Portrait Bazooka and Packard Mod

(posted this to largeformatphotography.info as well, because i've been discussing parts of this there. apologies if you see the post both places.)


Wow, won't my clients be blown away!! (har, har)

Portrait lens cobbled together from some lens elements and PVC plumbing pipe, and a few bits and pieces. Mounted onto a packard shutter (that wood bit is going to get painted too), which is in turn mounted to a standard lensboard with some extra holes drilled in it.

I took some polaroids with it, and the lens and shutter combo appears to be working. However my polaroid back isn't working as well, so I don't have any pix to post yet.

The lens should be about 200mm, however the nodal point is about half way down the tube I think. So I can't actually focus at infinity with this set up, because I can't get the standards close enough. Good thing it's a portrait lens.

I have a landscape lens I've made too, which is just one element. Haven't tried it yet.

The packard is mounted so that I can't easily access the 'instantaneous' (1/25 s) hole to put a pin in it. So I'm limited to about 1/8 s shutter speed or slower, and it's completely manual to open and close it. Slow film such as Ortho-Litho, or dark and gloomy interiors are going to be necessary.

Lens design from 'Primitive Photography' book. Packard mount technique by <a href="http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23098">Ash</a>.

This is designed so that I can make lenses and mounts that bolt onto the front of the packard shutter. That way I don't need multiple packards.

neat!

thanks greg! actual images forthcoming soon, i hope.

and here are two images. the lens has some mechanical vignetting due to the long tube, which was predicted in 'Primitive Photography'. i've cropped the self portait, and left the monkey one alone. vignette is off-center, no doubt because i had to mount the lens off-center in relation to the packard/lensboard opening.

the self portrait was horribly overexposed because the packard failed to close. can't you see the panic in my eyes? yet it scanned well enough, so go figure. thank god for film, eh?

Matt:
That is a beautiful mounting job you did, very neat and tidy.

I would be unable to live without my 1/25s “instantaneous” shutter speed on my Packard. On my Packard box I put a hole in the top at a slight angle, and threaded a flexible filament (~1mm diam) down and thru the box and into the Packard pin hole. So I can slide it down and get instantaneous when I need it.

There are some very informative threads on largeformatphotography.info about estimating focal length which would help you out, so you never have to say again “lens should be about 200mm” . My experience is that purchased lens elements are not always of the FL length stated, so one’s own FL measurement is essential.

Thanks for sharing … John

thanks John! i'm sure the picture doesn't show how un-neat and un-tidy it really is. ultra flat black spray paint hides a multitude of sins.

last night i was able to place a paperclip underneath the packard, to get the 'instant' mode working. it's the sort of thing i'd probably want to test in the field each time before i used it, but no drilling required.

i say "about" because i'd determined mathematically that it should be a 200mm lens, but i'm unable to confirm it empirically. the lens projects so far in front of the lens board, i am unable to focus at infinity without the aid of a recessed lens board (thus negating my packard mod).

but this is film, so plus or minus a stop and it doesn't really matter.

Matt- check out the front-mounting system I have for my big monster packard shutter on my 11x14 - this will let you mount your lens in a lensboard with the nodal point at or near the lensboard, and have the shutter actuation mechanisms fully accessible. You can see the instant pin assembly on it in the second photo.

hey that's a nice idea!

only downside for me is that it would require me to have a separate lensboard for each lens (i know, that's normal!), and i'd have to make each one. making them out of wood is fine for a lighter lens, but might not hold up well to heavier lenses like my 'canon'.

this would be very useful for shorter lenses especially, which i can't currently use on my system. perhaps if i get another packard, i'll try your method for shorter lenses.

thanks, and nice work!

One suggestion (that Ronn T. told me about) is to leave the pin in, squeeze slowly to get b, squeeze harder to get I. Takes some getting used to, but it does work.


erie

thanks, i'll give that a try! i think i was accidentally doing something of the sort a few days ago. also noticed that if i don't work the suction just right, the shutter can pop open a little again after the initial exposure, on release of my thumb. sort of tricky.