... Mine is the III version 5 ...
The lens board I thought I found isn't the right one. It is slightly wider so
it won't fit in the standard. More importantly instead of a recessed ring cut
into the back, it has a protruding lip rising from the back. There are a
couple other minor differences.
I used to own a III, and currently have (on loan from my friendly X) two lenses
mounted on official Linhof III boards. I also have a home-made lens board I
used on the III for a 360mm TeleXenar. Plus a couple generic boards that fit
the III. The official Linhof boards have a slight indentation or machined
depression to match the fuzzy light trap material surrounding opening on the
Linhof. The others do not. All worked in all kinds of lighting conditions.
The protruding lip you describe appeared with Model IV, and fits *into* the
Linhof opening. The III lens board depression matches the fuzzy material
*around* the opening in the III.
I made several model III lens boards from flat pieces of aluminum, using only
hand tools and flat black paint. They all worked in Arizona summer sun and
Ontario sunny snow. No fog, no leaks. Look at some of the Japanese wooden
cameras. They often get by quite nicely with flat lens boards and nothing in
the way of a light trap around the opening in the cameras.
... There does seem to be some sort of soft material that is around the lens
hole in the front standard that seems to match the ring cut in the back of the
lens board. Feels like a felt like material, and it's not thick at all. I am
sure a flat board would work, at least at first, but would it damage that
material?
I’m not sure what you call that material, but it isn’t magic. It’s just black,
opaque and compressible. Black yarn or string of an appropriate thickness would
probably work. But in my case the original material did not seem to suffer
from my totally flat lens boards. The boards do not fit so tightly that they
apply much force to the “light trap”. If you fret about it, you could simply
use contact cement to attach black cotton or linen cloth to the lens board
around (outside) the ring where the depression/ring is machined on the official
boards.
Can we send attachments to the Pure Silver group? If we can, I can attach some
photos of my lens boards.
I’ll check my supply of light trap material for fixing light leaks in elderly
cameras (like Nikon F or Pentax 67).
Myron
