Pix of your home-built cams, mods and creations here please (part 2)

[Dan Fromm]

Not to mention no unrepairable electronics to fail without warning...

As I've asked before, who needs an Xpan? A humble Century Graphic can do more, and on 120 film with lenses from 35 mm to around 200 mm (non-tele) and 250 mm (tele) that cover 2.25" x 3.25".

 

[Ray Morgenweck]

View attachment 327312 Well, it’s a Perfex 22 with a Nikon F2 50mm ! Crazy Glued! To the focus flange. The Sucker takes Awesome photos, as you’d expect from the f2.

 

[MattiS]

A lensboard adapter for my Mentor 13x18 to fit the Linhof boards.Starting point was a chinese adapter from Sinar to Linhof which I milled to size first.

After that I had to mount two brass bars to match the thickness of the original Mentor Boards. Shortening M2 screws was fun... .

 

[OAPOli]

Here is a WIP. Canon 7 with 63mm wide frame, new pressure plate and "corrected" film advance. Front plate machined for a slow-pitched helicoid (Hoya 28mm) with a Fuji 45mm f5.6 (from the GS645W) mounted on a #00 shutter from a Kodak Retina 013. Next I'll try to couple the rangefinder.

Canon 7 panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

Canon 7 panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

 

[Patrick Robert James]

Here is a WIP. Canon 7 with 63mm wide frame, new pressure plate and "corrected" film advance. Front plate machined for a slow-pitched helicoid (Hoya 28mm) with a Fuji 45mm f5.6 (from the GS645W) mounted on a #00 shutter from a Kodak Retina 013. Next I'll try to couple the rangefinder.

Canon 7 panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

Canon 7 panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

Very cool Oliver. I have a parts Canon 7 body if you need any parts.

 

[OAPOli]

Thanks @Patrick Robert James ! I've recycled RF units from another Canon 7 and a Zorki 6 so I might take you up on it.

Previous iteration of this build used a Bronica 50mm 2.8 which has a much longer back focus. I stole the RF unit from it.

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Sinar Norma Handy ready to go. On the back is the rare Sinar Norma Monocular Rubber Bellows, with the Norma Monocular Viewer. With a short locking cable release, I can view through the lens if I need to. I can also insert Sinar Norma 4x5 Meter Cassette, with Sinarsix, deadly accurate TTL metering eliminates a lot of exposure variables, some of which can compound. So uber versatile. The strap is a 1.5" Domke Black Gripper, the strap lugs are Pentax 6x7, I drilled and taped the Norma Auxiliary Frame. Devil Cal on RFF kindly supplied the stainless steel bolts holding the strap lugs. I bought the Graflex XL Grip (Norma used this) from Glenn Evans, I'm not using the Grip for now. I can nicely handhold this all day long

 

[Reginald S]

Michelangelo said that he has seen his sculptures within blocks of stones - he just had to remove needless stone.
I do believe him and found myself a multiple filterholder within a block of aluminium.










The Xenar now easily takes glassfilters, plus my Linhof filter holder.
Luckily the filterholder-holder fits to my Imagon, too.

 

[Reginald S]

Filterholder for the good old 9x12cm Plattenkamera, locked with a screw instead sticking of the threadless 135mm lenses:

 

[OAPOli]

Here is the new cam follower with it's own bearing roller and eccentric. Everything seems to check out and hopefully it'll pass the film test. I detected a light leak from the leaf shutter but the test condition was far from normal practice. Shutter speeds are 1 to 1/2 stop slow.

Canon 7 Panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

Canon 7 Panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

 

[Dan Daniel]

Here is the new cam follower with it's own bearing roller and eccentric. Everything seems to check out and hopefully it'll pass the film test. I detected a light leak from the leaf shutter but the test condition was far from normal practice. Shutter speeds are 1 to 1/2 stop slow.

Canon 7 Panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

Canon 7 Panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

Wait... you are basically building your own X-Pan?? Very cool! I'd be curious to see how you link the lens shutter to the shutter release if that is part of this. Or will you use a knob on the lens itself.

Also any hints on modifiying the lens body cam follower to work with the rangefinder... Or did you go for modifying the body cam?

 

[OAPOli]

@Dan Daniel the shutter is controlled via the knobs. A previous version (with Bronica 50mm f2.8) used a self-cocking shutter which was nice but required a loop of cable release.

The cam follower on the body was replaced as you can see in the pic above. It's a bit shorter than the original. I screwed a protrusion (a flat cam) on the "lens board" which translates linearly via the helicoid and contacts the roller on the cam follower.

The RF expects a 52mm lens which translates 3mm from infinity to 1m. The key is finding out how much the new lens moves for the same distance range. Then the cam on the lens or the length of the follower must compensate for the difference. The movement of a lens f from inf to D is approx f2/(D-2f). Often the marked focal length is not exact but close enough.

