Making a fake bellows camera

[bruce_boswell]

<p>I would like to start going to civil war re-enactments and start taking pictures.I would like to make a fake bellows camera and stick a digital camera in the back. (trying to blend with the period style dressing).<br>

Any ideas?</p>

[GerrySiegel]

<p>They were splendid for sure. Mahogany and brass. A nice woodcraft project. I have thought fleetingly about inserting a ditigal camera into a larger old big camera and decided, in my case, it is impractical for picture viewing, distances and all, and so I can only suggest that you let the little digital "ride" on top of the larger box for ease of getting anything shot while you reenact. A thought for whatever it is worth.<br>

http://www.picturehistory.com/product/id/2888</p>

 

[JDMvW]

<p>In an earlier thread, I had posted instructions on how to fold bellows (<a href="../classic-cameras-forum/00S3jp">link</a>). Scroll down to find the attachment which you can download in pdf form. With the instructions you could probably mock up the wooden frame to hold everything.</p>

[starvy]

<p>Do you have to have bellows? How about a square wooden box that has a circular lenslike glass element on one side. Inside, you need a tripod screw base to stick your point and shoot. The back need not be sealed. Attach a huge piece of black cloth to it and make sure you get in it for pressing your shutter.</p>

[Damon DAmato]

<p><a href="http://www.campnelson.org/tour/photography.htm">Box camera</a></p>

[steve_levine]

<p>I want to build a small P&S digital into a Brownie Hawkeye. I think that would be way cool.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

The box camera that Damon shows would work fine. You could make a hole for the lens of the digital camera to poke through over or under the brass lens. Then a cable release could fire it.

 

Make sure no one smiles when you take the photos. Back then, no one smiled for the camera. If you have photos of the soldiers smiling, it just won't look right, not true period.

[dbcooper]

<p>Holy Brady! Why use a fake bellows camera...why not use the real thing and shoot LF? Surely the infantry re-enactors don't have Winchesters stuffed inside their Sharps carbines. Using a slow B&W emulsion with LF might give a very authentic period look to the images. Of course, you'd want to use sheet film in lieu of wet-plate negatives...</p>

<p>Seriously, think about it. Use a wooden tripod, dress period civilian, and they'd beat a path to your camera. Could even make a few bucks.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

I have gone to a few re-enactments and thought about bringing my 8x10 view camera for some shots. A few shots. 8x10 film holders are large. I would usually only take three, holding six films, on a typical shoot (with two in reserve). Developing six films in a tray was the most that I felt comfortable doing. I might want to take some photos of soldiers in authentic gear for my own use, but if people "beat a path to your camera" you would need a lot of film holders and they are now selling for around $179 each.

 

A better business method, if one were looking for sales, would be to use an 8x10 wooden field camera with a 4x5 reducing back and 4x5 film holders with tintype plates. They could be developed on the spot, given a quick rinse and handed to the client. Tintypes would be more authentic to the period. During the War Between the States, they were cheap and the usual means that soldiers and families exchanged photos. Reloading tintypes in a changing bag would be a lot easier than loading 8x10 film holders.

[lex_jenkins]

<p>For the full-on faux experience, a dSLR with live view could be poked through a hole in a box camera facade. Use a hollow brass tube to shroud the actual camera lens. Hook up a notebook computer at the back for composing and adjusting the camera. For more realism, turn the computer upside down. For even greater realism, use a LensBaby to mimic the old style optics.</p>

[GerrySiegel]

<p>I went to a Lexington and Concord reenactment once. Lots of cannon and muskets. Funny to think of a war with no photographic record. Paintings, heroic, like Big George W standing at the bow of a boat crossing an icy Delaware and that was done later of course. I think those three cornered hats and sabers and flintlock muskets ( just "ready, fire" ) and all the brass buttons on the powdered wig guys were more fun than the Union and Confederate uniforms and ball and cap rifles. But that is just me.</p>

[colin carron]

<p>Although it is quite likely the cameras of the day had bellows at least some were sliding box type like this :</p>

<p><a href="http://historyforkids.utah.gov/fun_and_games/photos/images/1839daguerrotypecamera.jpg">http://historyforkids.utah.gov/fun_and_games/photos/images/1839daguerrotypecamera.jpg</a></p>

 

[craig_gillette]

<p>The Library of Congress has some CW photography (probably more, this might be "selected" images)</p>

<p>http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/cwphtml/cwphome.html</p>

<p>If you search on "camera" there will be some hits. The cameras in those pictures are quite large so there would be plenty of space in a similar looking "replica" to use a variety of digital camera types. So with or without a bellows, looks like wood and brass for the camera and tripod. A tripod is a must as these weren't handheld cameras.</p>

[meissner]

<p>I was alerted to this thread by a poster on the 43photo.com forum, and I just joined photo.net so I could post my thoughts and experiences. I go to renaissance faires and science fiction conventions in costume and have recently been thinking about disguising the camera.<br>

