John - If you go here on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1337906266 you will see a pair of 10" Paragon cells the seller says came from a #5 Ilex Acme shutter. Actually, from the buyer's ID, it looks like you may have been the buyer. One source I have gives the front thread size for a #5 Ilex as 3.000 in. X 40 threads per inch, so you can check your cells and see if this sounds right. I am guessing the reason your cells are without shutter is someone wanted the shutter to mount a better lens (a longer focal length Dagor for instance). I believe Paragons are a Tessar-type formula, hence rather limited coverage. There is also a rumor the quality control at Ilex wasn't always the best and some of the Paragons weren't as sharp as they could be. That doesn't mean your lens is bad, but #5 Ilex shutters generally sell on eBay for $200+, and you might not want to spend that much if it turns out you aren't happy with the lens. You might try doing a search on
http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search and see what the general opinion is on Paragons. So making a barrel for your cells might be something to consider. If you have access to a lathe (or a tame machinist who will work for beer), you can make the barrel of brass or aluminum with proper threads cut for the cells. If that isn't an option, thick walled plastic pipe might be used, with the cells held in with gaffer's tape. The problem will be keeping both cells aligned along the optical axis. I suspect the cells don't have to be very far out of alignment for the image to suffer (although it would be interesting to experiment with this and see if I'm right). Several years ago, Ron Wisner in "Camera & Darkroom" magazine had an article on using your view camera as an optical bench. I haven't read it in a few years, but I recall the basic idea was using clear glass instead of ground glass and focusing on it with about a 12X or 15X magnifier. I think by doing this, you can just move your cells relative to each other until you get the sharpest image and that will be your spacing. I have taken the back off a camera and held an 8X loupe in about the focal plane, and you do see a clear, bright image, rather like looking through a monocular. Finally, you need something to give you f-stops. The simplest way may be cutting a slot in the side of your barrel and making a set of Waterhouse stops. A final idea: if you could find a barrel mount Paragon with bad glass for cheap, you could buy it and put your cells in that barrel, then use a Packard shutter. At 09:38 PM 3/20/2002 -0800, you wrote: >Hi there, ho there! > >I've just picked up a set of Ilex Paragon Anastigmat >4.5/10" (254mm) elements without a barrel or a >shutter... So I have a couple of questions: > >Could I make a barrel & attach the whole thing on a >board with a Packard shutter? > >If this sounds workable- then, what should I use to >make the barrel & how do I figure the distance from >the front to rear elements? > >If this gets to be too complicated/expensive I would >probably want to pick up a shutter... anyone know >which shutter would fit for these elements? The >elements have a 76cm diameter, not sure of the thread. > >Thanks! >John Moore >Ramona, CA > >__________________________________________________ >Do You Yahoo!? >Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards� >http://movies.yahoo.com/ >_______________________________________________ >Cameramakers mailing list >[EMAIL PROTECTED] >http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers > _______________________________________________ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
