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

[Nokton48]

DSC05687 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Schneider 360mm F5.5 Tele-Arton adapted to Plaubel Makiflex with Pecoflex Adapter
Shown with hacked Mamiya RB67 stovepipe finder (my choice to use most times).

 

[EdSawyer]

Thanks Nokton! Nice job with the tele arton too. I had a couple of those for a while, a huge chunk of glass! I later sold them and slowed down to the nikkor-t 360/8. The arton had a shorter flange focal distance though, I did like that part.

 

[Dwayne Martin]

Very interesting Ed. I've few TP reflexes and maybe one could be similar

Ian

The final(?) version of my RB SuperD 4x5, stripped to bare wood and finished. Also converted to Graflok back, and added a 8" Pentac on a Jolo board, (also stripped and removed extra parts not needed from the lens, e.g. the aperture ring ass'y., etc.). I built a tower to support an RZ67 prism which has some optical mods to allow it to cover the full 5x5 viewing area. Also fitted a fresnel and modern viewing screen so it's surprisingly bright. I had to shim the fresnel/ground glass up a bit to compensate for having the fresnel in there, but it all worked out fine. I also use the RZ67 magnifier (a 2x or 3x magnifier of the center of the image) to double check focus. It works nicely! More pics here: http://edsawyer.com/lens/graflex_superD_pentac_woody/

-Ed

That thing is an absolute work of art! Brilliant.

 

[EdSawyer]

Thanks for the kind words!

 

[Dwayne Martin]

Here's my finished Super D AE combo. My hat goes off to anyone who has done this before because it's pretty intense, at least for me it was. It's got nine coats of varnish on it. I haven't taken a photo with it yet but I will soon. I think I have the graflok and the GG in perfect agreement, but if I'm off a little somewhere in the frame I won't be surprised considering how thin the depth of field is with this lens. I still have to calibrate the shutter speeds yet.
I have a 3x4 series d I'm going to do next. I'm on the hunt for a revolving back at a decent price to go on it.
I'm planing on putting a 8" pentac or a heliar in it. Interesting thing about the series d is that the shutter has no open setting so technically after I get the focus calibrated I won't even need a GG in the back at all.
Thanks to the people who gave me advice on how to get through this, I appreciate it.
Dwayne

 

[EdSawyer]

Looking good! I have a spare Cambo revolving back I could happily part with if you want. It's new in box, lacking the ground glass but I can help with that. May have a pentac to part with too, I still have to sort that out (have 4, need at least 3).

are you getting full 4 x 4.5" coverage with the back horizontal? I will be interested to see what negative size you get,

nice work,
-Ed

 

[Dwayne Martin]

I'm curious to see how big the negative will be myself.
I'll message you about the goodies you have for sale.
Dwayne

 

[Dan Fromm]

I have a 3x4 series d I'm going to do next. I'm on the hunt for a revolving back at a decent price to go on it.
I'm planing on putting a 8" pentac or a heliar in it. Interesting thing about the series d is that the shutter has no open setting so technically after I get the focus calibrated I won't even need a GG in the back at all.

Y'r images don't load for me. I'm not sure whether the problem is at my end (Firefox 51.0.1) or at the APUG end.

Interesting. I always thought that the Ser. D had a revolving back, also that all Graflex reflexes except the very earliest had single-curtain shutters with a large slit that exposed the entire gate. And of course, as reflexes they didn't need a GG in the back. What am I missing?
51.0.1

 

[Dwayne Martin]

Not sure about the images, I'll post again.
The series d I have does have a revolving back, just no fully open slit. It has times from 1/35-1/1000 though.

 

[Dwayne Martin]

Not sure about the images, I'll post again.
The series d I have does have a revolving back, just no fully open slit. It has times from 1/35-1/1000 though.

 

[Robin Guymer]

A well used Nikon FE that can shoot film or digital. My first prototype looks a bit rough but works very well. I mainly use it for infra red landscapes as the filter is easily removed to use just the bare sensor. It is my go to camera if I need to use digital as I prefer the simplicity of the Nikon FE and it takes comparable photos to our Canon DSLR. Where it is really handy is for testing light meter and shutter speed exposures on my collection of Nikon FA's, FE's and FE2 as they all use the same back. Not that hard to build if you are handy with DIY fabrication and the donor Sony Nex 3 can be purchased for under $100. How to details and videos here. http://xovercameras.blogspot.com.au

Some infra red B&W from this camera.

 

[spacecadet]

Super cool! So you use bulb to hold the shutter open and fire the sony off?

