Tail Board LF anyone ? trying to reverse engineer from pictures only

[nick mulder]

Hello,

I'm trying to understand how tailboard cameras work, the general set up is easy, but some parts remain unclear as to the exact utility - specifically:

What is the middle frame for seen in some variations ? simply to protect the bellows when folded ?

I can see how swing is achieved here - but how about rear tilt ?

Long story long:

I have a square 15" bellows here I'd like to build a quick tailboard camera with to hold my new Dallmeyer 4A and a combo of an 8x10" Sinar P film back/GG, my own home built 11x14" back/GG and possible wet plate collodion use in the future...

At the moment I'm going to build something quick and nasty using as much picture framing frames I can (I have access to a framing studio with a gazillion profiles that can be put to interesting use, not to mention the ka-chunking machine that automagically joins them ).

I dont have any rack and pinion or threaded rod lying around so it'll just be screwed down with a bolt and wingnuts for now (like the third image) - but a future more thought out version will likely use a threaded rod for focus, probably a tapered bellows and front standard to loose a bit of weight also - does any one have photos of the typical way these systems were built, something stripped away that can be figured out in a glance ?

I've never had a chance to see a tailboard :rolleyes:

Any tips appreciated

 

[John Koehrer]

Many of the early cameras had NO movements. I think you'll find more use for front movements than rear.
The center standard most likely to support the bellows when it's extended a bit, that's a big ass bellows.

 

[samuraiwarrior2]

Hey Nick, good luck on your project. I'm currently most of the way through a 4x5 field camera, so I know what you might have in front of you.
I found this website on tailboard cameras: http://www.vintagephoto.tv/shoulder.shtml.
It looks like that middle frame is actually attached to the back frame and it allows basic tilts in the back for perspective control.
Hope this helps a little bit. I would like to see your camera when you start working!
I would also recommend actually trying to find one to look at. There were lots of parts of a field camera that I didn't quite know how they worked and once I got to play around with one in a store things clicked and made sense.