Pix of your home-built cams here please

nick mulder · Aug 31, 2005

Pix of your home-built cams, mods and creations here please (;

*This thread has been split. New thread can be found here: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

hiya,

we dont all have access to the tech gallery so I thought it would be nice to have a thread here where we can upload snaps of our home-built cameras/mods/creations - in all states of disrepair and/or completion ...

I am building a 4x5 at the mo' and am starting on the bellows today - although I dont have an example pic to get the ball rolling yet I would love to see everyone elses creations no matter how prototype, slash job, 'typical', copied, weird or fantastically crafted they are - I think it would be great to share ideas and skills as we already are but with a few more pics to give those without the crafts vocab (such as myself a few months back) a visual understanding and inspiration also..

I'm into MF and soon LF but anything is good as I'm sure there will be cross-pollination of ideas between the formats...

>> pinhole - panorama - 35mm - MF - LF - ULF - darkroom/contact gear - tripods - accessories/helpers - parts - unique fixes - etc << all good

I *promise* to upload some pics of mine once complete (hopefully soon) - I just dont have a digital cam on hand...

maybe it could be a drop-folder kind of thing where other threads discussing the aspects of building can link/reference ?

cheers!
nick

nick mulder · Aug 31, 2005

ah yes - of course! - a pic taken with the home-built cam would be a great addition also

excellent

Paul Sorensen · Sep 1, 2005

noseoil said:
Both cameras were made out of Mesquite hardwood. It is native to the american southwest (prosopis glandulosa, I think) as well as south america. Beautiful stuff to work with. Ages to a dark, rich brown with black, small pores. tim

First someone has a BBQ'd lens, now you have a mesquite wood camera. Sounds like they belong together! Mmmmmm, barbecue!

argus · Sep 1, 2005

There's no use in tripple posting: pics of the camera are here.
I must say that it is already modified: I made a new rail for it and now I'm awaiting a rack & pinion set for fine focussing.

This is the very first picture I made with it.

And here is are some other results.

Calamity Jane · Sep 1, 2005

I've built two 4x5s. The first one, a Cherry wood monorail is here:
http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/camera/camera1.html

I wasn't happy with the lack of rigidity in the first camera so I built a Maple camera, a flatbed with the movements of a monorail. I really like this one - it's my first choice anytime I take a camera somewhere:
http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/camera2/camera2.index.html

I also do my own bellows.

Dan Henderson · Sep 1, 2005

WOW! Amazing how you made a camera that looks just like a Softail!

Dan Fromm · Sep 1, 2005

Calamity Jane said:
I've built two 4x5s. The first one, a Cherry wood monorail is here:
http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/camera/camera1.html

I wasn't happy with the lack of rigidity in the first camera so I built a Maple camera, a flatbed with the movements of a monorail. I really like this one - it's my first choice anytime I take a camera somewhere:
http://www.geocities.com/diannebest/camera2/camera2.index.html

I also do my own bellows.

Did you invent the form, if that's the right word, of the tripod legs yourself or did you copy the idea, not the exact shape, from Berlebach? I ask because I got a Berlebach not too long ago and was impressed by how much more stable it was than my first wood tripod, a much larger and heavier K&E surveyor's tripod. The mating surfaces on the K&E's legs are flat.

Cheers,

Dan

Dan Fromm · Sep 1, 2005

Nick, I've already posted the news here once, so here's the link: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The point of this silliness is to shoot 2x3 with longer lenses than either of my 2x3 cameras can focus.

nick mulder · Sep 1, 2005

Dan Fromm said:
Nick, I've already posted the news here once, so here's the link: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

reposts/links are good - I thought it would be nice to have them all in one place as we cant refine searches here to look for posts with attachments - so unless your here everyday there is a heap to go through to find them all...

I was thinking that it would also be good to try and keep discussions themselves in the other threads so that these pages stick to just one thing... the images themselves - hmmm that sounds a bit heavy handed maybe ? - what I mean to say is that it would good for the thread to stay on topic and be image first and foremost and discussion second - rather than end up being just a discussion re. design of a particular posted cam.

up to any suggestions tho (;

thanks for the post Dan, that cam is exactly the kinda thing I was hoping to see here

*grin*
nick

esanford · Sep 1, 2005

My kit built builder Bender camera is in the Technical Gallery... Why don't we "all have access" to that gallery??? Seems redundant to do it here...

ReallyBigCameras · Sep 1, 2005

Well, I don't consider myself a camera builder, more of a camera assembler as I leave all the precision work to those more qualified. But, since you also included "mods and creations" in the subject title, here's a pic of my 4x10 Swiss Lotus. It's assembled from bits and pieces from ARCA-SWISS and Lotus along with a few pieces of aluminim bar stock I bought at my local hardware store and cut on my table saw.

It works great, and thanks to the people at ARCA-SWISS and Lotus, is a pleasure to use. The weakest part of the design is (of course) the parts I built. There is a bit of flex in the rear standard - not bad. It reminds me of the Canham DLC I used to own. You can see it flex if you push on the top of the camera back, but once the pressure is removed, it goes right back where it should. So, don't push on the top of the camera back and everything is OK.

Using thicker bar stock would have minimizd this flex, but would have added weight (the camera, as shown weighs 6½ lbs.). Now that I've been using the camera a while and am pleased with the way it all works, I may design a better rear bracket (rigid and light) and have it fabbed by a local machine shop.

