Topic: I just made/fixed ...

[Sandeha Lynch]

I'm always amused that the "I just picked up ..." thread is such a stayer, but it is something of a reflection on how Filmwasters operate.  What's missing seems to be an "I've just fixed ... " thread, though while what we make or break is interesting it perhaps doesn't happen as frequently.

Anyway, here's something I made earlier.  I'd been looking at 'blender' and multiple exposure pinholes and figured I might as well have a piece of that.  Two days of ferreting and manipulating has yielded up a tri-pin 120 camera and a roll I shot this morning seems to show promise.  With a bit of luck I'll be able to get some colour into it next Sunday at the Cardiff Bike Ride - always a highpoint on my calendar.



Parts came from the base of an angle poise lamp, two sizes of tubular card packaging, leftover silk from a bellows job, some plywood from Ikea's junk pile, ex-camera film winders, and assorted nuts, bolts, etc.  The focal length of each pinhole is just under 30mm. 

Five shots to a roll if you want separation between them.  The weaker shots tend to be muddy or over exposed, but these three seem to be OK.  The shot in the garden is a double exposure from two positions.  I'll have to try some half-turn doubles as well, though deciding where to crop may be tricky !!

[Francois]

Pretty surprising results for a first try.
If you want to set an exposure counter on I can see two ways of doing so.
First would be to use a small tube that would go through the back and on to the center position, a bit like a tunnel.
The other would involve a small mirror at 45° and a small hole in the top cover with a door. But that would involve more complex light sealing.

[Sandeha Lynch]

A red window is a possibility but I don't think I'll bother with just five frames.  It's 8 turns to start, then 3.5, then 3, then 3, and finally 2.5 turns or until the film clicks off the leader paper.  These have light leaks but I think I've fixed that now.

[Francois]

Yeah, light leaks are a pain with some handmade cameras.
My 6x14 curved plane pano has two major leaks on both sides. I did a few mods which I hope will fix that.

I found out that you really need a deep rabbet to block out the light efficiently, something mine doesn't have.

The next ones I build will have at least a ¼ inch rabbets to make sure no light goes in.

[Indofunk]

I just fixed a roll of Tri-X.

Sorry, I had to say that 

[Francois]

Very funny 

[Jack Johnson]

Great thread idea!

Nothing yet to contribute. I may have broken some stuff....

[jharr]

I just made an anamorphic pinhole camera out of a 35mm canister. Not really worth taking a picture of, but there you go.

[jojonas~]

nice idea! I've filled a equivalent thread in a swedish forum with my tinkering. good place for collecting advice too.

I'll post here when I'll get that pen s sorted

In the meanwhile, I've still that rangefinder to loosen up on the agfa folder that I got into shape with new bellows from Sandeha
And I'm struggling a bit with the last screws inside the winder on my bronica C after getting the counter to work again. it's tricky holding the "door" open and getting the screw straight

[Sandeha Lynch]

That's a good start, Jonas.   

[astrobeck]

I bought another pinhole camera today....not fair I 'spose, but what the heck!

[Aksel]

Love this sort of topic, great gratification in fixing stuff - keeping it alive and going!
Not sure if it´s really in line with filmwasters but I promise, it´s very analogue! Just overhauled the hydraulics at the rear end of my old Citroën. Picture taken with Olympus trip 35 on some old fuji 400.

[Francois]

Old Citroen DS?

[Aksel]

Actually this is my XM  but I also have a 1969 DS that is next on the list for maintenance, then when that´s done the seitz roundshot 65 el controller unit needs some soldering  That´s the thing, owning old stuff means you never have a lack of things to do 

[Terry]

Finally took some shots of my latest fixer-upper, a Rochester Optical Long Focus Premo 8x10 copy camera from 1901.  (Serial number 6.)


