Friday, April 25, 2008

Workshop Camera

Here's some pictures of the 6x6 wooden camera we built during the workshop. This is a new design, based on some ideas gleaned from f295 over the years, plus my own ideas.



The camera is a wood / ABS hybrid. The main feature is the drop-in winding mechanism. Loading is achieved by flexing the ABS on the bottom. Once loaded, the cassette drops into the body.

In the future I think I'll try this design on other formats (612, 618, etc).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you think if I made one I could engineer it so that I could mount an actual lens on it? I know how to make a pin hole camera, and I love mine but I am wondering if I can mount a lens. Would it be cost effective? Anyways just wondering.

Dennis Venema said...

Hi Dalia,

yes, there is no reason why a lens could not be used instead of a pinhole. A large format lens would be best, since it would have the required coverage, and have its own shutter. The downside would be that it would be fix focused, although that is how the old Kodak Autographic cameras worked. If you try it out let me know!

Anonymous said...

I will definitely share finished photos of the camera in question. I found a couple lenses that are in working order on Ebay. They are 100 years old. Apparently they are in fine working order and don't look abused. I will work around the lens to build the camera for sure.
From this camera that you showed I did make my own. I actually used a coffee can though because I wanted to curve the film and see what I get. I like to distort things and experiment. This whole pinhole thing is awesome and I am so glad I learned. I can't wait to be in the dark room again. ^_^ Anyways here is the pinhole camera...
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m101/WINGS_Imagery/pinhole/DSC_9899.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m101/WINGS_Imagery/pinhole/DSC_9897.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m101/WINGS_Imagery/pinhole/DSC_9898.jpg

Anonymous said...

do you have a Blueprint of this camera online?