The continuing saga of the kit built 4X5

[john_robison3]

<p>Last week I posted that I had just purchased my first 4X5. After fooling around with it for the past week I have come to the conclusion that, as built, there is no practical way to prevent the front standard from rocking.</p>

<p>So....I think it's going to be turned into a monorail from a flatbed. My only problem will finding a friend with an accurate table saw to fashion the blocks and a drill press because I can't drill a straight hole freehand. I always seem to wind up 3 or 4 degrees out of vertical. (everyone I know says I'm half a bubble off.)</p>

<p>It's odd, I went to the camera show specifically to finally purchase a camera I've always desired, a Leica M. But I'm having just as much fun dinking around with this camera. And by the by, the 130mm Kodak lens covers the field nicely with room to spare, just like you folks said.</p>

[vick_vickery]

<p>Where ya located, John? I've got a pretty good shop you can use if you're close to Gulfport, MS. The various materials houses, Home Depot, etc., sell nice 1" square aluminum tubing that will make a good monorail, by the way.</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>Pacific NW Vick. Olympia, capital of Washington state. Actually I know several people with woodshop tools. I'm sure it won't be a problem. The local True Value sells 1X1 inch aluminum stock sq. tubing by the inch, I think I'll get a piece about 14 inches long. I already bought enough 1/8 in. hobby plywood to make 4 lens boards. I've made one for the Kodak lens and have enough for 3 more. I was thinking of mounting two series V close-up lenses back to back for a nice soft 250mm portrait lens. Of course it wouldn't have a shutter so I'd have to remove the lens cap, ignite the flash powder and put the cap back on.<G></p>

[vick_vickery]

<p>Hmmm...kinda a long drive from Olympia to Gulfport...guess ya' better find something local! :) 'course, by the time you could get here you might be able to get some photos of a really nice oil slick!</p>

[janne_moren]

Can't you add a stabiliser on the top, just to stop the rocking? At least as a makeshift solution? Something like a light metal tube (~2mm or so), or even a flat strip of wood going from the body top to the front would do the trick. It doesn't need to be strong or anything. If you just want to try it out you could even fix the wood strip with gaffer's tape on both ends: set the camera, then add the wood strip to stabilize it. If it works you can do a somewhat more permanent variant with a metal tube and sliders with thumbscrews.

[john_robison3]

<p>I finally was able to track down the origin of this camera. It's a Calumet Porta Vu kit camera from the early eighties. There is a picture of it in the Jan. 1983 Popular Mechanics.</p>

<p>Janne, for the interim, until I build the monorail assembly, I plan to do just that. I will compensate for the wobble with a couple of aluminum brackets to provide tension between the front standard slider assembly and the flat bed base.</p>

[robert_meyer3]

<p>Sears used to sell something called a "Port-a-line" kit for drills. It was a guide that would make sure your drill holes are vertical. I have one and still use it from time to time. Try Ebay or the net.</p>

[robert_meyer3]

<p>Sears used to sell something called a "Port-a-line" kit for drills. It was a guide that would make sure your drill holes are vertical. I have one and still use it from time to time. Try Ebay or the net.</p>

[robert_meyer3]

<p>There is a Portalign tool on Ebay, number 320529144074. I read some disparaging comments on them on the net, but I liked mine.</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>Yeah, I had one of those Portaline tools and they worked OK but for small and /or narrow work pieces it was still hard to keep it vertical. I think I've discovered a way to stabilize the front standard. It will be cheap to implement and if it works I might skip the monorail construction and just use the camera as is. If this brings me into more 4X5 work then I'd want a better camera anyway. Impulse photographic purchases! Why don't I ever learn.</p>

<p>Moving right along, how will I develop 4X5 film? I was thinking that if I just curled it up in my old Yankee 2 reel plastic tank and filled the tank with developer and sloshed it around a bit it could work.....perhaps.....maybe. Or I have plenty of Diafine, then I wouldn't have to worry much about time or temperature within reasonable limits. The inside of the tank is 4.25 inches deep to the lid rim and I think the film would fit. With Diafine you are not suppose to agitate hardly at all because of the way it works. I wonder how the cheap Arista film from Freestyle would work in that developer.</p>