol.com), July 10, 2000

Answers

Rodenstock sells helical mounts for their lenses; I believe Schneider does also. They're pretty expensive.

Otherwise, you might experiment with the lens mount for a Graflex XL, which is a big helicoid. Also there's the Mamiya Press helicoids.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), July 10, 2000.

You could try to adapt a Bronica S2/S2A helical mount (the focus mount was designed to be separate from the lens on this system). It has a 57x1mm thread mount for your lens, but you might have to do some machining to attach it to a lensboard. I saw a few of them for sale at The F-Stops Here website.

-- David Goldfarb (dgoldfarb@barnard.edu), July 11, 2000.

Here is a home made alternative to focussing without a bellows or rail.....http://job.webstar.nl/newcampg.html

-- Julian Bell (job@webstar.nl), July 14, 2000.

Or rather more accurately here.......http://job.webstar.nl/cam3pg.html

-- Julian Bell (job@webstar.nl), July 14, 2000.