Premo 8x10 1 par Terry B, on ipernity


Premo 8x10 2 par Terry B, on ipernity


Premo 8x10 3 par Terry B, on ipernity

Here's what it looked like right after I'd finished scraping off the rotten leather.  I did some brass fabrication (the support struts for the end boards and some other small brass parts) and sanded, re-stained and varnished the interior mahogany surfaces, then covered it again with thin leather. 


000 0072 par Terry B, on ipernity

The bellows extension is 1 meter--shorter than the original, but who wants to get that close anyway?

Here's a test shot with the Caltar (Rodenstock) 215mm lens:


red flowers par Terry B, on ipernity

[Domingo A. Siliceo]

[...]



[...]

outstanding result, Terry. I sincerely admire your dedication and work.

[Aksel]

Terry

that´s impressive! Now it´s good for another hundred years 

[Francois]

Definitely!

[Terry]

It's a bit heavy (still lighter than my Kodak 2D 8x10) but it's a lot of fun to shoot with.  The biggest  problem is that the ground glass is so far away from the lens that pulling focus takes a lot of time!

[Francois]

I don't think they were designed for frequent focus changes... It probably was one of those set it and forget it setups that they were made for.

[Terry]

You're right of course, Francois; it was designed as a copy camera and probably used by someone who had an assistant to pull focus.  It can get really close to something but, of course, the trade-off is loss of DoF.  Also not problematic in copying work.  Still, it's a lot of fun to play with--the rear standard does all the usual tilt and swing moves, so I can play around with the focal plane.

[Francois]

That could only mean one thing: you need to hire an assistant

[Terry]

Right again!

[Francois]

 

[Ezzie]

Good idea for a thread Sandeha. I think one reason the need for one has not identified itself is that people, me included, have started dedicated threads for their builds.

Very nice restoration Terry. Those Ponys are very attractive cameras.


I won't recant any of my previous builds and hacks here, but thought I would post s small teaser for my R.O.C View type 4, 5x7 project. Already restored, more or less, and if I remember correctly with a new bellows from Sandeha, it is rather nice looking. But I may redo the lacquering, I need to make a 5x7 to 4x5 reduction back, and I need to source, or manufacture, a locking thumb wheel for the front rise and fall. It alos lacks lens boards, which I will need to make up.

[Sandeha Lynch]

Eirik, is that the one Jonny sent to me?  I think we need a picture.   

[Roycross]

Great job, Terry! Looking forward to seeing a contact print soon.

Roy

[Ezzie]

Eirik, is that the one Jonny sent to me?  I think we need a picture.   

Yepp, one and the same. I will post something when it's finished. Hopefully not long to go.

[Ezzie]

The aforementioned R.O.C View 5x7 variation 4 camera. Done up by an acquiantance of mine here in Norway, who had Sandeha do the bellows. I have made up a lens board to mount Topcon lenses for the VH series, and a reduction back for 4x5. Would ideally have tried to find a cherry or mahogany back for it, and not the black metal Sinar. But I think it still looks quite nice. Not bad for a 100+ year old camera.

Still need to get hold of a thumbwheel for the front rise and fall, but all in due time.

[Chalky]

That looks great!

[Terry]

Eirik, can you shoot a closeup of the rise/fall fittings?  I probably have a thumbwheel that'll work

[thatguychad]

Pulled my 4x5 shutter apart to do a CLA and the shutter blades fell out, requiring further disassembly. I had to come back to it for 3 days, but the shutter is working great now.



Also had to pull apart my Pakon F-335 to clean it because it wouldn't scan in black and white mode. Yay!

[Terry]

Got to have a steady hand for shutter work--well done!

[Ezzie]

@Terry

The screw is most likely a #4-40 or #4-48 thread. It measures just over 2.81mm diameter/across the threads. I imagine it may have looked something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Brass-Thumb-Screw-Knurled-Threads/dp/B00DD4X1BA though the knurling is somewhat different (not important)

Thanks

[Terry]

I looked up your camera on the piercevaubel site and the rise/fall fitting  looks the same as that on the Eastman 33A.  I have a parts 33A I've been plundering but the rise/fall is still there.  I'll pull the whole mechanism and send it to you. 

