lenses to fit korona IV

[burak_savak]

HI,

 

I just bought a Korona IV from ebay but the lens comes with it is a mess

aperture blades are thorn, shutter erratic etc. Therefore, I decided to bite the

bullet and buy another shutter. However, since this is my first large format

camera, I really do not know, whether any large format lens would fit to the

lens board.

 

The lens came with the camera is: conley safety by wollensak. It is screwed to

the lens board.

 

I really appreciate if somebody gives me some direction about what lens to buy?

How can I understand if the lens would mount to my lens board? Any other thing I

need to pay attention.

 

Regards,

[mharris]

burak look for old press lenses in shutters by Graphic or Kodak. Some are very affordable and do very well. Finding a shutter to work with your lens could be very time consuming and costly.

[michael_briggs2]

The easiest approach is to buy or make a new lensboard, then to buy whichever lens pleases you: focal length, cost, condition, etc. Probably your old Wollensak lens has an shutter of an obsolete size. Trying to find another lens in the same shutter to match your lensboard might not be easy, and not necessary.

[michael_briggs2]

I don't know if lensboards for Korona cameras are available new. If you don't want to make a lensboard yourself, try a custom woodworker or cabinet maker in your town. This isn't a high-tech project. Another person who can do this sort of work is Richard Ritter. The lensboard will need a hole to match the new lens. When looking for lenses, check their coverage. This question is in the 5x7 category, so to cover 5x7 films, the lens needs to have coverage of at least 210 mm diameter.

[burak_savak]

Thanks for the answers. Sorry, but I have further questions.

 

I have a lens board already which came with the non-working lens.

 

Since I am very new to large format, I do not know whether any lens I can get would screw in or not?

 

Are there different standards for large format like in the case of nikon mount, canon mount, mamiya etc.?

 

If so, where can find that standards to check which lens may screw in to my lens board?

 

How do you understand the coverage area of the lens? Does write on it?

[michael_briggs2]

Some lenses don't have shutters, these are called barrel lenses. It is easier to use a lens with a built in shutter. Barrel lenses and some older shutters mount with a flange, which screws to the lensboard. Current shutters use a retaining ring, which is a thin nut. In either case you need a hole through the lensboard of the correct diameter. If you pick a random lens, the chance this its flange (if a barrel lens) or its shutter will have the same hole diameter as your old Wollensak lens is low. Lenses for LF cameras are not proprietary, so you can use any brand lens and shutter on any brand camera. If you later buy a different camera, you can move your lenses to new lensboards and use them with that camera. The limitation is that the shutter or flange can't be too big for the lensboard. Probably your Korona has a fairly large lensboard, so this won't be a problem for you.

 

Rarely is the coverage of a LF lens written on the lens. You have to look it up. Or, with experience, you can estimate the coverage from the design of the lens and its focal length. There are tables of LF lenses on the some websites. See http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00OlNj for links to some.

 

Maybe you should get a book on LF photography. I like "A Users Guide to the View Camera" by Jim Stone. Here is a thread with some recommendations: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00OcRN