Foamcore 8x10

Daire Quinlan · Jan 25, 2010

Finally finished my 8x10 that's been sitting idly in a press for quite a while. I spent ages trying to assemble some sort of complicated clever way of holding in the ground glass and film holders, eventually I settled on rubber bands

Takes normal 8x10 film holders, 300mm Industar 37 in front of a Sinar leaf shutter, all bolted onto nested foamcore boxes that do the job of focusing. Unfortunately shooting it and developing the subsequent sheets is a bit time consuming so I've only really had a chance to go through a couple of shots just to verify it was actually working. Nothing quite like a negative 8 inches by 10 inches in size

Here's the beasty itself, more notes on the flickr page if you click through.

Here are a couple of test shots:

Incidentally, taking shots of red flowers under tungsten light with B&W paper is never going to be an ideal situation ... 32 sec for one of them at f/4.5 :rolleyes:

Steve Smith · Jan 25, 2010

Excellent!

I have some plans in Autocad format for a 5x4 film holder spring back which could be stretched to 8x10 size. If you would like a copy, PM me with your e-mail address.

However, rubber bands work fine and are what I used on my first camera before I rebuilt it with a spring back.

Steve.

Toffle · Jan 25, 2010

Looks great to me. Congratulations on your success so far.

Mark Fisher · Jan 25, 2010

Nice...it also looks familiar. I did something similar to experiment with home made lenses (on flickr under "fotofish"). I really like the idea of using the Sinar shutter. I have no idea what a sinar shutter looks like and what would be involved in using it, but it looks like it solves the problem of using regular films. Well done!

Daire Quinlan · Jan 26, 2010

Thanks all. The couple of shots there were just quick ones. Hopefully I'll get some portraiture done over the weekend, that's where this really ought to shine. @Steve Smith, Thanks, the real problem is trying to get the materials though. My original design had a system of spring loaded posts to apply tension to the ground glass and the film holder when it was slipped in. I spent ages trawling hardware stores looking for the right bits and never really finding them, or some sort of leaf spring equivalent so I could make something a little more conventional. Eventually I got tired waiting. Hence the rubber bands @Mark Fisher, sinar shutters are basically big leaf shutters that sit behind the lens. They're actually designed for Sinar monorails (f2 ? Norma ?) where they sit between the front standard and the bellows, and sinar lenses are mounted in the front. They have relatively standard lensboard like mountings on them though so they're easy to adapt.

Steve Smith · Jan 26, 2010

Daire Quinlan said:
@Steve Smith, Thanks, the real problem is trying to get the materials though. My original design had a system of spring loaded posts to apply tension to the ground glass and the film holder when it was slipped in. I spent ages trawling hardware stores looking for the right bits and never really finding them, or some sort of leaf spring equivalent so I could make something a little more conventional.

I have heard of people cutting up stainless steel cooking spatulas to make flat springs. Hacksaw blades work too!

Steve.

Mike Wilde · Jan 26, 2010

Nice project, and images. I use foam core for all sorts of things. My heart kind of skipped a beat when I thought - you can get it that big? At work we get it in in cases of 24 sheets of 4'x8' at a time, and I was pretty sure that was the largest boards sold.

Daire Quinlan · Jan 27, 2010

Mike Wilde said:
Nice project, and images. I use foam core for all sorts of things. My heart kind of skipped a beat when I thought - you can get it that big? At work we get it in in cases of 24 sheets of 4'x8' at a time, and I was pretty sure that was the largest boards sold.

I think the largest board I got was much smaller than that, maybe 2' by 4' or so :confused: I don't think any of the pieces used in the camera are bigger than about 12" on the long edge.

Leo_P · Jan 31, 2010

Better quality wiper blades - the sort fitted by the factory - have two steel springs in the rubber. They just pull out and are about 3mm / 1/8" by however long your blades are. I've been collecting them for years for a 5x4 that I've never made. Another possibility is piano wire. I've just used some to make a spring for an Ikoflex. It comes in various gauges, I got mine from a model shop.

Vaughn · Jan 31, 2010

What a fun project! Makes me wish I had a 14x17 film holder laying around here as I have a bunch of 14x17 x-ray film!

