Busch Pressman D and 90mm

<p>Have the above camera and was looking for a shorter lens than my Kodak 127mm, purchased a<br>

Schneider Angulon 65mm 6.8 and discovered that it only came into focus when it was back from<br>

the moving bed and into the camera body (have since found other uses for it). Has anyone used a 90mm <br>

on this camera and can verify that it would come into focus on the movable bed rails? Thanks a lot 'cus I<br>

can't afford another oops ! Regards,Peter</p>

<p>I use a Nikon 90/8 on my Pressman a lot. (This is equivalent to a 28 mm lens on<br>

a 35mm camera as far as horizontal field of view is concerned.)<br>

The "throat" of the front standard of the Bush Pressman is pretty small at about 57mm as I recall<br>

so you have to sort of work the back of the lens into the throat when mounting the lens<br>

but it gets easier with practice.<br>

The Schneider 90/8 Super Angulon should also work but not the faster 5.6 model because the<br>

the rear element is too large.<br>

The older Schneider Angulon 90/6.8 MAY work but the distance from the lens board to the film plane is<br>

is less then that of the Nikon or Super Angulon. <br>

At infinity Schneider data says that distance from the front face of the lensboard to the film plane is<br>

98.8 mm for Super Angulon 90/8. With a ruler you can check it with your camera.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>https://www.schneideroptics.com/info/vintage_lens_data/large_format_lenses/angulon/data/6,8-90mm.html<br>

states that the back focus distance is 87.4mm.<br>

The throat of the front standard is too small to allow mounting the lens on a recessed lens board and still be able to operate the shutter. The controls will be against the inner wall of the recess at best.</p>

<p>A Pacemaker Crown or Speed Graphic has the body section of the rails linked with the bed and move with the front section when focusing.</p>

<p>A 100mm lens is as short of focal length that can be used on the rear of the bed rail on the Pressman or the Graphics in 4x5 format.</p>

<p>Yes, I can confirm that 90mm F8 super angulon mounts (barely) and can be infinity focused with front standart still on the rails. I also used 90mm F6.8 Graflex Optar without problems.</p>

<p>Thomas, when you mention (barely), do you mean it barely fits into the lens plate/holder<br>

assembly or it barely stays on the front rails at infinity focus? Peter</p>

<p>When I had a D for many years my 3 lens kit was a 90 Angulon, a 150 Symmar-S, and a 210 Geronar. No problems.</p>

<p>Peter,<br>

I barely fits through the front opening when mounting lens. The front standard firmly sits on rails when focused at infinity.</p>

<p>Open the camera and run the rails in fully. Remove the lens board. Measure from the ground glass to the rear edge of the bed rails. 1 inch 25.4mm in case you do not have a metric ruler.<br>

Pull the front standard out and lock it on the bed rails as close to the rear of the rails as possible. Measure from the ground glass to the lens board.<br>

GG-rail edge will be 90-95 mm.<br>

GG-lens board with FS at rear edge of rails will be 90-100mm.<br>

A lens back focus, distance from the GG it will focus infinity, determines the shortest focal length usable not its marked focal length.<br>

My Super Graphic measures 74mm to rail edge and 78mm to lens board front edge with the FS just clearing the fixed body rail.<br>

Due to production tolerances one 90mm f6.8 from manufacturer X may work and another from the same manufacturer may not.</p>

<p>Charles, I'd say lens back focus doesn't determine the shortest focal length lens usable but rather the shortest focal length lens that will focus at infinity. In my opinion there is seldom a requirement to focus a wide angle lens at infinity, especially on a view camera.</p>

<p>Chauncey, I don't agree with you completely. What determines whether a lens will focus to infinity on a camera is its flange-focal distance at infinity. Flange-focal distance >= minimum extension, happiness. Flange-focal distance > minimum extension, misery. </p>

<p>Remember, back focus is the distance from the rear element's vertex to the film plane when the lens is focused to infinity. The rear element's position relative to the mounting flange is what determines how close the rear element can get to the film plane. I have a 1.75"/2.8 Elcan in barrel that's effectively in a deep mount. Most of the lens is behind the flange. It makes infinity on a 2x3 Speed Graphic.</p>

<p>Re the need to focus, the shortest lens that covers 2x3 is the 35/4.5 Apo Grandagon. This beastie <em>has</em> to be focused. One can see the difference between in and out of focus on the GG and one can see it in the negs when the lens is shot at f/8 - f/11 as recommended.</p>

<p>Dan, you're right, of course. What I was trying to get at was that not being able to focus at infinity might not be a problem in the real view camera world. Also, there is nothing that says it has to be done on the focusing rail. It's not that difficult to release the standard lock and focus a lens on the back rail.</p>

<p>In the original post by Peter he only says "comes into focus", this is assumed to be from infinity to a close distance of 3 to 4 feet.<br>

It has been 10 to 15 years since I had a Pressman D rebadged as Tower Press. I do not remember how deep the body is. The Bush Pressman D is a 4x5 press camera and the Pressman C is a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 press camera.<br>

<br />Lens that fit these formats focus infinity to their close focus distance in 26-27mm or travel from infinity. Focus scales for these types of cameras are 26mm or 27mm scale markings. Rangefinder cams and operating arms have roughly the same 26-27 millimeters of movement.</p>

<p>Another factor that will affect lens position relative to the film plane is lens board mounting. A shutter screwed into a flange front mounted on a lens board can add several mm forward of the lens board requiring the front standard to be positioned further back into the camera than it would if it were flush mounted to the lens board, rare but it has been done before.<br>

Another factor would be the lens having an actual focal length of 88mm to 89mm.</p>

<p>The reason for referencing the back focus is that it is the specification stated in Schneider's lens info that can easily be used to determine the approximate position the lens will be when focused to infinity. This should help explain why the lens "comes into focus" inside the body.</p>

<p>The only way a lens focusing on the fixed body rail would irritate me is if infinity-100' is at the front edge of the body with 25' just onto the movable rail which could cause a problem.</p>

<p>Nikon's published data on the 90/8 lens lists the flange to film plane distance at infinity at 97mm. And as mentioned above the Super Angulon 90/8's distance is 98.8 mm at infinity. </p>

<p>Enjoying all the responses , price comes into play now and it seems only the 90mm Angulon or the Optar are within budget. Movements are of no real consequence to me, making the assumption that they'd both be in equal condition,would either have an overwhelming edge over the other? Thanks again,Peter</p>

<p>Hi Peter,<br>

It's been a month since the last post here, but I thought I'd chime in that My 90 f/6.8 Angulon works very well on my Pressman D, with comfortable room on the rails. I imagine an Optar would work as well.<br>

Nice thing about the Angulon is that it's focus distance on the scale is precisely twice that of the stock 135 Raptar the camera came with. That means I can focus with the rangefinder, look at the scale, double the distance, reset and shoot handheld with the 90.<br>

It's no AF DSLR, but it works, is fun, and it's easy to carry around.<br>

<br />Good luck!</p>

<p>By the way, there's more coverage in an Angulon than a Pressman D's bellows can handle. You'll get bellows blockage or bump into the camera's body before you run out of coverage. So don't spend extra on a better lens unless you can use it on a view camera too. And my Angulon is sharp, sharp, sharp.</p>