Folder Shutter / Lens Interchangeabil...

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Author Message   Tom Simpson Tinkerer Username: Bullet308 Post Number: 1 Registered: 08-2006 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Sunday, August 20, 2006 - 08:08 pm:        Hi: I have recently aquired a small pile of low/midgrade 120 folders, mostly AGFAs, with a Kodak and a Voigtlander Bessa tossed in for good luck. The German cameras come with the usual variety of shutters and lenses found on the bottom to midgrade cameras of their era. However, one of the AGFA Isolets came in with a Compur-Rapid shutter and Solinar lens, a fairly high-end setup, as I understand it, but on a otherwise unremarkable Isolet I body. I wonder if it was a custom-order item. The question is, to what extent can the shutters and lenses on these things be swapped around? If I wanted to put that Compur-Rapid/Solinar combo on one of the other AGFA cameras (or on the Voigtlander, for that matter), how readily is this done? Thanks -Tom   Reiner Bergmann Tinkerer Username: Reiner Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2006 Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) Posted on Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - 12:52 pm:        It is not difficult to swap shutters and lenses between folders when some conditions meet. Of couse the caliper of the shutters must be equal and the focal length must be equal. After swapping you have to re-adjust the focus. That might be tricky. Some old folders used paper shims to adjust the focal lenght. If you mount a Solinar lens onto a Voigtländer the camera will loose its collectors value since this is no original combination. You should be aware of this.