Vaughn

PS Our local hardware/lumber store has 4'x8' foam core -- stacked right along with the sound board and plywood.

Mark Fisher · Feb 1, 2010

Vaughn said:
What a fun project! Makes me wish I had a 14x17 film holder laying around here as I have a bunch of 14x17 x-ray film!

Vaughn

PS Our local hardware/lumber store has 4'x8' foam core -- stacked right along with the sound board and plywood.

If you go with foamcore, I highly recommend black ultraboard....it has a plastic outer skin. White foamcore is not might tight unless it is painted.

Vaughn · Feb 1, 2010

Good suggestion, Mark.

I made an 11x14 pinhole camera once out of a cardboard box. I left it out on top of the student lockers, but someone must have used it to haul away their gear at the end of the semester!

Mike Wilde · Feb 1, 2010

Mark Fisher said:
White foamcore is not might tight unless it is painted.

It isn't, and if you paint it paint both sides at the same time unless you are wanting it to be warped

Joe VanCleave · Feb 1, 2010

I built my foamcore fresnel lens nested box camera from black foamcore board. It has black cardboard on both sides with black foam in between. The plastic-lined ultraboard refered to above may be more durable, but I don't know of a local supplier. Black foamcore board of the type I described is available from Hobby Lobby and Michael's.

Black gaffer's tape I get from a local film/video production supply house. About $20 per roll.

Here's the camera:

Here's a view through the removable viewfinder, which uses a sheet of translucent drafting vellum as a viewscreen:

(The digital camera was held upside down, to give a right-side-up image)

And an image, onto a paper negative. The plastic fresnel lens is stopped down to about 4mm:

Here's an article from my blog today about my process.

Daire Quinlan · Feb 2, 2010

Joe VanCleave said:
And an image, onto a paper negative. The plastic fresnel lens is stopped down to about 4mm:

Here's an article from my blog today about my process.

Nice results. Also, neat way of attaching the camera to a baseboard/tripod. I was trying to think of some way of doing that too

Yeah the white foamcore is indeed translucent, which I discovered to my annoyance after buying several large sheets of it. The black stuff is pretty opaque though. I -did- have to add extra light proofing along the edges though. Black craft paper does the job there (I've made bellows out of it before). My impromptu perspex focusing screen is proving pretty crappy though, very difficult to even make out the image on it, let alone focus properly. I'll have to come up with some alternative I think.

Daire Quinlan · Feb 25, 2010

Just as an update, cleared up some of the focusing issues and finally got a couple of shots that I'm happy with ...

My sister, who managed to stay a little more still for the 8 seconds exposure

Joe VanCleave · Feb 26, 2010

Those are great portraits. I love the out-of-focus artifacts in both of these.

Remind me again, what kind of lens you are using. I like the look of it.

Are these paper negatives or from film?

Hope to see more soon.

~Joe

Daire Quinlan · Feb 26, 2010

Joe VanCleave said:
Those are great portraits. I love the out-of-focus artifacts in both of these.

Thanks

The lens is an Industar 37, a whopping 30 or so from some ukrainean Ebay seller. And all paper negatives, some Jessops RC multigrade that's been sitting in my press for about 2 years. Trying to source cheap X-Ray 8x10 film at the moment in Ireland, it's not looking good.

CBG · Feb 27, 2010

Very impressive.

needle · Apr 30, 2010

Hi just a short n00b question, i am buying a Industar-37 on e*ay but i want to know if it's also good for landscape photography...or is it only portrait?

Daire Quinlan · May 13, 2010

needle said:
Hi just a short n00b question, i am buying a Industar-37 on e*ay but i want to know if it's also good for landscape photography...or is it only portrait?

No idea, sorry, I've only used it at portrait distances. I'd say stopped down a bit it's probably as fine as the next lens.

trundrumbalind · Sep 6, 2014

Steve Smith said:
Excellent!

I have some plans in Autocad format for a 5x4 film holder spring back which could be stretched to 8x10 size. If you would like a copy, PM me with your e-mail address.

However, rubber bands work fine and are what I used on my first camera before I rebuilt it with a spring back.

Steve.

Hello! I'd love to get those plans! Do you happen to have them still?
If so, could you send them to lumografia@gmail.com

Thanks!

Foamcore 8x10

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