Instant Box Camera Project

[Joe VanCleave]

P1090934a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

Finally, the pieces have come together into a nearly completed project, after months of preparation, planning and building. I'm referring to the Instant Box Camera project; but there's been nothing instant about it.

These devices are more commonly seen in places like Latin America (known as camara minutera), south Asia (known as Afghanistan Box Cameras) and Cuba (the Dead Link Removed). They combine a box camera with portable processing darkroom, employing paper negatives to, typically, make portraits in public. Some types have the front bellows section of an old camera attached to one end of the processing box, while other types (such as the one I'm building) employ an internal focusing mechanism comprised of a view screen and film holder bracket that slides on internal metal rods, controlled by a focus rod from the rear of the camera. Access to operate the camera is gained via a light-tight arm sleeve, mounted either to the rear door or, like mine, to one side of the box. Many of these camera use only two chemical trays, developer and fixer, but for mine, I've decided to use stop bath as well.

In use, RC paper negatives are produced, which after a quick rinse in a bucket of water are mounted to a bracket that folds up in front of the lens and are rephotographed to produce the finished print. A typical session might take all of 15 minutes from posing the subject to a wet print.

Last week, I completed staining the box and applying one coat of clear polyurethane, sufficient to call it ready for testing. This morning, I struggled with getting the black fabric arm sleeve and its wooden sewing ring clamps installed, with success found only after application of a rotary power tool to some tight spaces; anxious to begin testing the camera, I have not yet built or installed the final clamping plate over these rings.

I've yet to install a tripod socket under the box, my plan being to build a separate bottom plate that includes tripod socket and also the folding printing frame, that extends out in front of the lens for printing the paper negatives. And so for today, I just shot and developed a few paper negatives, one a portrait in my front courtyard with the camera resting on a small metal patio table, then another portrait on my back porch using as a stand an old studio tripod, the box secured with a bungee cord to the tripod's large base. My wife was kind enough to sit as a test subject for these first images from the new device.

Using the camera entails first bringing it into the darkroom, where I cut photo paper down to size (4.625" by 3.875") and load them into the cardboard paper safe inside the camera. Then the box is brought out and set up for the subject to be photographed. It's important to keep the camera as level as possible, to prevent sloshing of chemicals from their trays. And so a tripod with adjustable height will be required.

The premixed chemicals are stored and transported in small plastic bottles, the contents of which are poured into the trays, once the camera has been set up and the side of the box removed for access, after which the camera's side can be reinstalled.

I then take a meter reading of the subject, ensuring I've set the paper's ISO on the meter (with Arista grade 2 RC paper I rate its speed at ISO12), and select an f-stop sufficient to permit a shutter speed of around 1-2 seconds. I'm using an old Kodak Ektar lens from a Speed Graphic, whose shutter is busted, so I'll have to use a lens cap as a shutter, meaning that for accurate exposures I need exposure times of at least one second in duration - but not too long, otherwise the subject might be blurry due to movement.

P1090937a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

I then open the rear door and compose & focus the subject on the internal view screen. This might entail moving the camera a bit, while focusing is performed by moving the control rod in or out as needed; I mark the selected focus position on the rod by means of a metal clip, which limits rearward movement of the film holder to the preset position. Once focus is set, I secure the rear door, set the f-stop and cap the lens.

P1090939a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

I insert my arm in the sleeve, then open the inner sleeve door. I push the film holder forward toward the lens, giving me room to open the paper safe box, sliding it back and rotating it upwards, then remove one sheet of photo paper. I can tell which side is the emulsion side by its feel, and also the paper's curl. I temporarily set the paper on end, leaning against the paper safe box, while I slide the film holder back a bit and hinge back the view screen. I must ensure that the screen does not fall down into a chemical tray (which did happen to me on one occasion). The paper is inserted in front of the screen, then the screen is hinged back up into place. The film holder is temporarily pushed forward, permitting room to rotate the paper safe box upright and slide it back into its safe storage position. Then the film holder can be slid back until stopped by the metal clip; the paper is now positioned at the preset focus position.

P1090935a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

At this time, I can opt to pull my hand from inside the box, slide close the inner door, and remove my arm from the sleeve, giving me both arms free to direct the subject and operate the shutter. For today's tests, I opted to keep my arm in the box. I asked my wife to sit still, eyes open and not to blink. Then I timed the exposure via the lens cap, after which I instructed her to relax and wait until I processed the negative.

To remove the paper negative from the holder, I have to slide it back a bit, then fold down the view screen and retrieve the paper. The tricky part is then closing the view screen while keeping hold of the paper; on the second portrait, I dropped the paper negative at this point, and it fell partway into the developer tray; by the time I had the view screen secured and pushed forward, part of the paper was already developing. In the future, I must ensure the exposed negative is leaning against the paper safe box, then the screen can be hinged back up and secured safely.

