What's your oddest camera?

Don_ih · Mar 13, 2023

BHuij said:
Strangest camera in my collection is probably a 5x7 pinhole I designed and 3D printed with a fixed 150mm focal length. I had this idea that I could use paper negatives to get high contrast, and then make salt prints and whatnot from those negatives. Turned out to be a failed experiment. The camera worked and made some pretty cool paper negatives, but printing alt processes through a paper negative makes exposure times unacceptably long, and it turns out it's not just contrast those processes want, it's density and dynamic range

It would be dandy with xray film, though.

BHuij · Mar 13, 2023

Don Heisz said:
It would be dandy with xray film, though.

Yeah it would. TBH a lot of the reasoning behind printing it in the first place was that I was getting frustrated with trying to make digital negatives work for my Kallitypes. Now that I've figured out what's what and started getting good results with my Kallitypes, the allure of large pinhole negs for contact printing has diminished. I'll probably ultimately give this camera away if I ever find someone who wants to shoot 5x7 pinhole haha.

awty · Mar 13, 2023

Don Heisz said:
It looks close to what it would need to be to fit on a camera like the Polaroid MP-4 I have. With that camera, you can set the lens to make reductions -- easily down to 35mm half-frame size. It has a sliding camera mount attachment, so you could have this thing attached (assuming that mounting plate is correct), focus, slide the camera into position, pull the dark slide, fire the shutter (lens is mounted in a shutter). It'd actually be very convenient for it.

Yes it is. I have a Polaroid MP-3 and it fits. Its a clunky piece of kit, need something really solid to attach to. Could use it for some macro work and soup up the developer to get a very grainy neg, might get something interesting.

Don_ih · Mar 13, 2023

awty said:
Yes it is. I have a Polaroid MP-3 and it fits. Its a clunky piece of kit, need something really solid to attach to. Could use it for some macro work and soup up the developer to get a very grainy neg, might get something interesting.

It's always possible to get something cool if you're willing to screw around.

awty · Mar 14, 2023

Don Heisz said:
It's always possible to get something cool if you're willing to screw around.

That's all I do.
I reassembled my MP-3, it looks like about 1.5 to 1 ( meaning it magnifies).
Maybe I should put together a flea circus.

Don_ih · Mar 14, 2023

awty said:
That's all I do.
I reassembled my MP-3, it looks like about 1.5 to 1 ( meaning it magnifies).
Maybe I should put together a flea circus.View attachment 332447

With the MP-4, you can mount the lens on the inside of the shutter and it will reduce. The shutter came with a collar that allows you to adjust the aperture. In terms of magnification, you can get over 20x with that thing (need a short lens and the macro extension).

What's your oddest camera?

Don_ih

BHuij

awty

Don_ih

awty

Don_ih

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency