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Tele lens for 3x4 Series D

 
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:19 pm    Post subject: Tele lens for 3x4 Series D Reply with quote

Need new ideas for a telephoto lens for 3x4 in. Series D. Limits of bellows draw = 6 inch min. - 8.5 inch max. I'm scouring the internet for tele lenses that are at least 10 inches E.F., min. apert. f-5.6, back-focus needs to be 6.0 - 6.5 inches. Priced around $125.00.
Tried mounting 10 in.Tele-Optar from 2x3 RB Series B, won't focus to infinity. 15 in.Tele-Optar has min. 9 inch back-focus, I'm told. Too long.
Catalogs list 11 and 12 in. Teles for my camera. Today, they're out of my price range (you seen what Taylor, Hobson, Cooke or Dallymeyer Teles are selling for?). Need alternatives.
I'm thinking 1) Using 15" Tele-Optar with threaded extension tube (but afraid it would be too front-heavy); 2) Using a Tele lens in leaf shutter (set on T). 3) Give up Series D-get an RB Auto if I really want long bellows and interchangeable lens-boards.
There must be lenses/ideas I'm not aware of. Greatly appreciate any/all advice. Thanks!
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sevo



Joined: 18 Oct 2008
Posts: 34
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 9:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

12 in. sounds plausible. Bear in mind that LF teles are at the very best 1:2, i.e. they need half the focal length to infinity. And they focus just like any regular lens of their focal length. A 16 in. tele on a camera with 8 1/2 inch draw would have merely half an inch to focus with - and hence would cover anything between pretty far away and infinity...

Varifocals (Tele-Peconar, Adon) tend to be cheap - but their image quality is nothing to write home about, and they are tele only at their worse end.

Sevo
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:12 am    Post subject: Tele for 3x4 Series D Reply with quote

I know telephoto lenses reduce flange to film plane distance, and long-focus lenses are not suitable because of limited bellows draw. I know from Graflex catalogs that there were British and German-made telephoto lenses for the 3x4 Graflexes (scarce and overpriced). I hope someone with knowledge of large format lenses might know other brands of lenses (American, Russian, etc.) that would serve the purpose. I won't spend $650.00 on a lens for a camera that cost me $80.00. Or, I may chuck the Series D and try and find a restorable R.B. Auto (double extension bellows), and use cheaper long-focus lenses. Point is, I like this Series D. I'd like to keep using it, so I'm trying to improvise.
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sevo



Joined: 18 Oct 2008
Posts: 34
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Forget about Russian lenses - some small opticians seem to have built rather home-made RRs up until the late eighties, to patch up ancient plate cameras, and the USSR had some industrial production of Tessar types in the thirties and fourties, but that was about all they ever did.

The official source for LF lenses in Comecon countries from the fifties on was Zeiss Jena/Pentacon - and their output merely consisted of a line of Tessars plus a couple of Meyer Trioplans.

Going by my experience, the US are by far the best source for cheap (or at any rate affordable) lenses for LF reflexes and press cameras, when the mentioned Tessars won't do. As LF press cameras went pretty much extinct in Europe with WWII, there are much less lenses for them hereabouts.

Sevo
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Dan Fromm



Joined: 14 May 2001
Posts: 2119
Location: New Jersey

PostPosted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sevo, I agree with you that there's little around that will meet the OP's need.

I don't agree with you completely about the Soviet optical goods industry. Look here http://www.lallement.com/pictures/files.htm for .pdfs that catalog the State Optical Institute's (GOI) designs through 1963 and some slightly newer lenses too. Some look very interesting, but nearly all are very hard to find. The Soviet LF lenses that are relatively easy to find won't do for the OP.

Cheers,

Dan
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