How long should the rail on a View 1 camera be?

According to the documentation http://graflex.org/articles/graphic-view/
V-I 12" bellows extension; V-II 16" bellows extension; add 1 1/2" to 2" per standard and one gets approx. 16" for a V-I, 20" for a V-II.
Charles

Either I'm measuring wrong or I got a short one. Measuring from the very back of the camera to the very front it's about 9".

Total rail length should be from outer edge to outer edge; Bellows extension from mount point to mount point. Maybe someone modified the one you have. What is the longest lens you can infinity focus?
Charles

View I has a 17" support rail
View II has a 22" support rail
This is measured on the triangular rail, and includes the endcap!
The bellows on the View I is 12 1/2"
" " on the View II is 15 1/2"
Bert

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: bertsaunders on 2002-10-23 23:08 ]</font>

My first thought was that the camera had been cut down. But if it has it happenned quite a while ago. The part of the rail that would have been cut has had time to age. The rail is just about 10" long.

I'm likely the only one to ever say this but the post office delivered the camera too quickly. It showed up in record time but my lens are still out there some place. At least I've had a chance to make a lens board.

I speculate that someone was using the camera with wide angle lens only and cut it down to make it easier to use. I had a View for a while and with a 90mm on a recessed board one either had 1/3 to 1/2 the rail in the scene or had it stabbing you in the chest while trying to compose or focus.
Charles

My first lens [a 240mm barrel] showed up today. Picked it up and put together a lensboard for it. Didn't have any screws small enough so I used duct tape for now-) It focuses from about 8' out to infinity. I'm not sure that makes any sense.