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Modifying Old 8x10 Cameras For Front Tilt

chuckroast

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There are a far number of inexpensive 8x10s view cameras about like Senecas, Centuries, and their ilk. However, these only have back tilt, not front tilt. Assuming a fair competence in woodworking, is it feasible to modify these to make front tilt possible?
 
I have a B&J 4x5 that has front tilt and it's basically like most non-tilt standards with the exception that it has two sliding plates on the back sides of each standard.

The front of the bellows face rises and falls vertically in normal fashion, but when you want to tilt the lens, you retract the plates and the bellows front can tilt up or down a reasonable distance. The plates are, essentially like the lens board retainers, only longer.

You would have to remove the vertical "tongue" that slides in the slots make some sliding plates for the sides.

Sorry for the crappy photos but it's late and ...



And yeah, the camera's in bad shape. I haven't restored it yet...
 
I have a Burke & James 8X10 that I stripped the grey paint from and completely refinished. That camera sells for a reasonable price and is built much better that than my Kodak 2D 8X10 was. The B&J 8X10 is like kino's 4X5 in that there is a sliding plate on the bottom of the front lens panel that slides down and unlocks the front lens panel and allows it to pivot. I like this camera a lot, but it seems heavier (slightly) than the old 8X10 Kodak was. Still a good bang for the buck.
 
chuckroast said:
I know how to use it, but back tilt does not work the same as front.
Click to expand...

I think they are referring to rotating the entire camera around the pitch axis and tilting the back so it’s vertical again (or tilting it to whatever angle you need). Which would be very inconvenient.
 
_T_ said:
I think they are referring to rotating the entire camera around the pitch axis and tilting the back so it’s vertical again (or tilting it to whatever angle you need). Which would be very inconvenient.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's kind of like the old Graflex way of doing things. Mighty inconvenient indeed.

It just seems to me one could mill out some kind of mount that can be rotated for use where the front lensboard frame joins the front standard. Not trivial to do, but not rocket surgery.
A baseboard tilt scheme might be even simpler to do.

I was just curious of someone had done something like this.
 
IMO: Typically these cameras with rise and no front tilt have a channel (a dado) cut in the vertical members of the front standard, and the moving part, the lensboard-carrier attached to the bellows, rides in this channel.

One could imagine cutting down the lensboard carrier so that it was free to pivot in the tilt direction, and locking it down with the rise-lock knobs, but I think it would compromise the rigidity of the front standard too much. It would also be not trivial to add zero-tilt slide locks like on the B&J that Kino showed, because on the B&J the lensboard carrier and the vertical member are the same depth, while on a Kodak 2-D or whatever they aren't. Compare the pics of the B&J and the Kodak 2-D or Conley here: http://www.mrmartinweb.com/large.html

If I were going to modify something, I might start with a camera using a large lensboard, and build the tilt into a lensboard adapter to a smaller board (like a Technika or 4x4" board) perhaps with a sort of mini bellows as a light seal. One usually doesn't need very much tilt. An easier path is to get a B&J or Agfa-Ansco that has the front tilt already.
 
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