Kerry

nick mulder · Sep 1, 2005

esanford said:
My kit built builder Bender camera is in the Technical Gallery... Why don't we "all have access" to that gallery??? Seems redundant to do it here...

"Due to server loads, the APUG Galleries are now subscriber only."
- is what you get if you are not a subscriber .

I dont want to rip-off the server by hacking the forums into a gallery so perhaps you have a point ... it would be nice to have them all in one place thats all - maybe another gallery option ?

esanford · Sep 1, 2005

nick mulder said:
"Due to server loads, the APUG Galleries are now subscriber only."
- is what you get if you are not a subscriber .

I dont want to rip-off the server by hacking the forums into a gallery so perhaps you have a point ... it would be nice to have them all in one place thats all - maybe another gallery option ?

The real issue is "why aren't people subscribing"? If folks see the vaule in APUG, then we should subscribe. Give up one of the worthless magazine subscripitions or a few cokes a week.... This forum is too valuable; we all need to invest in it to make sure that it lasts.

Eric Mac · Sep 11, 2005

Hand crafted 4x5

Here is a link to my homemade Alletta 4x5 camera. The designer for the camera has seemed to have disappeared and the bellows needed a coat of paint to make it light tight. I also opted to scavenge a graflok back instead of building my own.

http://www.paw.emah.tommyclassic.com/display.php?year=2004&pic=52

If I can build it, so can you.

Eric

Calamity Jane · Sep 11, 2005

If anybody's interested in the Alletta design, let me know. I have his book and he stiffed me for $60 U.S. before he disappeared. I will gladly sell copies of his book for $5.00 each until I have recovered my $60

mark · Sep 11, 2005

Watch out jane. Selling one copy of his book could hit you for a hell of a lot more than 60 bucks as it is a direct violation of the copyright laws, whether he owes you money or not. Now you could start a loaner program. Loan it out to as many folks as you want.

Calamity Jane · Sep 11, 2005

Ok, I'll loan it

Kevin Roach · Sep 15, 2005

OK

These are not home built cameras, just some recovered things. It's a hobby of mine recovering old cameras with fancy skins. I buy them, replace foam, clean em up, and add new leather. Than I sell them on ebay for about what I paid for them.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/century01.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/spotmatic01.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/459194/nikon02.jpg

barryjyoung · Sep 15, 2005

Hi Kevin:

I LOVE the Century Graphic in red. Wow!

Barry Young

Andy Tymon · Sep 17, 2005

So What do you get if youtake...

A piece of ply, some u shaped aluminum channel,a plastic cutting board, the front standard off some band j camera,a surgical brace support thingy.a bandsaw blade, a rabies tag for a cat, various nuts and bolts, a picture frame from the thrift store, two yards of drapery fabric and some glue oh and a bit of time..why an 8x10 camera of course! oh forgot threaded rod and brass inserts and those plastic thingies they use in the packaging for kids toys these days.

I based my design on a cross between a philips explorer and a kodak masterview, the rest was bodgefied into existance,hope you guys like it!
oh and special thanks to all those apuggers who answered other peoples questions and provided solutions, especially pfitz for the tip on using a tile to glue up frames and calamity jane for the drapery blackout fabric for the bellows.

Dave Parker · Sep 17, 2005

Andy Tymon said:
A piece of ply, some u shaped aluminum channel,a plastic cutting board, the front standard off some band j camera,a surgical brace support thingy.a bandsaw blade, a rabies tag for a cat, various nuts and bolts, a picture frame from the thrift store, two yards of drapery fabric and some glue oh and a bit of time..why an 8x10 camera of course! oh forgot threaded rod and brass inserts and those plastic thingies they use in the packaging for kids toys these days.

I based my design on a cross between a philips explorer and a kodak masterview, the rest was bodgefied into existance,hope you guys like it!
oh and special thanks to all those apuggers who answered other peoples questions and provided solutions, especially pfitz for the tip on using a tile to glue up frames and calamity jane for the drapery blackout fabric for the bellows.

Andy,

Great looking homebuilt, I like it!!!

And of course Jane's cameras are always beautiful, way to go everybody!!!

Dave

Dan Fromm · Sep 17, 2005

Andy Tymon said:
A piece of ply, <snip>

Cute.

I can see base tilt at the rear, rise and maybe shift at the front. Any other movements?

Cheers,

Dan

nick mulder · Sep 25, 2005

righto - here it is:

4x5 - can be converted to 5x7 but I'm going to make a 8x10 next with the lessons learned here

A $3 135mm Zeiss on it, which is the only thing I didn't build (and the Linhof tripod I got for $20 second hand, woohoo!) - broken shutter, so i stop down and use ND filter so the exposure is 30 secs+ and I can use the film holder darkslide as a shutter

took more time and money than I thought, but it was worth the skills gained

will post first photo soon - (flowers/painting with light)

cheers (;

nick

barryjyoung · Sep 26, 2005

Very nice camera Andy, congratulations on your improvisation artistry. Now what did I do with those rabies tags I had lying about?

Barry Young

barryjyoung · Sep 26, 2005

Interesting idea the twin rails. Great thinking
Barry Young

Pix of your home-built cams here please

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