Pix of your home-built cams here please

[Sandeha Lynch]

Hi Andrew. Thanks for the compliment.

Here's a rear view of the Garden camera (it's not big enough to be a field camera) with the sheet film back attached ...


A view with the connecting plate for the RB67 back clipped onto the camera. The RFH slides down onto the brass strips using the grooves ...


A shot of the RB67 mounted ...


And a shot of the reverse of the two backs ...

[Sandeha Lynch]

And here's the full kit ...



Hope that helps.

[barryjyoung]

Barry

how far will you go taking on oddball one of a kind jobs? I ask because I always have jobs like this to be done but have trouble finding anyone with the expertise, equipment and desire to take on the challenge of a one off that no one else has dreamed up!

Clayton

Hi Clayton: I no longer do custom work. The problem is the desire you mentioned. I believe that generally people are good. They only turn evil when they want something custom made. You see, people are used to living in a mass produced world. They look at their cell phone or DVD player and think they payed too much when they bought it. Can you imagine what a cell phone or DVD player would cost if you had to make one from scratch? So when people ask me for custom components they are rarely ready for the price. I try to get them ready by telling them that it is going to cost a LOT more than an off the shelf mass produced item, but they do not seem to hear me. For example, a camera knob which is made on a CNC lathe takes about 5 minutes for a fancy one. That is if 500 are being made and if you do not count programming and program optimization and toolmaking time. Those expenses are spread over the entire run and become minimal if the run is huge. That mass produced knob can be sold for about $4. If I were to make the very same knob once using conventional machines it would require a 45 minute set up, planning and I might scrap one or two along the way. My time is valuable as is my investment in machinery and overhead. I would have to sell that same knob for about $85. Even at that I am losing money. So when the customer gets a quote for $85 for something he figures should cost $4, he says "No thanks" or even gets angry and I lose my time figuring up the quote as well as a little bit of reputation. That is why there is no desire by people with the equipment and knowledge, and that is why I do not do custom work any more. I am sorry I could not help you.

[Sandeha Lynch]

Apologies ... it seems I should have used "Attached Thumbnails". Hope all is clear ... Sandeha

[Murray@uptowngallery]

Sandeha - that is cool little machine.

The hinged GG is a great idea...I see myself juggling a piece of glass with spacers glued to it and tape on the edges to protect fingers, a spotmeter in the other hand, and ..*^(@*(& ouch, ()()#@=

[Andrew Moxom]

Very nice Sandeha! Very well thought out.

[prifti]

I'm making this 16x20 wet plate collodion camera around a $25 e-bay bellows and mahogony that I found in a dumpter in Staten Island. I'm almost finished with the plate holder, and hope to be using it this summer...

So far I have about $80 into the construction (minus the lens).

Cheers...

David
prifti.net

[Removed Account]

That's gorgeous prifti! ANYONE attempting 16x20 wetplate is deserving of some respect.

[nick mulder]

If I were to make the very same knob once using conventional machines it would require a 45 minute set up, planning and I might scrap one or two along the way.

I just took a whole 8 hour day making what I thought would take 2 or 3 hours...

A alu bar with 4 slots and one tapped hole ... Setting up the mill to be safe and not cut into itself took a lot longer than I anticipated. And the constant rechecking of measurements to account for working with drill centres instead of the actual slot dimensions ...

Anyhoo - long winded way of saying yeh, I understand where you are coming from...

I'll post some pix of my setup soon - its a handheld 16mm 3D filming rig with a wireless connection firing an array of strobes at 50Hz (in time with the two shutters)

[GREGGAN]

My 6x17 camera

And the scanner camera, it uses a canon Lide scanner as sensor and a Russian 30 dollar lens no shutter neaded :0)
More about those cameras and other projects can be found at:
Stockholmviews.com
http://www.stockholmviews.com/diyphotogear/index.html