Lens Mounts

Attaching a vintage lens to your camera is not always as simple as you might imagine.  The images below show four different solutions to the problem:

1. 320mm Petzval lens without mounting ring.  Many vintage lenses come without a mounting ring.  This one has a protruding band at the rear, so it was possible to make four small wooden ‘hooks’ to hold it securely to the board.  See the Shutters section to find out how a shutter was attached.  
2. 450mm f/9 Zeiss Apo-Tessar: pretty brass lenses beg to be seen, but black coated ones are less beautiful, so a front-mounted shutter is an option.  This keeps it out of the way of camera parts so that the shutter blade is not impeded in its fall (see Shutters). Meanwhile the shutter framework keeps the lens securely penned in.
3. 13″ f/8 Cooke Series V Anastigmat: this lens is a real beauty and a fine performer.  It came with a mounting ring, so was easy to secure to a board.  Here the shutter is a very compact behind-the-lens affair, simply attached to the main lens board.
4. 13″ f/4.5 Cooke Series II Anastigmat:  a fine, but very heavy portrait lens without a mounting ring.  This tilt/swing mount is designed for box type cameras, ones without lens movements.  It offers tilt and swing functions and a behind-the-lens shutter block, all in solid oak, with its own leather bellows.
   

There’s no off-the-shelf solution for vintage lenses, they’re all very different, but Pete’s years of experience as a design engineer taught him many different ways to tackle a problem.  Contact Pete