Here's what it looks like


000 0098 par Terry B, on ipernity

[Ezzie]

Very much like mine, yes. If you were to let me try it out, I would be utmost grateful.

[thatguychad]

Got to have a steady hand for shutter work--well done!

Thanks, it was frustrating for sure. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it disassembled.

[02Pilot]

Just finished restoring this 1938 IIIa with 1937 Summar. The kit came to me in a sorry state: vulcanite half gone, everything dirty and stiff, Summar filthy and scratched all to hell. There's still a few bumps and scratches in the body from a drop at some point in its life, but I gave it a CLA (curtains were still good), cleaned and hand polished the Summar, put on a new body covering from Hugo Studio, and it's good to go.

[Terry]

Very nice work Andrej.  I'm especially impressed with the finish on the lens--guessing it's uncoated!

[Aksel]

That´s a great job you have done there with the old Barnack!
What did you use to polish up the glass? I`w been keen on trying it out on a cupel of old uncoated lenses but newer got around to do it yet =)

[02Pilot]

Thanks, guys. The lens was coated at one point in its life, but there was no option but to sacrifice what little was left - the front element looked like it had gone ten rounds with a sandblaster and lost. Most Summars are uncoated, and I'm not opposed to uncoated lenses at all, so it wasn't a problem to my mind. There is still some roughness around the periphery, but I made the tactical decision to leave it rather than risk screwing with the optical correctness of the lens any more than necessary.

I polished it with cerium oxide. It's the standard material for polishing glass. It comes as a power, which you mix with water. Ideally, you'd use a form that matches the shape of the glass you're polishing, but lacking such a thing, I did it freehand, very gently, over many hours. I would periodically test it on my Fuji X-E1 to see how it was going and to make sure I wasn't developing any sort of distortion. Perfect it's not, but it's a usable lens now, and from f/4 it's quite good (like most Summars, apparently - some consider f/2 and f/2.8 to be "emergency" settings).

[Bryan]

Great job O2Pilot, did you take a "before" picture?

[jharr]

Another anamorphic pinhole. This one from an old 35mm bulk roll can. I might devise a fancier shutter if it produces good results. This will make up to a 35x310 anamorphic image or a 70x70 regular flat image.

[02Pilot]

Great job O2Pilot, did you take a "before" picture?

Foolishly, no. There were a couple in the FS ad on APUG, but it's been taken down now.

[jojonas~]

Another anamorphic pinhole. This one from an old 35mm bulk roll can. I might devise a fancier shutter if it produces good results. This will make up to a 35x310 anamorphic image or a 70x70 regular flat image.

Oooh, a bulk roll can! First I thought you had turned one of those robo-vacuum cleaners into a pinhole camera

[Francois]

Wouldn't that be fun?
You press the button and it does it all, including the vacuuming and proper dusting of the film

Whou wouldn't want a whole collection of photos of dust bunnies? 

[jharr]

And because I'm such a nerd and have nerd friends, I wrote an R script that gives me an exposure table. I give it the size of the pinhole, the radius of the film path, the thickness of the pinhole material, the upper and lower vertical distances of the film from the pinhole, and a list of iso's and it does this.

[Francois]

You just have to love nerdiness 

[Ezzie]

And because I'm such a nerd and have nerd friends, I wrote an R script that gives me an exposure table. I give it the size of the pinhole, the radius of the film path, the thickness of the pinhole material, the upper and lower vertical distances of the film from the pinhole, and a list of iso's and it does this.

And reciprocity? 😃😛😃

[jharr]

And reciprocity? 😃😛😃

Well, I suppose I could include reciprocity factors for every known emulsion in any light source and factor in age past expiration, but I think I'll leave some of the 'mystery' in the process!