 

[Robin Guymer]

Super cool! So you use bulb to hold the shutter open and fire the sony off?

Other way around. The Sony is set to say 3 seconds or more and in that time the Nikon takes the photo according to it's light meter settings in Auto or manual speed & aperture. The Sony is just electric film for want of a better description.

 

[R Paul]

well, here's my latest creation. It is a 16x20 camera made for wetplate. it has a ground glass back , mostly constructed from red oak ,and uses a 22in beseler projecror lens with foam sheet stops. for the film back I used 1\2 in garolite since it resists warping and silver nitrate. It does fold up , but that only makes it a baby elephant ..
I do have an air camera lens with shutter which I want to try with xray film
It does take wonderful pictures though, unfortunately even the photos of the plates are too big to upload

 

[LAG]

well, here's my latest creation. It is a 16x20 camera made for wetplate.

Awesome! now it's time for you to think about a better tripod (or two). Congratulations!

 

[AgX]

For the extensions you used drawers rails. First time I see that, though not far to seek.

 

[Dan Fromm]

You must have longer arms than appears in the picture. How do you focus? I don't see a leadscrew or cable arrangement.

And, re the drawer slides, how do you lock focus?

I see how you lock front rise. Whatever works, works. Again, your arms seem to be too short to reach around the camera to set rise. How do you adjust rise?

 

[R Paul]

Yes there is a lead screw that hooks on the botton of the panel where the front standard is mounted. It comes out the back where a handle will be.
The screw runs thru a split nut mounted in a qwick clamp attached to the panel so I can unhook the front standard from the screw so I can pull the front to a rough focus, tighten the clamp and fine it down with the handle.
Rise is handled by looking thru the glass, guesstimating the amount ,moving the rod, and going back for another look
The back standard is also mounted on its own set of slides, so this can be slid back and forth about 6inches and locked down.
As for a tripods, I was thinking of a old fashioned wheeled camera stand

 

[NedL]

Wow, Apuggers are doing some wild and creative stuff. The cameras on this page are very imaginative. You don't get the sense from reading the forums that stuff like this is going on in the background!! Very cool.

 

[AgX]

The screw runs thru a split nut mounted in a qwick clamp attached to the panel so I can unhook the front standard from the screw so I can pull the front to a rough focus,...

Could you post a photo of that split-nut/clamp arrangement? It seems very interesting. I assume it is a tinkerer's version, not something off the shelves.

 

[R Paul]

here you are. it also helps stop the bellows from sagging when it is in place. The pads are brass threaded for 1/2 inch NC .

• The awkwardness of the camera and its plates are are noticably more than 8x10. Especially in a low ceilinged basement with some exposed pipes
  .
  
  

 

[jon.oman]

Now, that is a great idea!

 

[Arklatexian]

Here's my finished Super D AE combo. My hat goes off to anyone who has done this before because it's pretty intense, at least for me it was. It's got nine coats of varnish on it. I haven't taken a photo with it yet but I will soon. I think I have the graflok and the GG in perfect agreement, but if I'm off a little somewhere in the frame I won't be surprised considering how thin the depth of field is with this lens. I still have to calibrate the shutter speeds yet.
I have a 3x4 series d I'm going to do next. I'm on the hunt for a revolving back at a decent price to go on it.
I'm planing on putting a 8" pentac or a heliar in it. Interesting thing about the series d is that the shutter has no open setting so technically after I get the focus calibrated I won't even need a GG in the back at all.
Thanks to the people who gave me advice on how to get through this, I appreciate it.
Dwayne

I have not seen this done before. Was that a late model Super "D" Graflex? Very pretty......Regards!

 

[75suzuki]

So what would you do with a crushed cardboard Kodak 2A?

I shortened mine, duct taped it back together and modified it to work with 35mm. I cut up a broken 35mm Kalimar for the mask. Eventually ill pick up some nice 1/4" wood and build a new case for it.

20170630_113107 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150278809@N02/, on Flickr

20170630_113113 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150278809@N02/, on Flickr

20170630_113124 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150278809@N02/, on Flickr

 

[Topsy]

Posted in the thread where I asked about the lens a few weeks ago. I now have a few results on film and it's everything I wanted it to be.

Here are two examples shop on FP4 Plus

Shrubbery by Geoffrey's Creations, on Flickr

Victorian Timemachine by Geoffrey's Creations, on Flickr


I did a few posts about building the lens adapter on my blog if anyone is interested, but I think most people here will have it figured out pretty fast by looking at it.