Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Any way to modernize Lomo Square Front lenses?

B

BRANDON JAMESON

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
1,724
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Location
San Diego, CA
Hey fellow REDusers!

I have two questions about one-piece Lomo square fronts that I hope you can answer.

We love the look for some projects that these lenses give, but IMPO the ability to easily pull focus and adjust the iris during a shot is close to impossible.

I've worked with rehoused/rejuvenated/modernized sets of kowa and ToddAO anamorphics before and wondered if anyone can provide the name of a lens tech that offers this service for Lomo Square Fronts.

We called Matt Duclos and Bernie at Super16 and they won't touch them much less rehouse them.

Also, if we cant get them modernized, is there any way to make these lenses easier to work with and pull focus/iris?

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Thank you!
 
Hi,

I own a set of Lomo squares. I am fortunate that they are in nice shape and can be used with wireless FF etc. I too would love to get mine rehoused. Failing that, there are some things you can do to improve them. The main issue with squares seems to be ancient grease making them stiff and sloppy. A trip off to Olex in Russia can help a lot with that. You can also add larger gears over the existing ones for more mechanical advantage. This helps a lot with wireless FF. You need real aluminum gears, and it's a job for a machinist, not a plastic one size fits all solution. I was in a hurry. I had two of Rafcams gears for the foton laying around, so I turned down the inside diameter of the gears so that they just barely fit over the existing gears with a shoulder so they sat flush and added a couple set screws. There are at least 3 different body styles to square fronts I have seen, so milage may vary on that.

I would be interested in seeing how many people might be willing to ship their lenses to GL optics or someone like that for a sort of a group buy rehouse to make it worth while. Squares in modern housings would be tits.

Nick
 
I think I mentioned it to them once. They showed interest. I'll see if I can dig up the email.

Nick
 
The only problem when I tried getting mine spruced up was if you rehouse via Korea or GL then you are limiting the ability for someone else to maintain the lens.
A bigger problem for squares as most people wont touch them let alone rehoused squares.

The more service mine get the better they are. They certainly aren't master prime mechanics but they will do wireless ff no problem and are all smooth.

That being said if you can get Darryl Wood at Spinning Mirror to do a group rehouse like his Mirrorscope Kowas then I am first on the list.
 
How is going from a situation where no one will work on them to a situation where they have shiny new mechanics making them harder to maintain? Most of the people who won't work on them won't do it because it's a pain in the ass. I imagine new housings would mitigate that. At any rate, I have inquiries out to several companies, so lets see what happens ;-) I'll Send Darryl a note as well, but I fear his prices ;-)

Nick
 
Stand by. This is a long term thing. But I think There is promise. If you are interested in doing this with your square fronts, post here or PM me.Numbers matter for this kind of thing.

Nick
 
darryl at spinning mirror is way more reasonable than you'd think. I got my rehoused kowas from him for less than FJS etc ask for a set of unrehoused... darryl is the man!
 
Interesting! I'm curious what would be the cost for a set of 35/50/80 SQ rehoused?
 
Ok, So here's an update. I don't like to post things like this until they are concrete because I don't like false promises blah blah blah.

But - I am sending my lenses to a company to disassemble, poke with a stick, and curse over so they can give me price on doing a rehouse.

As far as design specs go, I said functionality was paramount, but keeping small size was important to me, so I didn't think it would be worth making the 50 and 80mm have the same front element size as the 35mm. I mentioned that a second focus scale for say a +1 diopter is included on my 50 and 80mm and that was real handy. I also said if they could make the 80mm clear a PL 2x extender That would be swell.

I Make pretty pictures and stuff out of metal so I am not nerd savvy with forum lists and bullshit like that. Keeping that in mind, please PM me if you have interest in this project, and I will add you to an old fashioned list I'll keep in a folder or a bucket or an old ammo can or somthing, and I'll keep you updated.

I think this is an excellent opportunity to get some kick ass lenses. This is going to take some time. They are busy. I told them to hang onto my lenses for as long as they need them. I believe I said "like a year or so if need be".

Like I said, drop me a PM. I am making horrible TV this week and part of next, but fortunately the Care-O-Stat is turned all the way down for this project so I check my phone often.

Cheers,

Nick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top