Graflex.org

[Univer]

Hi All,

Longtime reader, brand-new member here. I've learned a lot from this forum over the years, and a recent acquisition finally prompted me to join up…so I could draw on your collective wisdom.

I recently picked up an example of the 200mm telephoto for the KE-4 70mm camera. The glass needs cleaning, but it's otherwise in decent shape. It's unlikely that I'll be buying a KE-4 body for the lens; so I've been wondering about the possibility of adapting the 200mm to some other application - non-destructively, of course.

I've seen occasional references suggesting that the optical blocks for the KE-4 lenses are separable from the focusing mounts. I have to think that adapting the optical unit would be easier than trying to adapt the entire lens. My first thought was that the forepart of the lens might simply screw out (as in the case of a long-focus Leitz Elmar or Hektor lens head), but that's not the case.

So I find myself wondering whether anyone can offer any suggestions for detaching the optical unit from the focusing mount. It goes without saying that I don't want to think about loosening a single screw until I have a clear notion of what I'm doing.

Thanks a lot, in advance, for your help!

[Dan Fromm]

Interesting problem.

Making a barrel that incorporates the lens' cells -- assuming that they're screwed in, and they almost certainly are -- and a diaphragm will require a fair amount of skill.

It would be better to separate the cells and the barrel with diaphragm they're in from the focusing mount. That done, mounting the assembly on a 2x3 Graphic board for use on a 2x3 Speed shouldn't be that difficult.

It might also be possible to bodge the lens, focusing mount and all, on to a 2x3 Graphic board for use on a 2x3 Speed but I'm not sure that it will focus to infinity. I believe -- you'll have to check -- that the KE-4's flange-to-film distance is 2.5 inches (63.5 mm). The Miniature Speed Graphic's minimum extension is 58.7 mm, the 2x3 Pacemaker Speed's minimum extension is 61.9 mm. Might work.

[Univer]

Hi Dan,

Thanks so much for the post, and apologies for being so slow to reply.

Your suggestion - separating the entire optical unit, including the aperture, from the focusing mount - was precisely what I had in mind. I know there are folks out there who can put elements into a new barrel to create a whole new lens, but that's far, far beyond my modest skill level.

I was encouraged by stray posts here and there to think that separating elements-plus-aperture from the focusing mount might be relatively easy - posts that alluded to purchasing the optical/diaphragm "block" of KE-4 lenses as standalone items. Those purchasers were trying to source new KE-4 focusing mounts. The opposite, in other words, of what I'm trying to do: namely, separate lens proper from focusing mount.

I'm open to all kinds of adapted applications for the optical unit (film and digital), if I can manage to extricate that unit from the mount. I sincerely appreciate your suggestions!