Result with Rolleicord IV and Yashica close-up lens

<p>I had some accessories for a Yashica Mat 124 that were Bayonet 1 size, and tried them on my Rolleicord. The supplemental wide-angle and telephoto lenses wouldn't fit - though the bayonet was correct, the rear elements of both supplemental lenses would actually touch the front element of the Rollei's Xenar taking lens before the bayonet claws were set into the grooves!<br>

But the close-up lens set did fit correctly. However, the view through the finder was never sharp - perhaps the Yashica viewing lens is quite different from the Rolleicord's. In any case, it was not so much a question of getting the correct focus as it was of getting the least blurred image. I had little hope for the final picture but this is what I got, shooting at f11-16:</p><div></div>

<p>Of course it's way sharper than you can tell here. If anyone does ever try any other-make accesories for their Rolleis, mount them very tentatively at first to see how things are fitting. I saw just in the nick of time that the elements would touch each other when I tried the telephoto attachment, and saved my Xenar lens from any abrasion.</p>

<p>Here's the camera with the close-up set attached:</p><div></div>

<p>Sweet. Nice image.</p>

 

<p>That's sharp! Certainly a successful experiment.</p>

<p>Thanks for posting, Lewis. Interesting. I was given a Yashica 124 to look after from my brother in law who came across it from a friend etc and it came with two 'venus' tele and wide angle bay lenses too. I've only tried them once on the Yashica and they seemed to work well, but will also fit my Rollei V. Will have to post pics here shortly to share too. Cheers!</p>

<p>Very sharp. I imagine that since the viewing lens is not stopped down that the the minor abberations introduced by the close-up lenses would be more noticable through the viewfinder. </p>

<p>There may also be a prism in the viewing lens to try and correct for parallax, and that would not be good for sharpness.</p>

<p>Back when I had a 124G I did not have the original Yashica close-up lens sets. I had Spiratone sets. I think they also fit the Minolta Autocord I got after getting rid of the Yashica. If I remember the names correctly Minolta had the Parajuster and Mamiya had the Paramender. These devices went between the camera and the tripod. Instead of using a viewing lens attachment with a prism you would attach the taking close-up lens to the TLR's viewing lens and focus. Then you would move the arm of the device so it raised the camera to the right position. At that point you woud carefully remove the taking close-up lens from the camera's viewing lens and attach it to the camera's taking lens. If you were patient and careful you could get good results. This method was great for copy work but useless for moving subjects. If I need to do medium format close-up work today, I use an SLR.</p>

<p>Now look for Rolleinar close-up sets. They fit perfectly and are of better quality. Great stuff. :-)</p>

<p>Early Rollei Proxars/Rolleinars were three-piece sets; the lenses plus the Rolleiparkeil anti-parallax prism. The prism could be also to correct the perspective when shooting tall buildings, like "rise" on a view camera!</p>

<p>Nice. gotta love those test shots that knock your socks off !!!</p>