I have a Symmar 240-420 convertable but have forgotten how for convert it. Do I remove the front element or the rear?

Thanks for answering such a stupid question.

John

-- John Jones (mojojon@infi.net), April 10, 2001

Answers

The front.

-- Chad Jarvis (cjarvis@nas.edu), April 10, 2001.

Not such a stupid question, see how many of the professional sellers on Ebay have it backwards. Exposing the shutter blades to the outside just seems "wrong," I guess, so they assume you take the back off.

-- Kevin Crisp (KRCrisp@aol.com), April 10, 2001.

Don't forget to read the corrected aperture numbers after you remove the front element. I have a 300/500mm convertible Symmar and the shutter has two sets of color-coded numbers: white for 300mm and green for 500mm. I seldom remove the front element but I'm always getting messed up by the two sets of numbers! Also remember that you will need more bellows draw to use the rear element and that convertble lenses have the reputation of loosing sharpness when elements are used separately.

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-- Dave Willison (dwillisart@aol.com), April 10, 2001.

Hi John

Its right if you take the front element away thats how Schneiders guys told me. But I find out if you take the back away I get a very good portraits lens wich is just a bit soft so you have 3 possibilitys. In my case is it the 210mm 370mm Symmar and the bellows 200mm with only the front! Have fun!

-- Armin Seeholzer (armin.seeholzer@smile.ch), April 10, 2001.

Hi John

I did a mistake in my last posting with only the front element I get a bellows extention from about 300mm in my 370mm version! And if I use it the right way without front element its about 430mm bellows! In your version it should of course be a little bit more! Hope it helps! Good light!

-- Armin Seeholzer (armin.seeholzer@smile.ch), April 11, 2001.