This is the second of what will be 3 of my ongoing projects.

I’ll be using the 610 AE close to home, but I also plan on getting out and exploring w/my classic lenses, w/the Velostigmat II, 9.5” Raptor, the Gundlach Achromatic Meniscus, the 305mm Kodak Portrait, the 253.5 AeroTessar, the 300mm Turner-Reich, and my own creation the Variable Positive Meniscus.  I plan to shoot a lot of infrared w/each lens.

Also shown w/my lenses is the 4.5” combination extension sleeve-lensboard which was machined by Steve Grimes which gives me some extra extension without piling some more junk on the back of the camera.

I’ll be using these lenses w/my Toyo 4x5 w/its 4” extension sleeve and my sliding rollfilm adaptor which gives me rollfilm capability w/the Toyo since I’ll be experimenting w/multiple lenses.  I’ve made modifications to both the sliding rollfilm adaptor, and the bottom of the Toyo via an adaptor to shift the camera's balance backward to compensate for the tendency of this rig to be ‘backheavy’ w/the 4” extension sleeve and rollfilm adaptor aboard.

I modified the sliding rollfilm adaptor by taking a ‘snap in’ connector off a Toyo 6x9 viewing hood and mating it to the front of a Horseman 6x9 angle reflex viewer which then can be connected to the Toyo rollfilm adaptor giving me ‘right side up’ reflex viewing instead of the upside down image of the Toyo viewer.

I’m using a Mamiya 6x8 motorized mag rollfilm back because advancing to the next frame w/a manually winding back ‘jars’ the camera and you’re not correctly framed for the next shot if you want to bracket. 

These modifications give me essentially a bigger but much slower Mamiya RB while enabling me to use my Large Format lenses.   I’ll be able to play w/all of my lenses, shoot a lot of Infrared, and save quite a bit of time, and then pick and choose when I expose my 4x5 sheetfilm.

There’s one big problem w/using the Toyo 4x5 w/all this stuff hanging off the rear of the camera, and that happens to be that the Toyo’s original ¼-20 tripod hole which is located between the front and rear standards is now too far forward and an adaptor was needed to shift the ¼-20 placement back where the tripod mates with this new configuration to re-establish a working balance.  Without  this adaptor you have to ‘fight’ the camera wanting to fall backwards when you release the lock knob of the tripod head to try to frame/reframe.

The adaptor shown under the Toyo was a thick strip of aluminum which I bent in my vise to the config. shown, and has several threaded ¼-20 holes mating it to the original ¼-20 hole of the Toyo, the tripod, and at the rear to the 4” extension sleeve.  This adaptor both shifts the balance backwards to where this config. is no longer backheavy but it gives some support to the extension sleeve so the heavy rollfilm adaptor isn’t pulling/stressing the top sliding lock at the back of the extension sleeve.          

The camera is now a joy to use and the weight bet. front/back is now balanced.  I don’t know why Toyo never provided an accessory like this.

Some of my lenses were intended for 4x5, a couple for 8x10, but in using rollfilm, and seeing what I'm seeing through the 6x9 reflex viewer it seems they’re all look much softer and will render much softer on rollfilm which is just fine w/me.

We’ll see.