self modified --- what do you do ?

[removed account4]

i've had to self-modify cameras .. sometimes adding straps, viewers, a back that isn't intended ...

what is your self-mod you have done ?

example:

rather than take a ruler and mark a ground glass with pencil ( marker, etch it &c ) so it has a "grid"
i bring a sheet of grid paper that isn't "non-repro blue" or make it myself using a pencil and paper
and go to a copy shop and have them make a copy onto clear film.
the film is then cut to size and put ontop of the ground glass ... takes about as little time and effort as possible.
if i need to mark rollfilm holder sizes i do that too ...

what is it that you do to modify your cameras to make them easier to use, or the way you want them ...

 

[Peltigera]

I don't. I have never felt the need.

I do have a camera (Voigtlander Bessa) that someone thought needed an accessory shoe and glued one on the top plate - crooked, and the glue is so good I cannot remove it.

 

[removed account4]

i can see how that could be a problem
the modifications i do are not usually permanent, although
one modification i was upset was removed ...
it was a flash sync on my graflex slr ... the guy who sold it to me
removed it saying " i don't know why this guy put this here" i have wished
i has a x-sync on that camera ever since i bought it !

 

[darkosaric]

I put some tape to prevent accidental opening of back on some cameras, and that is about it .

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Does using a cheap plastic fresnel book magnifier for my 8x10 ground glass count? I also make my own Ansco and Burke and James lens boards.

 

[jeffreythree]

An orange piece of plastic taped to the lens cap of my GL690 that sticks up like a flag. I kept forgetting to remove it being so used to SLR's that you can't see through with a cap still on the lens, plus the 100 AE lens meter gets fooled sometimes by that bad shot and grossly over exposes the next as well. I also redid some light seals with yarn and felt instead of foam like the originals had.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If and only if the "fix" both cures the problem and does not permanently modify the camera.

 

[Sirius Glass]

If I repair a torn shutter, I follow the instructions from Bert Sanders who was a Graflex and Graphic repairman for over a quarter of a century.

 

[Ian Grant]

I've been doing a lot of modifications etc over the past few years. Adapters to allow Roll film backs to be used with Quarter plate cameras that take book-form plate holders, adapters to allow modern 5x4 DDS to be used with Half plate backs that again use book-form plate holders,

Lens board adapters so I can use Linhof/Wista style lens boards on my 7x5 & 10x8 cameras, similar that take Pacemaker Crown Graphic and Seneca.

Convert Thornton Pickard shutters to be High speed up to 1/1000, or reduce the speeds in the case of a TP High Speed Focal plane shutter. Adapt shutters to fit various lenses. That's just a start.

Ian

 

[Bob Carnie]

I took out the inside Iris of a century camera that was hooked up to a bulb, I now only use lens cap exposures with it...

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

I have a camera project needs lots of things.

Camera is like that , a soviet fed , 135mm Leitz Hektor ,in front of it , a kodak fluro ektar 111mm f:1.5 and in front of it Soviet Professional LOMO 80 mm Round front Cine Anamorphiic lens.

Total weight is more than 10 kilograms or 22 pounds and I need to buy two beefy manfrotto , attached to lots of brackets.

My two projects with that setup , taking stitched panoramas and portraits. LOL

 

[OptiKen]

On older cameras with the hard steel eye piece for the viewer, I glue an appropriate sized 'O' ring on it to protect my glasses from getting scratched. I bought a box of assorted sizes so I can fit whatever eyepiece might come my way

 

[David Brown]

I put those stick-on film box end holders on the back of SLRs that didn't already have one (Minolta SRt comes to mind ...)

 

[M Carter]

For putting layouts on a ground glass, I use static cling inkjet material (I also use this on monitors for video shoots, say we're shooting greenscreen and I want to make sure the perspective of the scene we'll add later is correct). You can sketch on it with sharpies or print more complex stuff on it. Best of all, it really stays put but leaves no adhesive on glass parts. (See the pics below, priceless stuff, esp. for product shots that have to go with a layout).

Other than that… 3d printing!!! Just made a registered glass carrier for a Beseler 67 (which never offered glass or registration). Currently working on getting a tilt-shift version of a flipped brownie hawkeye lens on a Nikon or maybe my RB. yeah, that's a little crazy...

 

[Sirius Glass]

I add darkslide holders on the Hasselblad film backs. With work they can be removed.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I cut my film holders to give them a binary code

 

[removed account4]

I cut my film holders to give them a binary code

hey ralph

you cut the holders?
kind of like grafmatics with the number wheel ..
how far does your number sequence go ?

 

[drkhalsa]

I have some cameras that have lost the rubber eyepiece and I've purchased the appropriate sized rubber o-rings at the hardware store and glued them on so not to scratch my glasses. If I find a real eyepiece, I can clean the finder body a pu the real thing back on. Also have a Pentax 6x7 55mm f3.5 llens and 100mm plastic cap that was cracking so I super glued it together and put black electrical tape around it to keep it together so as not to have to find another or go without protection on the big front element.

 

[Jim Jones]

I use a variation of Ralph's binary coding of sheet film holders with a narrow notch for zero and a wider notch for one. Five notches can code from 1 to 32, enough for a day's shooting.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've marked up groundglasses to show corners for various rollfilm formats or the off-center 3x4" Polaroid format.

On my wooden 11x14" camera, I've adjusted the back so it can use standard filmholders, reinforced the bed with an aluminum plate, and I've routed the front standard to take Sinar lensboards. I need to do that to my Korona 7x17" front standard at some point.

I've swapped out most of the knobs on my 8x10" Gowland to more comfortable ones.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

Random things mostly. I like adding accessory eye cups to my slrs, even if they originally didn't have them, sometimes secured with thin zip ties. I've etched a plastic ground glass protector for my wista with grid lines and colored roll film and pack film layouts. Replaced various leather coverings for cameras, all cut by myself. Made my own camera straps, wrist and neck. Modified my atn vipers to cut down on the ir brightness. Tried making a 6x7 universal holder print 6x9 by taking out the blades, realistically it only goes to about 6x8. Made my own neg carriers, made a lens cone once out of cardstock too for my durst. Made my own custom molded camera grips for my olympus om4s. The list probably goes on I just don't remember it all. It's fun to mod things.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Here's a lynda.com website for DIY photographers. Keep in mind that this is a subscription site.

http://www.lynda.com/Photography-Cameras-Gear-tutorials/DIY-Photographer/369185-2.html

 

[dpurdy]

I once turned a Raja 8x10 camera into an 8x10 enlarger by building a cabinet with a hole in the top that I could set the camera in aimed down. I figured out the right shelf height for enarging 8x10 full frame onto 11x14, 16x20 with border and 16x20 borderless. To change size I merely had to change the shelf and re focus the camera. I put the neg on the top of the camera between 2 pieces of plate glass and I built the light source, making a box with several light bulbs in it and covering it with milk glass. I took the accordion bellows off the camera and put black cloth in it's place.
It worked, still does if I ever want to use it again. I made quite a lot of 16x20s and enlarged sheets of 35mm negs to 16x20. Problem is that I have to get down on my knees to focus and be very flexible to use the grain focuser while turning the camera knob. Miraculously I got everything level when I built it so it was sharp corner to corner on all 3 shelves.
Dennis

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Dennis. You're a handy guy. I wish I had your skills

 

[pdeeh]

I put those stick-on film box end holders on the back of SLRs that didn't already have one (Minolta SRt comes to mind ...)

Where does one acquire these?

It's not as though I can't stick a box-end onto a camera using a bit of sellotape, but in the interests of spending money I don't have on things I don't need, I'm nevertheless interested ...