M1tch's DIY LF camera build

[m1tch]

Thanks for that, I will check out the dimentions on my standards to check if it will work, although my standards aren't square but I might be able to make them work, I will check the specs on my camera and get back to you.

 

[m1tch]

Here are some photos of the build so far, I will be tidying up parts (they look slightly rough initially but ive sanded parts back and waxed them again).

Front and rear standard (front on the right, rear on the left)



There are some stops on the front standard 10mm in so that the lens board made from 10mm thick foam core fits flush.



Rear standard (back of the camera facing towards) there is a cut away for the DDS to fit in



DDS held in place with bands against cutout and pins



DDS fits flush



DDS against pins to keep film plane flat



Front and rear showing what the camera will look like without bellows - the 10mm foam core lens board is fitted flush due to the shelves in the front standard



This is the 'ground glass', this is fitted for focus in place of DDS and then slides out to put in the DDS, will have baking paper fitted on one side then spaced off 5mm as per specs on DDS for correct focus.



Progress so far



Sanded the standards and rewaxed a bit, smoothed the edges down and now looks much more presentable




I will be putting a small strip of draft excluder around the edge of the front and rear standards internally to ensure a light tight seal.

Next on the list is the bellow arrangement and cutting the hole for the lens etc I also need some 5mm foam core for the spacers on the ground glass, the interior of the camera will be sprayed black when everything is together.

 

[VPooler]

Looks good! Will look even better with bellows attached and on the rail. Still, consider adding movements later - front swing is tons of fun!

You could make U-shaped brackets out of aluminium relatively easily, giving you the option of tilt and shift. If you have gone far enough to mess with bellows, rail and various lenses then why not give total control of the image with movements? But don't take this the wrong way, this is your camera, do as you think is better for your application

 

[m1tch]

Looks good! Will look even better with bellows attached and on the rail. Still, consider adding movements later - front swing is tons of fun!
View attachment 72402
You could make U-shaped brackets out of aluminium relatively easily, giving you the option of tilt and shift. If you have gone far enough to mess with bellows, rail and various lenses then why not give total control of the image with movements? But don't take this the wrong way, this is your camera, do as you think is better for your application

I will be adding something like a U shape bracket at some point, this is more like a mark 1 camera, its also to test out the lenses I am building as well, perhaps I will add movements to the mark 2 when I perhaps build another, this is more of a point and shoot and perhaps a portrait camera/landscape rather than anything creative. I am going to keep it as simple as I can to start with then add other bits later once I have ironed out any issues when this one is complete

 

[VPooler]

You have succesfuly inspired me to build a proper wide angle for my soon-to-be 4x5. I am going for the rapid-rectilinear design, perhaps 75mm focal length and make it fit some Copal for aperture control and proper shuttering
But kudos to you for making probably the world's cheapest 4x5 setup if not including various pinholes.

 

[m1tch]

You have succesfuly inspired me to build a proper wide angle for my soon-to-be 4x5. I am going for the rapid-rectilinear design, perhaps 75mm focal length and make it fit some Copal for aperture control and proper shuttering
But kudos to you for making probably the world's cheapest 4x5 setup if not including various pinholes.

Awesome its more fun making your own lenses, also check out a double gauss lens as well, I will also report back on how the larger macro close up lenses are compared to the smaller ones I have currently used - might find that the larger lenses are good for a ULF camera in the future due to the larger image circle.

Wait until you see the lens I currently have parts arriving for next though, might actually need to add a support for it lol

With regards to the cheapness of this camera, its a light tight box with a lens at one end and some film/recording medium at another, it only gets expensive when you start correcting optical imperfections which I sometimes find more clinical when the lens is free of all optical issues. I wanted to start this project to show everyone that you don't need to spend big money to get a big negative.

 

[VPooler]

I dug out my 58mm closeup lenses and experimented today, that was fun; also messed around with the box full of odd lenses I have.
I like the rapid rectilinear for its perspective - I have never fancied fisheye-type wide angles. I have longer focal lengths covered; two 135mm lenses (one is plasmat I think and the other a Cooke triplet) and one symmetrical 150mm process lens (a supersharp one!) but I want something cheap and dirty for the rare occasions I'll be needing a wider angle.

 

[m1tch]

I dug out my 58mm closeup lenses and experimented today, that was fun; also messed around with the box full of odd lenses I have.
I like the rapid rectilinear for its perspective - I have never fancied fisheye-type wide angles. I have longer focal lengths covered; two 135mm lenses (one is plasmat I think and the other a Cooke triplet) and one symmetrical 150mm process lens (a supersharp one!) but I want something cheap and dirty for the rare occasions I'll be needing a wider angle.

You already have some nice LF lenses especially the Cooke triplet, I have a 1913 Ziess London lens (back when they didn't worry about the cost of materials or labour) I just like the fact that the imperfections of the non corrected lenses add something. Unless you can get an Aero Ektar its quite difficult to get a fast LF lens, although I am going to be building a 150mm f1.4 lens lol getting a wide fast LF lens is either impossible or very expensive, the 71mm lens will be f0.85 so that should do me for the amount of light I need lol