Once the negative is in the developer tray (face up) I use my fingers to gently rock the tray and also ensure the negative remains submerged. The battery-operated red LED worked fine for viewing the negative; I took off my glasses before placing my eye securely to the black plumbing fitting that serves as the viewing port (so as to prevent stray light from entering and fogging the paper), then briefly opened the viewing port shutter to take a peek at the development's progress. After 1.5 - 2 minutes in the paper developer (I used Tetanol Centrobrom S, diluted 1:10), I transfer the negative to the stop bath, where it only needs 20-30 seconds; you can tell when the paper's pH has turned from basic to acidic when its wet emulsion side no longer feels slippery/slimy. Then the paper gets transferred to the rear fixer tray. At this point I slide the inner door closed and remove my arm from the sleeve.

After about 30 seconds I'll open the rear door and take a peek at the paper negative, still fixing but no longer light sensitive. After two minutes it can be removed and rinsed in water.

I found it handy to have a square of paper towel, folded up and located partway up the arm sleeve, close enough to reach when needing to dry my fingers but not so close as to fall into the stop bath tray (which did happen on one occasion when I got the paper towel too far into the box opening).

To warm up my chemicals (they were stored in my cool garage), I placed the clear plastic bottles in the direct sun for a few minutes. This will be a handy way of maintaining temperature out in the field.

So how did these first portraits come out? The tones are very good; I have lots of experience with paper negatives, and these please me. There are some small scratches where I fumbled with the paper while it was being handled. My very first image exposed (of an empty chair, not shown here) has a vertical streak down the middle, caused by the view screen hinging back and its top end falling into the developer tray; after being rescued, a drip of wet developer ran down the front of the paper negative. The focus was good on all of these images, as I used a rather small aperture (f/11 and f/32), in order to get sufficiently long exposure times, giving me good depth of focus. Two negatives exposed while the box camera was in the direct sun have a bit of fogging along one side indicating a light leak that'll need to be found and patched. The other images taken under the shade of the back porch had no fogging.

Overall, I'm very pleased with these first results. I still have a few finishing touches to be made to the box, and also practice sessions in printing paper negatives onto multigrade paper using contrast filters. There's also the matter of making this all into a portable kit that can be transported and set up easily in some public venue. But that's down the road. For now, the camera's seen first light, and I am pleased.

Andi001a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

First portrait. I had my wife lean her head against the wall. Because of the camera's low angle, she appears to be looking up. Note the scratches, adjacent to her left elbow. Overall the tones are very pleasing. Illumination was bright shade. Exposure was f/32 for 2 seconds.

Andi002a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

This next portrait was made under the back porch, again in the shade. I was unable to adjust the camera for a more pleasing composition, due to limitations with my tripod. The obvious flaw in this image is the development mark in the upper part of the image, caused when the negative prematurely fell partway into the developer tray. Overall, a good image, tonality-wise. I've made no attempt to adjust these files after scanning, other than reversing their tones and flipping them horizontally. Exposure was f/11 for 1 second.

Chair001a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

After my wife's two portraits, I decided to expose another negative as a still-life, again under the shaded porch. This time the handling and processing went smoothly, no scratches or development marks, this one is very clean and the tones are very nice.

 

[Joe VanCleave]

I'm still making finishing touches to the camera. Today I'm making a cover plate that surrounds the arm sleeve's mounting rings, helping to secure them and provide for more light-tight integrity. The brass tube protruding from the front of the camera, that operates the viewing port, I've attached a decorative round knob onto, to function as a handle. I've also lined the inside of black plastic plumbing fitting, used as the viewing port, with adhesive black craft felt, to prevent unwanted reflections from fogging the paper. And I've lined the top surface of that fitting also with felt, to provide for a softer, more light-secure surface for pressing my eye against.

For a tripod, I've had an old Bruneau's Pneumatic Tripod, model B, which has sat unused for decades, collecting dust. It has a large aluminum alloy mounting plate, maybe 6" x 8", with three (three!!) 1/4-20 mounting points. I have a spare cabinet shelf, an extra from last year's kitchen remodel project, that'll work as a base plate for the box, and will also have attached on its under side the extendable, folding bracket for optically printing the paper negatives.

Once I get practiced in successfully working the camera, and have ensured all the light leaks and other little issues are resolved, I'll begin working with the camera to make portraits in public.

I'm using Arista's grade 2 glossy RC paper for the negatives; I'll be using luster-finish Ilford MG RC paper for the prints, with which I'll use contrast printing filters, to control the finished print's tones. I've already performed tests with these materials, using my Speed Graphic, and am confident that they'll work for me.

