LF box

Joe VanCleave · May 17, 2014

I'd like to congratulate you on this nifty camera and your initial results look very promising. Myself, I've built an 8x10 of my own, which I describe in some detail in this video.

~Joe

[video=youtube_share;-G3eI2kH8b8]http://youtu.be/-G3eI2kH8b8[/video]

pdeeh · May 18, 2014

Joe, thank you for the compliment - but there's nifty and nifty, and that shutter of yours (let alone the rest of the camera) is a right proper job

Nice video too - well done!

My problem at the moment is to find a way of mounting it so it is stable on a tripod. I have a truly Heath Robinson arrangement at the moment that is very unsatisfactory indeed.
Hmm ... maybe I can find a sash-cramp at a car-boot sale?

NedL · May 18, 2014

You've probably seen pictures of my simple box cameras that use an idea I got from Joe. A piece of wood with a 1/4-20 T-nut installed makes a simple platform. Cup hooks for small bungee cords to hold the cameras on.

With the big lightweight cameras, the bungee cords cannot hold them steady if the wind is too gusty or strong. I also have had a little problem of the bungee cords squeezing down enough on my sliding box camera to make it hard to slide the boxes. That has a simple solution ( places on the camera itself to attach the bungee cords ) but I haven't done it yet.

have fun!

pdeeh · May 18, 2014

I wondered about bungees, but I think the camera might collapse under the strain

Having said that, I secure film holders and backs to my box cameras using scrunchies knotted together, so that might be worth thinking about.

I keep wondering about teenuts, though I'm not sure how I'd actually fit them with my limited toolkit, but as someone said above, where there's a will there's a way.

(Unfortunately I don't know anyone called Will)

removed account4 · May 18, 2014

Joe VanCleave said:
I'd like to congratulate you on this nifty camera and your initial results look very promising. Myself, I've built an 8x10 of my own, which I describe in some detail in this video.

~Joe

[video=youtube_share;-G3eI2kH8b8]http://youtu.be/-G3eI2kH8b8[/video]

huge thanks for posting this !

paul_c5x4 · May 18, 2014

pdeeh said:
I keep wondering about teenuts, though I'm not sure how I'd actually fit them with my limited toolkit,

They usually have teeth that are driven in to the wood with a few light taps with a hammer. Another variation has a fairly wide flange that can be secured with two or three small wood screws.

Note: There are a number of different styles/types of tee-nuts. The choice of which one to use is dependant on the materials you are trying to secure.

pdeeh · May 18, 2014

I've seen the three- and four-pronged ones at an online modelling materials shop; my Zero45 is fitted with the flush type, but I haven't seen them anywhere else.

They seems to be the sort of thing that, unless you know where to get them, are hard surprisingly hard to track down. It doesn't help that there are a few different names for them - t-nut, tee-nuts, captive nuts, flush nuts and so on.

NedL · May 19, 2014

Mine are the kind with teeth that you drive in with a hammer. I pre-drilled a hole slightly smaller than the center then hammered it in place. It lasted a long time until I started putting bigger cameras on it that exerted more leverage. Then it got loose... so I put epoxy around it... and eventually that got loose too. Finally gorilla glue solved it. The t-nut has been rock solid since I embedded it with gorilla glue. This is in a piece of scrap soft pine and I think it was a matter of the wood around the t-nut failing.

You are not the first person who has said they are hard to find in the UK. I seem to remember someone else saying they picked some up on a trip to the US. If you can't find them I'll be happy to send you some. I think the ones at my local hardware store are about 5 for a dollar.

pdeeh · May 19, 2014

Thank you Ned, that's kind of you to offer. If I am struggling I will drop you a PM.

It's not hard to find t-nuts and their variants per se (one can lay hands on bulk quantities in metric sizes from ebay or wholesale hardware merchants fairly straightforwardly), but half-a-dozen ¼"? More tricky.

I did find these however: http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/captive_nuts.htm

NedL · May 19, 2014

those look just like the ones I used

cl3mens · May 19, 2014

Threads and projects like this are a big part of why I am enjoying analog photography so much. Experimentation, DIY and a few hours of fiddling gives something fantastic! Thank you!

I will try to post a thread on my current project soon, if I find me one of those digital picture-taking thingys to document it with.

pdeeh · Jul 11, 2014

The latest iteration

I finally got round to trying sliding box construction.

I dismantled both the existing box cameras and made a 5x4 using the 150mm Repromaster and then a 10x8 using the 213mm, the latter being pictured below.

As you can see it has a ground glass focusing screen with fresnel. The former I manufactured in my back yard using glass from a clip frame and Ian Grant's admirably clear instructions ((there was a url link here which no longer exists)), the latter was £2 from eBay.

Very simple foamcore two-box construction. I contemplated a three-box design which would make light-tightness more sure, but I also know my limitations.

It was surprisingly difficult to build, which is mostly about my lack of engineering/craft skills, plus my choice of materials. But as I said before, this is about making as much as I can from basic materials I can work in my kitchen with just a knife and ruler.

It's light in weight of course, but big and clumsy, and a pain to carry about; The 213 is heavy, and while whole camera balances OK with a darkslide on, with just the focus screen in, it is front heavy ... on my first outing it tumbled off the tripod while my back was turned, and the lens nearly punched through the front "standard" (using Blu-Tack to hold it onto the tripod platform wasn't the best idea )

No shots yet that I'm happy to share, but suffice to say it does what it is supposed to do.

TheToadMen · Jul 11, 2014

It's looking great. Can't wait to see the first images.
Did you consider to make a pinhole "lens" as well?
Could be nice in this format, using B&W photo paper as a negative.

pdeeh · Jul 11, 2014

Bert, I started out a few months ago with a foamcore 10x8 150mm f/260 pinhole camera, and I still have it. I shot a lot of paper negs with that earlier in the year

TheToadMen · Jul 11, 2014

pdeeh said:
Bert, I started out a few months ago with a foamcore 10x8 150mm f/260 pinhole camera, and I still have it. I shot a lot of paper negs with that earlier in the year

Sorry I missed that. Did you post any on APUG?

Dan Fromm · Jul 11, 2014

Cute, and the perfect answer to my doubts about making a view camera from flat panels.

Please share your design with Mustafa ((there was a url link here which no longer exists)) and explain to him that cutting foamcore accurately enough doesn't require a CNC laser cutter.

pdeeh · Jul 11, 2014

TheToadMen said:
Sorry I missed that. Did you post any on APUG?

I mentioned it in my OP in this thread

You can find some examples of it on Flickr, but the quality is "variable" to say the least: 10x8 Pinhole Set

Dan Fromm said:
Cute, and the perfect answer to my doubts about making a view camera from flat panels.
Please share your design ...

thanks Dan ... but "design" would be a rather nice way of putting it, as all I really did was start with a fresh scalpel blade, a pile of foamcore and a film holder, and made it up as I went along.

It's far from perfect, and too clumsy to be of much real use as a field camera. But with the right lens, I could see it being a very inexpensive way into LF portraiture. Not necessarily only in a studio, but in a static situation too (a "pavement" studio, or at a fair or fete maybe). I don't "do" portraits though ...

paul_c5x4 · Oct 9, 2014

pdeeh said:
hehehe ... get thee behind me, Satan ...

or, on the other hand, drop me a PM

PM sent :devil:

LF box

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