Vintage Frezzolini Lens Mod for 20" Ross lens on 6x6 or 35mm

James Frezzolini Telephoto Cameras, and General Research Labs are famous for many things over the decades. Their Big Bertha modification of the 5x7 Graflex Speed Graphic may have been the largest still-film-camera they did, with 36" lenses covering that huge format being usable for sports photography at a distance. The fast shutter speed, and large film gave us some of the most memorable photographs in sports history.

I purchased a rather different adaptation of a 20" f6.3 lens, which I believe also comes from Frezzolini.

It has a very carefully crafted gun-style grip, and a worm and gear focusing mechanism. Aluminium tubing has been carefully machined for light-tightness and alignment, and it came to me with an M42 threaded and removable adapter in place. I understand that this would have allowed use with certain 6x6 SLR cameras.

I have used freely-available adapters to mate the lens to my Canon SLR and my Sony A7r.

Internal reflections were a problem that I overcame by the use of matt black paint, and matt black felt.

These have allowed me to capture some rather interesting images, especially using stitching of multiple images, city vistas from high ground, etc.

The reason I conclude that this was a Frezzolini modification from the same stable as the "Big Bertha", is the identical design of some of the machined parts.

More information on the Big Bertha range can be found here: https://journal.graflex.org/journal-2016-02.pdf