I've found, during this initial round of tests, that bright shade works best for these kinds of portraits. I hope to find some location in public that affords me that kind of lighting. I also want to keep the whole rig as small as possible, so I can move it by myself, instead of needing an assistant. This seems to be possible, as evidenced by the way these devices are successfully employed in their native countries.

Regarding exposure, I'm going to have a series of distance marks on the focusing rod, in millimeters, which I'll be able to use to judge the working focal length, as a means of compensating for the "bellows factor" when copying the paper negatives on the copy bracket. I've done this in the past with my other box cameras. I use a reference card that lists the diameter of each f-stop setting, in millimeters; dividing the true focal length by the lens aperture diameter yields the true focal ratio.

I'll keep this thread updated with progress reports.

~Joe

 

[cliveh]

So do you have a question, or is this a statement?

 

[pdeeh]

Marvellous, well done.
(Joe I mean, not clive)

 

[snapguy]

A few

I remember these cameras. A few of them were still in use in tourist areas in Los Angeles, Ca in the 1950s. What a hoot. Loads of fun. Congratulations to you.

 

[removed account4]

thanks joe,
you are really an inspiratoin for those of us
who are addicted to exposing paper instead of film.

 

[Joe VanCleave]

Thank you all for the comments.

I've gone into much detail in hopes of inspiring others to try this themselves. So this is a statement. But I still have questions, too.

Several of my test images had a bit of fogging along one edge of the negative. At first, I thought it was stray light leaking in from outside. But a test I did in my shed, with the camera not exposed to direct sun, also had the same fogging, but even more. The difference was that, because my chemistry was a bit cold, I developed for 4 minutes, inspecting via the red LED and viewing port at least 4 times. I'm suspecting it's stray light from the LED system.

In my previous tests in the darkroom, I noted some faint fogging if the LED was unfiltered. But shining through a frosted white lucite plastic filter, no fogging was apparent in my tests, even after several minutes of exposure. The fogging I saw in my shed test today amounted to perhaps no more than 30 seconds total exposure.

So to prove it's due to the red LED, I did another exposure, this time in my kitchen. Lighting was natural daylight via a skylight. No visual inspection was performed, development was for 3 minutes. No fogging. Since this latest test, I've applied some black gaffers tape along the edges of the white diffuser filter. Light was able to shine out from the sides of the filter, reflecting off the aluminum focus rods. Another test will prove this to be the light leak fix.

Here's the kitchen test shot. F/5.6, 3 seconds on grade 2 RC paper.

~Joe

Kitchen001a by jvcabacus, on Flickr

 

[blindpig]

It's a beautiful build Joe.The camera box and equipment looks professional and the resulting pictures sure prove it works as good as it looks.
Well done.

 

[removed account4]

hi joe

about the LED light
the video of the afghan project guy in kabul shows him looking in an eye hole
could you make a ruby lith window to peek into ?

john

 

[Joe VanCleave]

John: The only ruby lith film I could find locally turned out to be (after buying too much, at too high of a price, from a local print shop) translucent, not transparent; so I can't use it for viewing through. I might still try to locate the transparent kind.

I did a series of tests in my darkroom, prior to finishing the camera, that showed the red LED, if filtered through the white translucent plastic, would work without fogging. But the question remains how light-tight is the seal around my eye socket when using the viewing port. Red film would certainly help the situation.

With the developer at a known age and temperature, I really don't need to develop by inspection, as I've been doing so very consistently for a long while using a Jobo tank. But when things change unexpectedly out in the field (like having to work with cold developer), being able to take a peek as it processes certainly gives me added confidence.

~Joe

 

[Jim Jones]

For this application a red camera or safelight filter should be more durable as well as maintaining the fine quality of this product.

 

[Nige]

I've gone into much detail in hopes of inspiring others to try this themselves. So this is a statement. But I still have questions, too.

I've been playing around using my field camera as a test bed to build one of these after a similar thread on LFPF so your thread is of interest to me. No questions needed.

I'm planning on setting it up for a single portrait distance, using the 'string to nose' technique to set the sitter in the focused zone. For the re-photograping stage I intend to have a another pre-determined setting easily set.

 

[NedL]

This is a really cool project, and I think you are going to have fun using it.
Well done!

P.S. The tones in the kitchen photo are just excellent for a paper negative.

 

[mooseontheloose]

What an amazing project. I've heard about these types of cameras before but have never seen one in action. This is very inspiring - thanks for posting all the details of your work.

 

[Fixcinater]

This is really neat. Thank you for taking the time to relay out so much information about your process and progress.

