Schneider Super-Angulon 47mm f/8 Rear Lens Cap

"Watch your eyes!"

A few days ago, a professional photographer, and dear friend, asked that I perform an 'Image Circle' test with the Schneider Super-Angulon 47 mm f/8 lens.  Though the specification says otherwise, we were curious to find out if the this little gem could cover the 6x12 format.

Well after painfully removing the lens from a Graflex XL barrel, I came up with a setup using a Cambo SC3, traditional configuration.  Being that the lens is housed in a Compur #00 shutter, my options were limited, and my preferred Toyo-View 4x5 rig was of no use.

As for the IC test, I will save that result for another Post, but after playing with this lens and moving it to and fro, not having a rear lens cap became quite bothersome, to say the least.

Well this evening, after finding a Toyo-View 158 mm recessed #00 lens board, I decided to perform another test.

"Wait... no rear lens cap!"  I yelled to myself.

I immediately went out back to the Machine Shop (this what I call my Garage on Thursdays and Fridays) and searched for a 34 mm Forstner bit and a 40 mm hole saw.  Needless to say, not having these bits in my arsenal, I didn't find them, however I did find a beautiful Freud Diablo FB-010 Forstner bit coming in at 1-3/8 inches and an unknown big box hole saw bit measuring 1-3/4 inches.

And 30 minutes later....

"Look Ma, no lathe!"

The most difficult part is making the circumference piece of felt flush.  The bottom piece was actually easier to cut than I had anticipated, being that I took the Forstner bit to the material to etch the circle, hence the cardboard spot in the center of the fabric.

This one will, of course, only be a prototype, as the final product will be made from a solid piece of hardwood, and I won't use dirty sandpaper.

I hope that in this case tighter is better than loose.  I imagine that over time the fabric material will compress.  I just realized that I didn't glue in the fabric, but being that it was mathematically sized with precision, it seems to be holding quite well.

A capped lens is a happy lens!

Speaking of DIY projects, these images were provided by 2 Gaffer taped Kodak Hawkeye lenses of unknown FL and Aperture, mounted in a broken Graphex Shutter.

Cambo SC1 2x3 Standard

Canon 5D Mark II Image Sensor