# help me butcher a camera lens



## mysteryscribe (May 3, 2006)

somebody help me out here please.  I just made a lens change and need some advice.  First of all I'm no math whiz so I'm looking for an answer not a formula... I will however take a formula.  I might have to work it backwards though.  Here is the problem.

I salvaged a shutter off an old kodak camera.  The glass is set up for a 100 mm lens.  I am in the process of attaching the shutter to a barrel lens I have made.  Now here come the problem. 

The shutter at 100 mm had a top aperture of 32..  that shutter and aperture is now on a lens of 135mm.  Someone tell me what the new aperture will be.  From my pinhole calculator Im guessing f45... Does that sound about right.


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## Torus34 (May 3, 2006)

f32 for a 100mm fl lens is an aperture with a physical diameter of 100/32, or 3.125mm.

Using that aperture [3.125mm] with a 135mm lens will give an f stop of 135/3.125, or f43.2.

You can easily work out the other f stops now.


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## Alpha (May 3, 2006)

I could be thinking backwards here, but I would think the number would go down. The shutter itself will only open to a certain width no matter what lens it's on. Going from 100mm to 135mm you might lose half a stop, or maybe a quarter (i really dunno the math). At the widest the shutter can physically open, it will be letting less light in on a 135mm lens than on a 100mm, so even though physically it's the same width, it's letting less light in, and therefore the effective aperture is lower. I.e. you'd need to open the aperture wider on a 135mm than you would on a 100mm in order to let the same amount of light in. 

Seriously, someone correct me if I'm wrong.


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## Alpha (May 3, 2006)

Okay so maybe i'm wrong. Oh well.

Edit: yeah, i was thinking totally backwards.Torus is right. Even after all these years I still slip up sometimes and think wider aperture=larger number. Doh.


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## mysteryscribe (May 3, 2006)

I got exactly the same number with my pinhole calculator running it backwards.  So I evened it off to f45.... If the shutter still works I'll test it as soon as I build a 4x5 back for a polaroid I bought in a junk shop saturday.  It should be interesting.


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## patriciao82173 (May 4, 2006)

That sounds like a nightmare in the making.  The math wiz I am not..so 'grats to those that figured it out and to those that didn't ...don't worry you're not alone


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## mysteryscribe (May 4, 2006)

no math whiz but my pinhole calculator had the answer I just didnt trust it.  Still have to make the camera and shoot the test.


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