And here I thought I was being clever making a Polaroid holder for my Speed Graphic's RB style back.

 

[Jeff Bradford]

You have done a marvelous job. I have wanted to build one of these for a long time. Thanks for the renewed inspiration.

 

[darkosaric]

Excellent job! Now the question from my side: once when you build the prototype - maybe you can make couple of more and try to sell them? I think there is a market for this.

 

[ciniframe]

Wonderful job on that Joe. Thanks for sharing a detailed view of the build and operation of the camera. Your results are very impressive. I have thought about building a set up to shoot 'instant' pictures but I think I would be more tempted to just use 4X5 film holders (or whatever size you like) loaded with paper and used with a hand built camera. I would then have a separate glove box set up to handle processing, contact printing and reloading the holders in the field.

 

[bvy]

Let me also echo my thanks for documenting this project in such detail.

By the way, Joe, I'm making portraits with strobes (flash) on ortho litho film. I always think of you when I use the stuff, because you laid a lot of the groundwork...

 

[John Koehrer]

So do you have a question, or is this a statement?

Gosh, I think it's a how to article.
Does that answer your question?

 

[spacer]

I was pretty impressed with the Afghan photo cameras, and wouldn't mind making one of my own. I don't think I'd buy one, but if you had some drawings, that would be handy.
You did a pretty good job of showing how everything worked, though, so a fairly handy sort could easily reproduce it.

As for getting a print... I know the traditional process involves mounting the negative in front of the lens and repeating the procedure, but what about having a contact print window built into the top?
You could maybe arrange it so that you can expose several papers at the same time, then run them through the trays together for final prints.

 

[Joe VanCleave]

I'd thought about contact printing, but the main problem is only having one hand with which to operate the process. Also, this design was intended to be as compact as possible while allowing for three chemical trays, so there's really no room for contact printing.

An earlier version of this project, that I built some years ago, is a much larger box with two arm sleeves but no camera built into the box, it's just a portable darkroom. The idea was to expose 4x5 paper in my Speed Graphic, move the film holder into the box, then process them in a 5x7 sized, three-drawer plastic storage box (developer in the top drawer, stop in the middle, fix in the bottom - I have a YouTube video about this method). Then contact printing would be the printing method.

The problem with this earlier method is that it required a LF camera, tripod, portable camping table, portable darkroom box, etc. Many more items to transport, enough such that it required two people.

I've thought about redesigning the earlier portable darkroom box into a 5 x 7 Instant Camera, however. The box has a square floor plan, about 22" on a side. Instead of both arm sleeves on one side, I'd relocate one arm sleeve to the left side. The three-drawer processing trays would be on the left side, which my left hand would operate. The camera would be on the right half of the box. Would have plenty of room for maneuvering paper around, and also sufficient space for contact printing, with a frame built into the lid. Having both hands in the box is a must if contact printing.

~Joe

 

[spacer]

Gotcha.
I'll check out your video, as that's also something I've wanted to try, in support of a group of pinhole cameras my girls and I made.
Is it under the same name?

edit: found your channel. Looks like a lot of good stuff there.

 

[Joe VanCleave]

Just a quick update on the project. Yesterday I applied some shielding to the red LED illumination, so all the light has to pass through a frosted white diffuser. Today I set up the camera on my shaded back porch for more tests.

My subject was a still life, set up under the shaded porch; but off to one side was bright light coming from the sun lit area of my yard.

I kept getting a strange, semi-circular flare on one side of the negative. Thinking it was light reflecting off one of the focus rods, I installed some light shields to block the flare. I still had the flare, except the center of the semi-circular area was okay, meaning the light flare was like an arc.

Not finding any other source of flare, I began to suspect flare from the lens, caused by that bright area off to one side, behind my subject. So I installed a temporary lens shield. Finally, no flare, no fogging and I used the red LED illumination with inspection through the viewing port (and no red filter on the port).

The lesson learned is that this old WWII-era lens needs a lens shade. I'm going to build one designed for my film format, and will ensure it provides shading at all focal lengths, from infinity focus to macro focus while optically printing the negatives.

The aluminum rods that the film holder rides on are also too shiny. I'm going to have to spray them flat black, the problem being ensuring the film holder still moves smoothly on the rods afterwards.

I'll post test images from today's session later. I'm smoking a cigar, then have dinner to cook.

~Joe

 

[Joe VanCleave]

Gotcha.
I'll check out your video, as that's also something I've wanted to try, in support of a group of pinhole cameras my girls and I made.
Is it under the same name?

edit: found your channel. Looks like a lot of good stuff there.

Here's the video:
http://youtu.be/LC0-NRU3oZ4