Kodak brownie converted to, or lens used for, a fixed focal length 4x5?

Candlejack

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So my feet are wet in large format with 4x5 pinhole cameras..and I want to try something a little faster. I was wondering if there was a way to convert any of the old brownies, jiffys etc to a fixed focal length 4x5 camera?
I was able to remove the lens from a brownie special, could I potentially build a simple box or use a pre existing box (cigar etc) for 4x5 and would that lens work?

I guess my question would really boil down to.. do these old lenses for that format give enough coverage for 4x5? Any guesstimate on what the focal length would have to be?
 

Donald Qualls

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The lenses in most of what I think of as Brownie cameras won't quite cover the 4x5 frame. Even the earliest used 120 film, so a 6x9 frame, and a meniscus lens (concave to the world, behind an aperture); you might get illumination to the corners, but they'll be pretty, um, artistic. My experience is that a 105 mm triplet (a much more expensive lens than what Brownies generally got) will just barely cover 4x5 at f/16 or smaller, if set hyperfocal (12 feet or closer), but I'm not sure whether the image circle of a meniscus is larger or smaller than a triplet.

The Brownie Special had a curved film plane to partially compensate for mounting the meniscus lens "backward" -- that is, convex to the world. That makes it even less suitable to cover a flat 4x5 film...
 
OP
OP

Candlejack

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Ok cool beans! Thank you for the heads up, your explaination makes sense. Im currently looking to see if 4x5 fixed focal box cameras were made.. and if they are affordable. If I can find one that might be the route.
 

Donald Qualls

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Look for "falling plate" cameras -- they were exactly that, made to use glass plates or film in metal sheaths. They're within the capability of a home shop woodworker to build from scratch (and would be good use of a 105 mm lens from an otherwise dead 6x9 folder, as you'd use small aperture and hyperfocal anyway).

Edit: BTW, user @Nodda Duma is the maker and seller of J. Lane dry plates, which would be very suitable for a falling plate camera if you find/build one.
 
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