Having now received and returned the Ebony extender back, which was very lovely, but did not fit my RW45 - [which has a larger, by @1 cm back than the extender], I would like to know if anyone has experience with Top Hats? I want to use one plus a 35mm extension with a 240 G Claron and was wondering about general tips and risk of vignetting.

many thanks Robin

-- Robin Coutts (robin.rocket@virgin.net), May 08, 2002

Answers

I have two 35mm tophat extensions. I use a 180mm Apo-Symmar with one extension, the rear element is almost flush with the lens board. A 240 should not have any problem, unless it covers something like 11x14 and you actually need to use that kind of movements on a 4x5. In the case fo the 180, I think that one 35mm extension is OK but two extensions moves the lens weight so much in front of the front standard that the whole assembly gets a little wobbly. The RW45 is probably a little more steady at full extension than my SW23, so it might actually work very well with 70mm extension.

Mail me privately and I'll send you some digicam pics of the tophat. /Åke

-- Ake Vinberg (ake@vinberg.nu), May 08, 2002.