Best way to cut holes in body caps?

[bhorn]

I would like to mount some view camera lenses on SLR body caps. What is the best way to cut the holes in them without a drill press. I have a variable speed cordless drill and a dremel tool.

Thanks,

Bruce Horn

[Steve Smith]

Get a set of dividers (looks like a pair of compasses but has two points). Inscribe a circle the right diameter on the cap. Use your drill to put a series of closely spaced holes just inside the circle you have marked up. Press out the centre then use a half round file to finish the hole up to the marked edge.

You may have a problem though with focus as view cameras move the lens relative to the film plane to focus. An SLR lens mount is fixed and the focus mechanism is in the lens.


Steve.

[B&Jdude]

How about getting one of those bellows units that are (or were) made for most SLR's for close-up or slide copying, putting the lens cap w/view camera lens on it, and using that set-up to focus?

EuGene

[John Koehrer]

B&Jdude,
That works & you can get some very interesting images. I did that once or twice years ago with an uncoated lens & fujichrome.

[rknewcomb]

A power tool is likely to melt the plastic and fill in the cut, so you mostly end up where you started except with a big mess. A jeweler's saw is a small hand saw, like a coping saw except with a blade about the size of thin pencil lead. Many people call a coping saw a jig saw - which they are not. Jeweler's saws and the very fine blades can be found in hobby stores.
First dill a small hole in the body cap, insert fine jeweler's saw blade through, connect up the other end of the blade to frame of saw and go at it.

[keithwms]

I would like to mount some view camera lenses on SLR body caps. What is the best way to cut the holes in them without a drill press. I have a variable speed cordless drill and a dremel tool.

Thanks,

Bruce Horn

Which lens do you wish to mount on which SLR?

[Ian Grant]

This links to a post about converting a 9x12cm plate camera to accept interchangeable LF lenses by using a K mount on the camera lens panel & a body cap to mount the lens/shutter.

Ian

[B&Jdude]

Ian:

The problem is different with mounting the lens on the 35mm camera. After all, the plate camera has a bellows to allow movement in and out away from the film plane for focusing, but the 35mm doesn't focus that way, instead they rely on a helical mount to move the front lens element in and out.

That's why I suggested the bellows, as there is no other way to focus with the view camera type of lens except to provide a means to move the whole lens in and out . . . the close-up bellows is an easy way to do that, as they have a lens mount (screw or bayonet) to attach them to the camera for which each type is designed, and a lens mount on the outboard end to which Bruce can attach his body cap mounted lenses for quick changes.

I use a Minolta mount bellows occasionally with my SRT's so that I can attach body caps that carry different sizes & focal lengths of pinhole lenses.

EuGene

[Ian Grant]

EuGene, the OP posted a question asking me the same thing a few days ago on another thread, I haven't been online for a week as I was travelling with no Internet access so couldn't reply.

The idea is to have an SLR camera mount (female) fitted on a lens board or panel on an LF camera then have a lens mount or in this case a body cap (male) fitted to the LF lens.

Ian

[bhorn]

Thanks for all the replies.

Actually I was planning on using a bellows attachment on a Pentax LX and on a Pentax D100Super. I have tried this with a couple of my old view camera lenses just holding the lens against the front of the bellows and focusing and it worked very well. One is an old 90mm, a wollensak f6.8 I think. Another is a 75mm f1.9 off an old Polaroid, may also be a Wollensak. A 135mm off my old busch pressman, an Ektar I think. And I think I have a few old soft lenses from old folders around that I would like to try. I am also planning on trying some old "c" mount lenses on the d100 but that will have to be later as it will probably require a helical mount and a recessed lens board plus some careful calculations to make sure that the mirror does not hit the back. I realize that those lenses will probably not cover the whole aps-c sensor but if I can even get a 4mm to cover the equivalent of a pocket digital sensor I would be happy cropping that much into it as its pixels are much better than my point and shoot.