Zone VI or Wisner camera dimension meeded

[Steve Smith]

Zone VI or Wisner camera dimension needed

If you have a Zone VI camera or the similar Wisner (not the re-badged Wista) I would appreciate it if you could measure the width of the body as shown here:



And let me know. Scaling from a photograph and comparing with a film holder, I think it's about 196mm or 7.75"


Steve.

 

[cowanw]

199 mm or 7 7/8 but mine does not have those horizontal brass strips projecting at the top. Mine is a newfane model.

 

[Steve Smith]

Thank you.


Steve.

 

[megzdad81]

Mine (Wisner Tech Field, manufactured in Marion MA) also doesn't have the pictured brackets, nor the 45 degree cut corners on the back, and measures 197mm.

 

[Steve Smith]

Thanks. That seems quite big for a 5x4 camera. You could almost put a 5x7 back on that.


Steve.

 

[megzdad81]

The 197mm is actually 197mm square. You got me excited there for a second--I am planning to modify a B&J and build a 5x7 back for a Kodak Master View 8x10, so I looked at the 4x5 again--much lighter if it would work. However, the way the bellows mounts through the back of the Wisner and is held in by the film pack/focus panel, the bellows back limits the exposure field to about 6 inches in each direction so that the back can be rotated 90 degrees. I can manage that much wood working, but not much more.

 

[Steve Smith]

You could put a slight extension on the back to take 5x7 so it is placed a bit further away from the bellows opening.


Steve.

 

[megzdad81]

Now you have me thinking--it looks like it needs about a 1" extension. The Wisner body is only 1/4" thick and even thinner where the wood is mortised to hold the bellows, and I don't really want to modify the body itself, but maybe an extension that fits over the outside dimension of the box... I'd have to sharpen my wood working skills and figure out how to attaché the 5x7 back to the body. I still want the 90 degree rotation.

I'll have to think on it.

 

[Steve Smith]

You could use the same clips that hold the 5x4 back on with some recesses in the extension. As the 5x7 frame is rectangular, you don't need the very corners of the opening as image area.

That would retain the ability to rotate it.

I would start by making a simple square plate (with light trap recess if that's the way Wisner/Zone VI do it) which clips onto the back in place of its normal back and build it up from there.


Steve.