I was wondering if I could unscrew the front and rear lens parts from the barrel of the shutter mechanism, and replace them with the front and rear of a different kind (brand) of lens?

I have a standard 101mm Optar (Wollensak), and was wondering if I could replace them with say, a Schneider 135mm front and back? Would this work? Would it even be worth it if it could be done? I'm assuming a Schneider Xenar would be a better lens? I'm no optics expert... please advise! Thanks

Both are Tessars by design. I've heard mixed opinions of Xenars. Xenars were put on Crown Specials to lower the price. This may be due to the d'mark vs dollar rate at the time, and it may be due to a lesser quality lens.

I actually prefer a Symmar over a Xenar, but they are a bit larger.

I don't think the change you are asking about will work. I'm thinking that the Xenar will have a larger thread diameter, certainly a metric pitch thread, while the Optar will be Hillbily American.

Besides, where will you find a 135 Xenar without a shutter?

Quote:

On 2001-06-08 12:42, majorcities wrote: I was wondering if I could unscrew the front and rear lens parts from the barrel of the shutter mechanism, and replace them with the front and rear of a different kind (brand) of lens? I have a standard 101mm Optar (Wollensak), and was wondering if I could replace them with say, a Schneider 135mm front and back? Would this work? Would it even be worth it if it could be done? I'm assuming a Schneider Xenar would be a better lens? I'm no optics expert... please advise! Thanks

bad idea. there's no guarantee that the schneider cells will screw into your graphex shutter, and if they do the cell spacing will
almost certainly be wrong.

modern lenses and shutters are much more standardized, so that, for example, a set of lens cells can be switched from one copal #1 shutter to another, but this doesn't work with older equipment.

If the threads by some chance do fit you should be careful that the lens doesn't seat too far into the shutter and damaged the shutter blades. If everything did fit your aperture scale would no longer be accurate for the new lens.