wayne_firth3

This phenomenon is what made the Ambrotype of the mid nineteenth

century work. A glass negative was mounted in contact with a black

background causing the negative to appear as a positive.

I have a Gran View. It's a nice idea but the camera is sort of like

someone's arts and crafts project. It really is an expensive piece

of plastic. Now that I have said this, I suppose that I will never be

able to sell the one I have. The helicoil is a very crude affair. It's

not smooth at all. It comes with a wrench so you can adjust it to the

infinity point of the specific lens that you are using. From there it

is scale focus. Everything is made out of ABS plastic. It might make a

good walking around camera if you could use a grafmatic but you can't.

The back is made in way that will only accept regular holders. It also

has a grip that is not made for human hands and is not adjustable.

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If you are handy with wood, you could make a simple camera like a

Hobo. It's just a box with a lens. All the parts come from Home

Depot. I handled one of the prototypes and it is stupidly simple but

a great idea. The Hobo doesn't have helical focusing but, again, if

you are clever you can get Graflex XL bodies cheap. The entire front

assembly can be removed very easily and adapted to a homemade camera.

Just make sure that all the lugs are still on the focusing ring before

buying one.

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One other comment. If you make simple 4x5 be prepared to make more

cameras and bigger ones. Format size doesn't impact cost very much and

suddenly you will want bigger and bigger film. I made a 5x7 then a

4x10 and now I'm working on an 8x10.

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I hope this helps.

Wayne