Identifying 2x3 camera back

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Anyone recognize this item? What camera it's from?

eBay 7518176814

Thank you

Murray

 

[Paul Sorensen]

It's cheap enough, you might be able to have some fun with it if you are creative with a little gaffer's tape. You could stick the thing on darned near anything!

 

[Dave Parker]

Looks like the back off of one of the different copy cameras that were around for a long time, it looks very simular to some of the Nikon Copy Camera backs I have seen.

Dave

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Thank you. Seller didn't know, but has enough camera sense to read a name if it were on the back :O). Or maybe when I get it it'll tell me what I need to know.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Mamiya Press Focussing Back

Nicholas O. Lindan id'ed it -

I've seen it called different things in my subsequent search, including an actual box photo calling it a 'Focusing Screen Holder' for Mamiya Press.

Maybe I'm being too literal, but it seems to hold more than the focussing screen...looks like it'll hold a filmholder too!

Murray

 

[gordrob]

It looks like the focusing back for the mamiya press - it allows for a 2x3 film holder to be inserted like a graphic camera. Interchangeable roll film backs up to 6x9.

Check out the web site below

http://digilander.libero.it/clabo/mamiya/holders/PAGE2.HTM

Gord

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Yep - thank you.

Do the roll backs go into the Mamiya focussing back, or does the focussing back come off and the rollfilm back takes it's place?

Murray

 

[gordrob]

The back comes off to take the roll film back. There are 4 retainers that hold the different backs on the camera. You can also get an adapter that allows the graphic roll backs to be used instead of the Mamiya backs.

Check the WEB site again and you can see all the accessories you can use on the camera.
http://digilander.libero.it/clabo/mamiya/

Gord

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Thank you.

I guess I can rig a mount for the Mamiya Focussing Screen back then use 2x3 (nominal) sheet film holders.

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

At the risk of seeming dense, since I have neither a Mamiya Press 23 nor any 2x3 filmholders in my possession, I am assuming that the opening on the right rear side is for said 'normal' 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 filmholders.

Thanks for your patience!

 

[Dan Fromm]

Murray, not to be a complete idiot or a nattering nabob of negativism or anything, but what camera do you intend to put the thing behind? Having something you can slide a filmholder in is nice, I guess, but where's the rest of the apparatus?

 

[Murray@uptowngallery]

CI or N^3 leading the Dense...now there's a meeting of the minds!

Wel-l-l-l-l, it was merely a matter of the price being right ($5), the seller probably landfilling it if no one else bid on it (we can't have THAT happen), and the spark of creativity of putting it all together.

Perhaps you saw my post on the 100th Monkey Theory of Camera Hacking (but I'm treading the thin ice of the opto-ethical question...is Grafting or Hacking a more soothing euphemism?)

This is all aimed at making a usable test fixture for that MF (medium format, and yes, manual focus) zoom lens I originally inquired about mounting on a heavy duty lens board (graflex.org post).

My 4x5 SG doesn't have a back, although I could move one off the CG temporarily, but that's together and working, so maybe I should leave it alone.

I decided to eliminate the variables of lens alignment on a bellows camera by just using a box with parallel front and back. I decided a multi-feature box camera would be nice...rigid flange mount the lens, and I have three options for the back now, all offering something in addition to a new type of headache...the Agfa 6x9 back, a KIEV 88 6x6 back and now a sheet film back. If I make the back of this box sized to fit the 4x5 Graflok back, I can also experiment with the elsewhere mentioned interest in too-small circle of coverage look (like Sam Wang has done nicely). This lens reversed (macro, anyone) will cover a 4x5 and maybe a 5x7 filmholder.

So the rest of the apparatus is stewing in the mix too.

Oh, I forgot to mention one more aspect of the camera-back hack-attack...a Polaroid
(Super?) Color Pack with 665 film.

I'm seriously considering a sliding top (removed & replaced with an aluminum plate) decorative wood box to spare the machinist buddy the work of making an aluminum box, but getting front & back parallel isn't looking too easy with the amount of warp in the box...and that could change with the weather.

Maybe I'll take a breath and stop here...