Homemade wooden 4x5

[Rick50]

Got this from my friend George after he passed. His wife gave it to me. I thought it was just a show piece for a shelf or something. Got it home and it had a real lens on it (180mm Schneider) so I thought maybe I can make this work. I had to jury rig a film holder / ground glass mount but I think it's light tight and I can focus so I will try it out this weekend. As long as I focus at infinity or close I should be OK, the rail is a little short. OK, it is a show piece but it was free.


Heres the fix:

 

[480sparky]

Looks like a Bender.

 

[Rick50]

Looks like a Bender.

Might be where the idea came from. Someone put a bit of work into this. It has limited use as a real camera because of the adjustments do not lock very well. But it is so damn light, even I can carry it around. I'll see what I can do with it.

 

[480sparky]

You will have more close-focus ability with a shorter focal length. Try a 150 or 90mm.

 

[tirediron]

Looks like a Bender.

Might be where the idea came from. Someone put a bit of work into this. It has limited use as a real camera because of the adjustments do not lock very well. But it is so damn light, even I can carry it around. I'll see what I can do with it.

Looks like a longer rail should be easy enough to make, and as far as the "lock" issue, could you not remedy that by using some friction tape or similar under the metal washers?

 

[Rick50]

Looks like a longer rail should be easy enough to make, and as far as the "lock" issue, could you not remedy that by using some friction tape or similar under the metal washers?

As far as the upper knobs for tilt, swing, etc. I think hard rubber washers would provide more grip than the nylon ones.
The real problem is the focusing rail. It needs redesign and rebuild. I think a piece of hard maple would work. I can do the machining but I'm still thinking about the design.

You will have more close-focus ability with a shorter focal length. Try a 150 or 90mm.

Mostly I would use this with the 180 but my 120 would work too. I would like to keep the current bellows so that will be the limitation.
Staying with a 'normal' lens length is just fine. Some day I'll win the lottery or hit a jackpot and then I'll probably buy that Shen Hoa that you have for carry around. It looks good for the price. In the meantime.......

 

[480sparky]

You may be able to make a longer rail, but there will be a limit to how far the bellows will go. Especially when figuring in movements.

 

[otherprof]

Got this from my friend George after he passed. His wife gave it to me. I thought it was just a show piece for a shelf or something. Got it home and it had a real lens on it (180mm Schneider) so I thought maybe I can make this work. I had to jury rig a film holder / ground glass mount but I think it's light tight and I can focus so I will try it out this weekend. As long as I focus at infinity or close I should be OK, the rail is a little short. OK, it is a show piece but it was free.
Whatever it is, it is beautiful!

 

[Gary A.]

Nice.

 

[DarkShadow]

Very Cool.

 

[Rick50]

OK, so now I fixed it and it's ready for film. I've shown the fix in the 1st post.
1. For clamping the focus I just removed the roller mechanism that didn't work anyway and replaced with a sliding mechanism. I added 2 blocks under the rail and a squeezing screw to clamp to the rail. Works good. This is how it's done on the Bender.
2. I also had to remove the base tilt as that joint was very weak and the wood was cracked. Now it's solid (but no tilt). I don't think I'll need anyway. This camera will have limited use.
3. I sanded all the nylon washers and they grip pretty good now.
4. Max bellows extension is 280mm or 100mm beyond the lens length. Gets me within 18 inches of a subject. Good enough for my use. Heck girls won't get any closer than that to me anyway.
5. More work is needed on the rear end for ground glass and film holder but that can wait. My Rube Goldberg fix works.

So now I load some film and try it out. Should be fun.