First of all, it depends on how serious you are about re-enactment. It didn't sound like you were on the serious side of re-enactment at the moment. If you were, the only period way to go forward is build your own wet plate camera setup. In looking around, I did discover a commercial photography studio in Gettysburg (where else?) that does wet plate photography: http://www.victorianphotostudio.com/Victorian_Photography_Studio/Home.html.<br>

Using google, I saw a daguerreian society: http://www.daguerre.org/<br>

Next step rather than doing wet plate, is to move a little forward in time to 4x5 large frame photogrpahy with a wooden view or field camera. You can either get normal film and process it (either your self or by using one of the remaining labs that do large format processing), or you can use the Fuji instant film (FP-100B) that is available if you want to share your photos during the event. If you hunt around ebay/craigslist, you can usually find used cameras for a few hundred dollars that are working. The 3 bodies I've bought so far were in the $100 range, and with some cleanup, two of the three would probably be usable. I imagine the large frame and pinhole forums here would be helpful.<br>

Outside of buying used cameras, you do have some options:</p>

<ul>

<li>B&H sells a do it yourself 4x5 kit, and either get a lens or use it as a pinhole camera: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=4x5+sheet+film&N=4291574011</li>

<li>There is a new 4x5 camera kit that will hopefully soon start producing the kits: http://www.diycamerakit.com/</li>

<li>If you are handy in a woodshop, you could build your own: http://www.instructables.com/id/old-fashioned-view-camera/</li>

<li>Here is another DYI guide: http://home.online.no/~gjon/lffaq.htm</li>

<li>You could buy one of the current 4x5 bodies, which starts getting into serious money: http://www.shen-hao.com/indexen.html, http://www.chamonixviewcamera.com/, http://www.canhamcameras.com/, http://www.toyoview.com/, etc.</li>

</ul>

<p>If you have a DSLR, you could mount the DSLR into a 4x5 camera instead of the film: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/canon-view-camera.html<br>

Getting away from period cameras, we get to disguising your camera in a bellows frame. I am in the middle of this project right now. I attended a steampunk convention on May 1st, with my Olympus E-P2 inside of a Kodak Pony Premo #4 (which was made between 1906-1912) 5x7 frame camera: http://www.the-meissners.org/albums/2010-pimp-my-ep2/index.html#hidecamera<br>

<img src="http://www.the-meissners.org/2010-small-albums/2010-pimp-my-ep2/small/2010-05-03-08-59-013-hidecamera.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="623" /><br>

<img src="http://www.the-meissners.org/2010-small-albums/2010-pimp-my-ep2/small/2010-05-03-09-00-014-hidecamera.jpg" alt="" width="912" height="707" /><br>

Some thoughts:</p>

<ul>

<li>Depending on your digital camera, it might not fit in a bellows camera. When I bought the 4x5 bodies, I discovered the E-3 DSLR just was wider than 5". I then looked around for a 5x7" camera to give me some more room. At the moment, the E-P2 is sticking out the back, until I can fashion a holder to move the camera further into the bellows. </li>

<li>Even if there is enough room to hold the camera, a lot of digital cameras have the lens off center, which can complicate things. </li>

<li>One of the things I've learned is the older cameras had smaller lens mounts. When I took the lens off of my 4x5 (Scenca, Graflex) and 5x7 (Kodak) bodies I discovered the hole was fairly small. I originally wanted to use my larger lenses for the E-3/E-P2 in the bellows, but the opening is around 40-45mm, and my 67mm lens would likely vignette. So for the moment, I'm using the smaller camera. </li>

<li>Another thing to watch out for is lens movement. With the E-P2 I found if I put the lens as close to the bellows as possible, the camera might not autofocus because the bellows would interfere with the lens movement. </li>

<li>Besides using a used donor body, or one of the kits I mentioned above, another possibility is there is a faux bellows camera made as a display piece for the home with a tripod. It might be easy to mod this and produce acceptable results: http://www.wildorchidquilts.com/u28229.html </li>

<li>In doing the mods, it is very helpful if your camera has an lcd that shows the picture before you take it (i.e. traditional p&s, or DSLR with live view). </li>

<li>Having a camera that takes a wired shutter release is also helpful </li>

</ul>

<p>Good luck, and have fun!</p>

[spacer_conrad]

<p>Here's something I've had churning around in my wee noggin:<br>

http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/04/sony-qx100-qx10-lens-cameras/<br>

<br />Mount one of these, cleverly disguised depending on your tinkering ability, as the lens, and pair it up to a tablet mounted as a virtual ground glass in the back. </p>

<p>For a serious enthusiast in the period gear, I'll agree with using period technology. But, if you're wanting to maintain appearance while still being able to take/share a lot of photos, I can see this being an easy way to do it. </p>

[jon_grepstad1]

<p>Please not that in October 2015 my web pages on building large format cameras move to: jongrepstad.com</p>

<p>Jon Grepstad</p>

[jon_grepstad1]

<p>Please note that in October 2015 my webpages on building large format cameras move to: jongrepstad.com</p>

<p>Jon Grepstad</p>