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Mark Neubert · Joined: 28 Aug 2002 Posts: 9 Location: Philadelphia, PA

I have a lens that came with my Graphic View that is marked Schneider-Keruznach Symmar 1:5.6/150 in white and 1:12/265 in red. The F stops have two scales, red and white. Does this lens have 2 useable focal lengths? If so, how do I control them? There appear to be no controls to switch between them. Am I missing a front lens element? If so, does anyone know where I can find one? Thank You

Les · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 2682 Location: Detroit, MI

the old symmar was indeed convertable. But first some lens nomenclature. With LF lenses there are two cells, one in front and one in back. They are seperated by either a shutter or a barrel which would have only an iris.

Yours is probably in a compur shutter.
the 150mm focal lenght is used with both cells screwed into the shutter. To use the 270, remove the front cell, which is what sounds like happened.

I don't want to be an absolute defeatest about this, but you'll have a better chance of me giving you all of the money when I win the lottery than you do finding the proper front cell, without buying a complete lens. These were usually finished as a pair, so I suggest you dig a little deeper or ask whomever you got it from if they can look in that sock drawer one more time.

Mark Neubert · Joined: 28 Aug 2002 Posts: 9 Location: Philadelphia, PA

Les, Thank you for your fast response. The lens in question is indeed in a compur shutter. The front element (cell) screws off, and the rear element (cell) screws off, with the shutter being in the middle. Did the part you think that I may be missing screw onto the front like a filter? Please if you would, look on the help page for View cameras. I have 2 more questions listed. I'm new to view cameras, and this site is wonderful. Thanks again, Mark Neubert

[ This Message was edited by: Mark Neubert on 2002-09-01 18:42 ]

Dan Fromm · Joined: 14 May 2001 Posts: 2133 Location: New Jersey

Les · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 2682 Location: Detroit, MI

Dan is right and there's no pardon necessary. You asked if you were missing the front element. I assumed from that, that you didn't have any glass in front of the shutter. If you do then you are all set. When using the rear half alone, stop down to f22 or more for best results.

_________________
"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison

extraparts · Joined: 10 Feb 2002 Posts: 59 Location: texas

I have heard it recomended that you use a yellow filter with black and white when only using the rear cell. This is because the single cell is not as well corrected for cromatic aberation ( red light rays bend differently than blue). Using the yellow filter reduces the range of color that the lens has to deal with.

Ron Wisner (Wisner.com) sells a zero corrector element for this purpose when using his convertible lens set with color film. However, his zero corrector alone probably costs more than your lens and camera.

You might also want to read about this on the Schneideroptics.com site.

Neal