Pix of your home-built cams, mods and creations here please (part 2)

dirkfletcher

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Foto Ludens

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A bit late to this party, but here are a couple of homebuilt monstrosities of mine:

First, a Lubitel 166B/Instax Square monster:


You can find the build process in this Reddit post. Here are a couple of shots taken with it.

I then built another one with a Flexaret II:

Here are a few shots taken with it.

Both cameras work well, but a few months of shooting with TLR's gave me the itch to shoot 120 film again... So I am back to APUG -- ahem, Photrio -- after many years and trying my hardest to remember how to develop film at home
 

Nokton48

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5x7 and 4x5 Sinar Norma TLR's by Nokton48, on Flickr

"Construction Unit Design" allows me to upsize the camera to 13x18/5x7. Nice to have the larger format, I am just getting going with 5x7. 240 Componons on the left, 250 Imagon pair on the right.
 
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Foto Ludens

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Holy paralax, Batman! Those beasts are HUGE! Must be fun shooting with them!
 

dirkfletcher

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A helical mounted modern 65mm f/5.6 Super Angulon mounted in a Zeiss folder for a lightweight Horseman Convertible style 6x9 camera. I built this for someone looking for a small camera for backpacking but like the size and feel of it so much I’m on the hunt for a single coated gen one 47mm f/5.6 Super Angulon to make one for myself.
 

0x001688936CA08

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This is a follow up to Dirk's post above about the Zeiss folder with 65/5.6 Super Angulon custom built camera.

I contacted Dirk earlier this year with some thoughts on a custom camera that I thought would suit me for hiking. I mostly use a Mamiya 7, but wanted something a bit lighter and purely mechanical for hiking. At first I thought something that could use Horseman 6x9/6x7 magazines would be cool, but Dirk suggested converting a Zeiss Nettar 515/2 as he's done similar conversions in the past, and more importantly it would be super super portable. I think Dirk's idea was much better than mine, so I found a lens, sent it to Dirk, and after a collaborative back and forth about various details, I had the camera in my hands. I've had it for a few weeks now, and here are my thoughts:

  1. It's extremely solid whilst remaining pretty lightweight.
  2. Using a Zeiss folder as the body really is genius. A small as possible for 6x9 and film flatness is excellent.
  3. The shutter release on the Copal shutter is convenient to use for either left or right hand. Something I can't say for any other handheld camera I've used.
  4. Decoupled everything (film advance, cocking the shutter, viewfinder) is actually kind of nice. I developed a rhythm (zone focus, cock shutter, shoot, advance to next frame) pretty quickly. No accidental double exposures yet!
  5. At approximately 28mm equivalent focal length, it makes for a fun street camera also.

Here's the camera as I'm using it, with a Fujifilm VF-X21 viewfinder and a vented lens hood:



And here's a size comparison with the Mamiya 7 (it's roughly the same dimensions including finder and lens hood):



And last but not least, a few frames from the first test roll (Tri-X in replenished XTOL, Noritsu scans):





Happy to answer any questions. And if anyone is considering getting Dirk to build custom camera, I can recommend it 100%.
 

Donald Qualls

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Nice. Very nice. I've got a couple folders that could be converted this way, but a Super Angulon is on the steep side for my budget. Is there an Angulon in 65 mm? A 90 mm Angulon covers 4x5 (with little to spare, but it does cover), so a 65 ought to just about cover 6x9.
 

Donald Qualls

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Dan Fromm

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Donald Qualls said:
Yes, I found a couple on eBay, but they're not noticeably cheaper (and are noticeably slower, in many cases) than Super Angulon at the same focal length.
Click to expand...
Yeah, well, if you want bargains you have to be patient or wheel and deal a little.
 

Donald Qualls

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Dan Fromm said:
Yeah, well, if you want bargains you have to be patient or wheel and deal a little.
Click to expand...

Yep, same like anything. You can have it now, or you can have it at a reasonable price. Very seldom both.
 

dirkfletcher

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Donald Qualls said:
Yep, same like anything. You can have it now, or you can have it at a reasonable price. Very seldom both.
Click to expand...
That's the truth, since I started building this camera I've been looking for the older single coated 47mm f/5.6 SA (in a decent price range) but the eBay ones are around $400-500. The 400 dollar one is rusted on the lens board and still asking 400! I'll keep waiting.

The 65mm Angulon would be a nice small solution but I really like the 21mm feel. I think that's why I like the 65mm on 4x5 so much.

Terrific lens notes Ian, thank you for sharing!
Dirk
 

Donald Qualls

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dirkfletcher said:
The 65mm Angulon would be a nice small solution but I really like the 21mm feel.
Click to expand...

