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UltravioletPhotography

Novoflex Noflexar COLA 5.6 / 400 collapsible Lens


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Oh My...!

I think I have become a collector.

or

You can never get to many Novoflex 400mm lenses. :grin:

 

Just as we have a member here that deeply loves his Kuribayashi lenses and have several versions of them, :wink: I have had a soft spot for lenses from Novoflex.

 

For more than twenty years I have had at least one, often several of the Schnelllshuß lenses from Novoflex.

I like them because they are well built, perform rather well and their design is really done with an outside the box-thinking.

Up until now I have bought them mainly to use them.

I have mostly different variants with the fl. 400mm, but also a 600mm lens module.

 

A few months ago, I saw a really rare lens for sale to a price I could not resist.

It was the Novoflex Noflexar COLA 5.6 / 400 collapsible Lens, with its original box, all in mint condition.

 

It is the by far most compact 400mm lens I know of that is not a catadioptric lens.

It looks like this collapsed:

post-150-0-13032900-1627729046.jpg

At the rear end there is a silver-banded M42 to C-mount adapter, that I have now replaced with a M42 to NEX adapter to make the lens fit my Sony A7 series camera.

 

Fully extended it really look strange:

post-150-0-07231400-1627729066.jpg

 

The rather narrow tube is very close to causing vignetting on a full frame camera and I got slight vignetting when using a m42 extension tube for a better minimum distance.

That is normally not a big problem, as 400mm is seldom good for macro work, anyhow.

 

The lens is in all aspects in mint condition. I do not think it ever has been used or mounted on a camera before I got it.

It has been stored in a good dry environment all the time.

The only thing that was damaged was the internal foam in the box.

It was not there and I assume the seller cleaned out the remains of it, before he replaced it with newer packaging materials.

 

The only difficulty I see with using this lens for multispectral photography with a converted camera is the filters.

The lens module marked 40cm has a very unusual 75mm filter thread diameter.

I have not seen any step up rings from 75mm to a more normal 77mm.

 

The COLA shares the lens module mounting thread with other Novoflex long focal length lenses and can take my 600mm lens module too.

However I do not think it is possible to use the T-Noflexar 400mm with thee COLA and collapse the lens, as the T-Noflexar has an extending rear lens element that I think will collide with the rear collapsible tube when the lens is pushed together.

 

The lens-body has a good mounting collar for a tripod close to the center of gravity of the lens, located much better than the tread in the squeeze-handle of the Schnellshuß-design.

post-150-0-61736200-1627729056.jpg

The collar can be used to rotate the lens and camera for landscape or portrait position.

The dual knobs are for focussing while the single knob at the side of the collar is for locking the collar.

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Looks to be in lovely condition Ulf. Keep Tangsinuo in mind for large UV filters - they sell them in 77m filter threads (but you will need an IR blocker too). If you can't find an adapter, maybe Raf from Rafcamera can produce one?
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Looks to be in lovely condition Ulf. Keep Tangsinuo in mind for large UV filters - they sell them in 77m filter threads (but you will need an IR blocker too). If you can't find an adapter, maybe Raf from Rafcamera can produce one?

I looked at Raf standard parts without success.

 

I am currently sketching on a design for very thick rear drop in with 52mm filter stacks.

As my A7 III has a rather short back flange distance there is almost space for what I want to achieve.

 

The design is based on a few camera mount adapters and a pair of 72-52mm step-down rings around my 3D printed mid-section.

If the project is successful I will show it here.

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Raf will make stuff to order if required. Perhaps if you mention it is a size specific to novoflex lenses, he might consider adding it to his list of things that he makes (which might help with costs).
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I'll leave that as a second alternative if the drop in filter idea fails.

For the moment I am quite optimistic that it will work and reach infinity focus for the COLA-lens.

 

The concept will also be very nice for changing filters with macro lenses that must have rear filtering.

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Good luck with the design!

If everything fails, I guess you could just get a large QB39+ZWB2 stack akin to what me and Stefano use. It's not quite fancy but it works. I haven't noticed any leaks with mine.

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