HELP! new to LF. need 150mm lens...

[erafal]

nick: is just a wooden board.. another piece behind it.. the hole somewhat recessed. the camera doesn't tell me too much. serial # 1234, scratched into the front. "B & J VIEW CAMERA."

Uhner: now where to get one of these convertible symmar??? hmm...

[John Kasaian]

Check with the teacher at your local high school woodshop about having some boards made if you don't have the tools to do it yourself (having a box of doughnuts along helps.) I think a 210 or a symmar convertible are excellent choices though.

[bnstein]

Ok you have a pretty standard no-frills lens board. Are you at all fluent with tools? If so DIY is pretty simple, and best done by glueing two different size thin boards together with appropriate holes prebored.

If not (and im guessing not) either look on ebay or similar (you'll pay though), beg or bribe someone handy, or do the washer trick.

[Uhner]

Uhner: now where to get one of these convertible symmar??? hmm...

There are usually some to be found on the used market, at least in Europe. Bear in mind that the shutters oftentimes need service.

[John Koehrer]

Building boards for these is easy. Or take a piece of 1/8" ply from the local hobby shop, cut it to match the board you have, cut the hole you need & screw the whole thing to the front of your board.

[kirkfry]

I buy black polycarbonate (I think) plastic at tap plastics and have them cut the plastic to the size I need. It comes in various thicknesses. The holes are easy, just buy a hole saw at the hardware store that is the size of hole you need and cut your hole using the saw in a drill. I have a collection of hole saws for each shutter size. You of course can use wood also. This works for most of my view cameras (not so much for the graphics). Most shutters have retaining rings you just screw onto the shutter to hold it on the board.

K