Hairbrained idea...what do you think?

So, here's a bit of a scheme I've put together lately to try

something a bit new (at least for me). I've been thinking about

large format for a while, but I have some limitations (lack of a

trust fund, only a 6cmx6cm enlarger, etc.) so I have a several step

process to work my way into it via pinhole, and hence my post here.

Also I'm worried I'll get laughed out of the large format forum, so

we'll just keep the discussion here among friends.

 

So, step one, get some used 8x10 film holders and make a couple of

foam core pinhole cameras. Contact print the negatives. I figure

this will let me see if I like the format and messing with big

film. Also I can always turn around and sell the film holders if I

don't like it.

 

Step two, pick up an 8x10 Bender kit and build me a camera this

winter. Slap my pinholes/zone plates or whatever on the front end,

and feel a bit more sophisticated. Use my FM for a light meter, and

start to figure out what kind of focal length I want to work with,

since lenses cost more than a cheap car. Continue to contact print.

 

When I get sick of really long exposures, I'll pick up a cheap lens

and maybe a couple more film holders, and start giggling

uncontrollably when I see posts about how awesome digital SLRs

are. "They're so sharp! This zoom is awesome! Film is dead!"

Yeah, right.

 

Anyway, any suggestions? Sound nuts? Any suggestions for a better

way to go?

 

-J.

You can make a painless pinhole with an 250 sheet 8x10 paper box. If you wanna build... maybe wood? easier to get straight than metal and wont crumple if you drop it. Do you have access to a miter-saw? Ive thought alot about building my own veiw camera. If you ever spend any time around a veiw camera you would realize what a truely marvelously simple machine they are. Two wooden frames with a bellows in between them. The hardest part is the focus mechanism.... which could simply be a large coarse-threaded screw running through two mounted nuts. Cool thing about veiw cameras: the lens is usually mounted to a board which can be removed. You could startout with a pinhole mounted on the board and update to a lens. Ive seen articles on the kyphoto forum for building bellows or where to order new bellows. If you search around some you may even find directions on building a veiw camera... seems like someone would have done it already!

 

PS, if you are crazy, then you are at least not alone! good luck!

Oh yeah, and this program will get you going designing a pinhole... tells you everything you will need to know:<br>

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<a href="http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholedesigner/">http://www.pinhole.cz/en/pinholedesigner/</a>

Nevermind... i just figured out what you meant by Bender kit. :P But if you are industious i think you could easily build your own for way cheaper than their $420 8x10 kit. They sell small peices of oak and identicle knobs to the ones on the kit at Lowes or Home Depot. If you need help designing it, i could help draw out some plans for you. But hey, im crazy.

Jason - do everything you said, only forget the Bender. It sounds as though you could do better than that ...

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<img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/3081449-lg.jpg"><p>

The metal work is not that difficult and it helps keep everything rigid.

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Oh, and your first 8x10 contact print should be posted HERE.

Crazy is good. Go for it. I have an old speaker box that I have been thinking would make a fun pinhole camera.

Jason, great idea.

 

First, please check with Sandeha for technicalities and minutiae regarding the choice of pinhole, ...paper or film.

 

His past "Cabbage leaf" pinhole photo is tough to beat. Please look at it, it is in this forum, a few threads back from this one.

 

He has set the norm and the style.

Diwan is exaggerating <grin>

I was thinking of getting a little crazy myself,but I don't live close enough to Wisconsin,and I wouldn't want to pick up the shipping on this-

 

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7531688293&category=4702&rd=1

Jason, I'd recommend, as a way to reduce you're initial outlay of cash, to build a "single-shot" box camera, where the film is loaded, in the darkroom, directly inside the box, without a sheet film holder.

 

This type of setup, with tray developing the negatives and contact printing them using a 7.5 watt bulb, will get you started, and can in itself be a good way to continue in LF pinhole.

 

Of course, you won't have the ability to preview the scene on a ground glass, or experiment with movements, which is a big part of learning LF glass-lensed photography.

 

But if you like the pinhole box camera, tray develop, contact print setup, you can then go out and purchase a used Speed Graphic 4x5 with Kodak Ektar lens and a few sheet film holders, all for a few hundred dollars.

 

Working with the Speed Graphic will get you used to focussing on the ground-glass, using the focussing rail for depth of focus measurements, and allow some limited movements without getting you in too much trouble. And 4x5 contact prints, when done properly, can look exquisite. Their diminutive size, especially when overmatted on an 11x14 frame for display, draws the viewer in close to the image.

 

Landscape images aren't really good on small size prints, so contact printing 4x5 is best for portraits and still-life studies.

 

If you don't like the Speed Graphic, you can sell it for probably what you paid for it. If you like it and want to go further, keep the Speed Graphic, as its a great street-shooting camera, if it has an accurately calibrated rangefinder focusser. You can then look for a "real" field, or lightweight monorail camera.

 

Your instincts are right: pinhole is a great way to begin, because >50% of the craft of the finely made print happens post-camera, in the darkroom.

You are on the right track. You can make a pinhole camera out of virtually anything, as long as it holds the dark in. If you want to build a view camera, check out my post in the large format forum, under "I don't need no stinkin' kit" Have fun with your project. That's what it's all about.

Good ideas. As for the single use idea, I'd like to take two or four pictures per outing, and I can get a pair of 8x10 film holders for $50 or so used, so I'm probably going to go with this idea:

 

http://www.stanford.edu/~cpatton/foamcore.html

 

Wow, that homemade field camera is pretty cool. I don't know how much design and metalwork I want to do, though. I'd rather just drop the $500 and get a kit. Building is fun, but I think a kit is worth my time. If it saves me 20 hours of design time, it's a break-even on money vs. time for me.

 

The bare bulb approach is moot, I have a Beseler 23 enlarger, so I can use that to contact print.

 

As for old 4x5 cameras (speed grafics, etc.) available cheap, like you said, a 4x5 contact print is nice for some things but not for others. I'd rather go for 8x10 and be able to make a big print. Also, when I print 35mm at 4x5, I think that my resolution/tone/etc. are approaching what I could do in large format anyway, and probably exceeding what I can do with a 4x5 pinhole.

 

Although I did see a Beseler 45 at the used camera store the other day for $120. If I could have picked that up without my wife throwing me out of the house, I'd totally go with the 4x5 approach (cheaper film, lenses, accessories).

 

Thanks for your feedback. I'll post things as they develop, as it were.

 

-J.

For alot cheaper than the kit you can build your own based on drawings on this site. Its alot better design than the Benders... in that it folds down into a box... and has actual focusing... not just "friction focus" which im guessing just sliding the front on the bar untill its focused. The most difficult part would be the brass fittings. All the wood is just straight cuts. If you find yourself someone handy with a milling machine... you could give them $100 to make your brass fittings and you would still save $100 from the cost of the Bender and have a much nicer camera. ;)<br>

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<a href="http://www.srv.net/~vail/camera.htm">http://www.srv.net/~vail/camera.htm</a>