This is my 6th or so pano build (check my flickr). I used mostly retrofocus lenses before and this is so much cleaner.

 

[OAPOli]

Test roll was pretty good. Also made a Bay 1 adapter for the tiny Fuji.

Canon 7 pano mod by Olivier, on Flickr

 

[OAPOli]

Did some work on the Wirgin mod. Managed to squeeze the Zorki RF inside the body. The RF cam is a fit flimsy, had no choice but to glue it. Did a poor job of patching the top plate butchered by the previous owner.

Wirgin RF panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

Wirgin RF panoramic mod by Olivier, on Flickr

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

The Fuji GX680 Lens Set, from left 125mm F5.6 GX680, 210mm F5.6 GX680, and right the 250mm F5.6 GX680. All neatly shuttered Seiko LS23 Shutters from Fujinon WS lenses. lensboards 3D printed from the Guy in Italy, light seals added by me using Rotary Cutter to cut strips. Works good Minolta SRT Cable Releases (Good Ones!) 82mm Yellow Filters, Rubber Lenshood. Lens on left not finished, needs JB Welded Ring to board, back cell lip removed by me with grinder (to back focus on Makiflex) now needs brush painted with Krylon. Also I will Krylon the back of the lens board to make sure no leaks.

 

[OAPOli]

Here's a stitch of three vertical shots on the Wirgin. 70MB! Plus a pano. There is a light leak.

Wirgin Pano by Olivier, on Flickr

Wirgin Pano by Olivier, on Flickr

 

[Xylo]

That is pretty neat.
Reminds me of my DIY X-Pan

 

[Nokton48]

A Bigger Boat. LOL This goes on the front end of a 5x7 or 8x10 Norma

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

760mm F14 Rodenstock Apo Ronar Rock Solid Sinar Norma Mount, built from Norma Parts Box Stuff. This 760mm F14 is the Iddy Biddy Little Brother of the 1000mm F16 Apo Ronar that is on the way. Shown with Norma Shutter #6 ready to go. This is going to work perfectly. I'll also do this same thing with the bigger lens. Norma Copal Shutter freshly overhauled by MAC at Camtronics.

 

[Nokton48]

1000mm F16 Apo Ronar1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Turns out I have enough spare parts to build this prototype. It's held together by tight adjustment, and it's very solid. WOW it's heavy I mean a real brute. I used Gaffer Tape from B&H cut with razor blade to specific widths, and the lens is not going anywhere and it's solidly supported at this point. Light cracks and leaks around the lensboard holes are pretty much plugged up, so the lens appears to be light tight at this point. I prefer to protype with various types of tape, before making (or have something made) as far as rotating this into the equipment rotation. This was fun to build.

 

[Nokton48]

8x10 to 5x7 Norma Special Bellows 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr


Norma Special Bellows arrived from Custom Bellows goes 8x10 to 5x7, then the regular 5x7 to 4x5. Very Very stable. This combo is in the original Norma catalog. Shown with my 360 Componon enlarging lens. Mounted to the Norma board with a Durst enlarger "mounting cup" on the back. Repair Guru Ken Ruth suggested to me that I get all the Componons, that was a great idea. They were cheap at the time and quite usuable. The tripod is a FOBA C40 which is also in the original Norma catalog for use with the 8x10 Norma. SK Grimes made the tophat section of the lensboard with their CNC, copying original specs and then annodized it. I'll need something similar on front and back of this new deal. I have three C40 FOBA tripods, one has a rising triple center post. I think I will try that on the front of the camera, the center post will help as far as hooking front and back sections together straight and parallel? We will see. Mr. Wolfe set his camera up outside hundreds of times under windy conditions so I'm using the old photos as a guide. Also he used binoculars to establish camera positions.


So basically this will be the -back end- of the camera. Front end is ^^^

 

[ic-racer]

Epoxy putty:

 

[Donald Qualls]

Epoxy putty:

Yep. With a little care, it's in the same class as duct tape and a hammer: fix almost anything with it.

 

[Nokton48]

5x7 and 4x5 Sinar Norma TLR's by Nokton48, on Flickr

"Construction Unit Design" allows me to upsize the camera to 13x18/5x7. Nice to have the larger format, I am just getting going with 5x7. 240 Componons on the left, 250 Imagon pair on the right.

 

[Xylo]

For some reason I'm thinking Gowlandflex...
All it really needs is a reflex hood for the top one

 

[OAPOli]

Some shots with the Canon 7 RF-coupled to the Fuji 45mm f5.6.

Toronto beach, expired Fuji NPS 160 by Olivier, on Flickr

Toronto beach by Olivier, on Flickr

Toronto beach by Olivier, on Flickr

Toronto beach, expired Fuji NPS 160 (desaturated) by Olivier, on Flickr