aRolleiBrujo:
i can understand the allure of a LF camera .. bigger negatives, not having to use a loupe to look at them and all that ..
... and yes lf cameras can be expensive but they don't have to be ... places like the surplus shed can sell you
a lens for like 2-3$ ... it is the same lens that is / was in box cameras .. a planoconvex lens.
if you make a tube to slide the lens into and a 2nd lens cell, you have yourself a home made barrel lens ..
some are very simple designs ( others more fancy like plasmat, rapid rectalinaer &c ) and in the end it cost you maybe 12$ total
you can buy a sheet of foam core at a craft store and make a box camera any size you want .. and put that home made lens on it
and you have yourself a camera that might have cost 20$ to make ...
you need to make a film holder ( or buy one cheap ) and figure out where it is on the back of the camera-box so you can know where to put a sheet
of waxed paper, that is your focus screen / ground glass ... you focus by sliding the barrel lens in and out of the front of the camera
(or if you made 2 nested boxes you slide the boxes back and forth ) and focus on the waxed paper ( or scuffed up plexiglass or whatever you want )
then you remove the focus screen, and attach the film holder ( elastics? pegs? ) and remove the darkslide and make your exposures.
you can do short exposures by using your darkslide as a shutter, or make a lens cap out of cardboard and tape if you want to shoot slow film
or ifyou want to use xray film or paper you leave the shutter open and make a longer exposure. you can make fstops with foamcore or whatever ( a washer? )
if you want sharper negatives, deeper DOF .. &c ....
i have made probably 10 cameras similar to the one i just described, some are 12x24 or bigger, some are 2x3 .. and they didn't take a long time to make
and they are a lot of fun to use ... i have made book-style paper holders too, took less than a half hour ..
if you want to shoot LF and can't afford a fancy camera, just make one !