You make that sound as if the Super Angulon has a wider FOV than an Angulon the same focal length. Larger image circle, I'd believe -- but on the same film, you should get the same FOV. However, I didn't see any 65 mm Angulons faster than f/8 when I looked (might be some that were on the first page at eBay, of course). I'd find even f/5.6 a little slow; I've been shooting with f/3.5 to f/4.5 on 6x9 for a long time...
 

dirkfletcher

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Ahhhh, my mistake! In my defense you both have three letter names???

Sorry about that!
Dirk
 

dirkfletcher

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I didn’t mean to make it sound that way, my point was, my personal preference for a similar 6x9 camera would be a 47mm vs a 65mm lens which would get me closer to a 21mm FOV. I was thinking out loud the 65mm f/6.8 Angulon (while might be strapped to cover 6x9 w/o fall off would be a lot smaller than an f/8 or 5.6 Super Angulon.

As I like to shoot hand held a lot of the time, I completely agree with you on faster glass, my 65mm 4x5 point-and-shoot uses a Rodenstock f/4.5. I have three different 6x12 conversions on my work bench now. Two of them will have the smaller 65mm f/8 Super Angulon which is a terrific little performer but the third one will have a gorgeous 65mm f/4 Nikkor on it.
Dirk
 

dirkfletcher

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After making the last 6x9 Zeiss conversion with a 65mm lens for someone, I realized how cool these little Zeiss conversions are. I had long wanted a ‘smallish’ camera with a ‘largish’ neg which would be ideal as travel companion (if we ever get back to traveling again…).

At first I was thinking about using a 6x9 Graflok back, but by the time you added the roll film back, the camera becomes more like a cube or box due to the way the film plane is directly in front of both the feed and take up spools. Using a Zeiss camera body with the film plane at the back of the body and the spools to the sides (and kinda in front) really helps the finished product be a bit less boxy and a little more ‘camera’ shaped.

To keep the camera as small as possible and ideal for handheld shooting, I used a single coated 47mm f/5.6 Super Angulon, this lens is remarkably small, especially compared to the modern, multicoated 47mm f/5.6 (non-XL) Super Angulon. The older single coated version was only designed to cover 6x9 which I have to assume keeps it nice and tidy. The front filter thread is only 49mm and the rear element is small enough to fit inside a small focusing helical. This was key as the lens board had to be recessed inside the camera body a bit for the focus to be work, the larger helical that I usually use would not fit into the smaller 6x9 camera body. The camera will focus from infinity to well under 6 feet!

After stripping off the 85 year old paint and leather from the camera, a gorgeous stamped steel camera body emerged. It was just too pretty to cover up with fresh paint or new leather so I gave it a good cleaning and buffed it out as best I could. The black accessories and lens mount look great on the polished silver camera body, I could be more happy with how this camera project turned out.

I’m looking forward to shooting a bunch of 6x9 this fall and winter.

There are more pictures of the camera and some other test shots on Flickr if you want to check them out: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dirkfletcher/albums.
 

Moose22

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dirkfletcher said:
I’m looking forward to shooting a bunch of 6x9 this fall and winter.
Click to expand...

Nice.The steel will patina, and probably look pretty neat after you've handled it all winter.

And those test shots are beautiful and sharp.Great results on this one. Share some more when you've taken a few rolls.
 

Nokton48

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Lightweight Solid Norma Tripod Julius Shulman 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I am a huge fan of Julius Shulman and the huge volume of work he produced in the Los Angeles area and elsewhere during the 40s to the 80s. Among his many published books is "Photographing Architecture and Interiors", which I intensely studied 30 years ago. One snippet of information regarding equipment, Shulman used primarily the Sinar Norma 4x5 and 8x10. What I always thought was super cool was his tripod for all this work, it was the classic original Leitz Tiltall which was very sturdy and solid, he used a modified version for 8x10 and 4x5 Norma shooting. The original mounting plate was removed, and replaced with a solid 1/2" thick metal block which is super sturdy and solid. I used the pictures in his book to guide me

I just bought a machinists Band Saw from Lil Machine Shops, so bought a block of aluminum and cut it down with the new saw. Then drilled out mounting holes and countersunk them with drill press. Stainless steel bolts hold it all together super tightly, it's not coming apart.

Using this tripod with the 4x5 Norma in WA configuration is a joy and I could carry this around all day if I had to. Eventually I will try this with the 8x10 Norma and I have no doubt it will do the job. It worked for Shulman.

I have an old friend , whose Dad who knew Shulman and lived in the area at the time. He was also a photographer and Man he reveled when I told of my longtime interest in Shulman and his work.

BTW the Norma, the tripod and the lens are all brand new to me. The lens is an original 90mm F5.6 chrome barrel Sinar Norma Super Angulon, with direct acting iris "mickey mouse" for behind the camera aperture control. The lens came from Germany and looks brand new. Super Nice and much brighter than my F8 90mm Super Angulons to look through. This vintage would be towards the end of Norma production. Much fun ahead.
 

awty

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What size Helicoid do you use?
 
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