Now I've done it

[johnnywalker]

Glad it meets your expectations and you're pleased with it! I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun with it on the happy road to doomdedness (once you get a tripod of course - and a lens, filter, dark cloth, cable release, loupe). Seriously, I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy playing with my 4x5.

[ntenny]

Now that I've had a moment to play with the new toy in daylight, I'm astonished to report that my 135mm Color-Skopar (from a 9x12 cm Voigtlaender Avus) appears to cover the 5x7 format nicely! Haven't tried the Heliar yet, but this already means that I have a nice wide-angle lens in a working shutter.

I have, though, a dumb question: How am I actually supposed to mount it to the lensboard? I can place the shutter on a lensboard, with the threaded portion sticking into the hole and enough clearance that something could screw onto it and hold it in place, but what's supposed to thread onto it? Do I need to find a machine shop that can cut me a mounting flange to fit the threads, or something?

-NT

[flash26c]

I guess it depends on how deep the threads are on the lens. Lots of the old lens' had brass mounting flanges you screwed to the lens board then screwed the lens on. Before you spend too much time and money on this, make sure the lens will cover 5X7. SK Grimes can fix you up, no doubt.

Ron

[Jim Chinn]

Another excellent lens for 5x7 is a Kodak Ektar 203mm/ 7.7. Small and vary sharp. They show up on Ebay quite regularly. Try to hold out for one that has a good shutter as described by the seller.

[ntenny]

Well, the behemoth works. Attached is a print of the first-light photo, taken with a 210mm Fujinar-SC and contact-printed on Fomalux; mhcfires and I had it out in the field this morning (along with a cross-section of his remarkable equipment collection) and burned a few more sheets, which are now drying and look reasonable at a quick glance.

I expect to have quite a bit of fun with this camera. Just looking at the ground glass is pretty exciting, and while the photo here is nothing special in itself, seeing it as a contact print of that size really knocked my socks off. There's just Something About Contact Prints.

-NT