I've taken up projects for strange reasons before, but this is one of the strangest! I wanted a camera for my restored wooden tripod, but I failed to win the Ebay auction for a 1902 Premo that I really wanted (I'd had a 1905 4x5 Premo when I was a teen in the 1960's). I responded by deciding to build a 4x5 camera; it would have to look "old-timey", to go with the wooden tripod. I ordered a film-holder, a used view-camera bellows, and a very old Kodak lens and shutter (still waiting on delivery for the lens and shutter) on Ebay, and just "jumped in" as is usual on so many projects I take up.
Here's a general view of work so far; I think the front frame is mahogany, the lens-standard is oak, and the lens-board birch ply:
Side view with the bellows extended; I get about 15 inches from the front of the lens board to the focal plane at an easy full extension.
Here's the "Engineer's prototype" rear end, to test the setup and work out the hardware and construction techniques required for the finished pieces (proper flat-springs I will grind from a broken 1/2" band-saw blade):
And here's the close view of one corner of the box-joint, done on the router table with the basic key-pin and miter fence technique (a little rough, but it's only my first try!):
The difficult parts are yet to come; the flat-frame bed, and the positioning mechanisms. Surprisingly, there's a goodly sized crowd now building their own large format cameras (thanks to the world wide web), up to 16 x 20 in some instances! Considering the cost of a brand new Deardorf camera, I can appreciate the economy as well as the fun of a do-it-yourself camera.
Regards, John
Here's a general view of work so far; I think the front frame is mahogany, the lens-standard is oak, and the lens-board birch ply:
Side view with the bellows extended; I get about 15 inches from the front of the lens board to the focal plane at an easy full extension.
Here's the "Engineer's prototype" rear end, to test the setup and work out the hardware and construction techniques required for the finished pieces (proper flat-springs I will grind from a broken 1/2" band-saw blade):
And here's the close view of one corner of the box-joint, done on the router table with the basic key-pin and miter fence technique (a little rough, but it's only my first try!):
The difficult parts are yet to come; the flat-frame bed, and the positioning mechanisms. Surprisingly, there's a goodly sized crowd now building their own large format cameras (thanks to the world wide web), up to 16 x 20 in some instances! Considering the cost of a brand new Deardorf camera, I can appreciate the economy as well as the fun of a do-it-yourself camera.
Regards, John
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