Portrait Bazooka and Ash's Packard Mod

[rippo]

Wow, won't my clients be blown away!! (har, har)

Portrait lens cobbled together from some lens elements and PVC plumbing pipe, and a few bits and pieces. Mounted onto a packard shutter (that wood bit is going to get painted too), which is in turn mounted to a standard lensboard with some extra holes drilled in it.

I took some polaroids with it, and the lens and shutter combo appears to be working. However my polaroid back isn't working as well, so I don't have any pix to post yet.

The lens should be about 200mm, however the nodal point is about half way down the tube I think. So I can't actually focus at infinity with this set up, because I can't get the standards close enough. Good thing it's a portrait lens.

I have a landscape lens I've made too, which is just one element. Haven't tried it yet.

The packard is mounted so that I can't easily access the 'instantaneous' (1/25 s) hole to put a pin in it. So I'm limited to about 1/8 s shutter speed or slower, and it's completely manual to open and close it. Slow film such as Ortho-Litho, or dark and gloomy interiors are going to be necessary.

Lens design from 'Primitive Photography' book. Packard mount technique by <a href="http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=23098">Ash</a>.

This is designed so that I can make lenses and mounts that bolt onto the front of the packard shutter. That way I don't need multiple packards.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2212/2037797473_9488f0d274.jpg

[Kirk Keyes]

So where's some scans to drool over?

[Ash]

:D my mod came in handy?

[rippo]

Kirk: they're coming! the polaroids i took didn't work out, because i think i have bad rollers. only one side was getting the chemicals. i did expose a couple of test negs, will try and develop it tonight.

Ash: yes of course! i told you i was gonna do it. :)

one thing i ran into though is that the outer diameter of this pipe is 3 1/2". even leaving a 1/4" sliver of wood between the hole cutout and the packard valve cutout, i still have to offset the hole about 3/8" or so from the center of the packard/lensboard opening. the actual glass is much smaller than that, so i'm not getting much if any vignetting from this. but it's a little annoying. i should figure out how to use slimmer pipe next time. not a fault of your mod, for sure! i hadn't planned for that aspect when i built these lenses.

your mod is great! now if i could figure out how to use the instantaneous feature.

hey...does anyone know...if i shaved off the other end of the 'bump' that holds the paperclip, would that allow me to access this feature from the other side? i could drill holes through the lensmount and pop in the clip that way.

otherwise i'm going to be shooting on a lot of ortho-litho film. or indoors. realistically, indoors is where i plan to use these most anyway.

[Ash]

On my own mod, if you look at the back of the lensboard (front standard, not wood block), there should be space to drill a tiny hole through and affix the instant pin on the back of the board, literally removed something from the camera and access it from the inside to push it in.

I'm not sure how bad this will affect critical focus, I didn't plan for that.

Your other choice is to make a hook, maybe on a spring-type hinge. That way you push from the front of the lensboard, and it follows through a tunnel, which then slingshots to push the pin into the instant. Maybe too complex I don't know. You could do it with a second (very short) cable release.

[walter23]

Sweet. Post-factory, Mad-Max survivalist photography.

[rippo]

On my own mod, if you look at the back of the lensboard (front standard, not wood block), there should be space to drill a tiny hole through and affix the instant pin on the back of the board, literally removed something from the camera and access it from the inside to push it in.

I'm not sure how bad this will affect critical focus, I didn't plan for that.

Your other choice is to make a hook, maybe on a spring-type hinge. That way you push from the front of the lensboard, and it follows through a tunnel, which then slingshots to push the pin into the instant. Maybe too complex I don't know. You could do it with a second (very short) cable release.

i'm not sure i'm understanding this properly. you drilled a hole through the lensboard, so a pin could reach through and into the proper hole on the packard? it would make sense, but i don't see it in the pictures of your 'mod' posting.

critical focus? i'm not quite sure what you mean, in this context. besides...it's a homemade lens! the only "critical focus" i can get is when people complain it's not in focus. :)

since none of this is permanently fixed in place, i could simply unscrew the packard from the lensboard, and then put a paper clip with a right angle bend under it. not convenient, but nothing about this process is. it would take me a couple of mintutes to convert. hmm...trying it now.

hey it works! i can lodge a paper clip in there and have it in 'instant' mode without any extra drilling. and, if i'm gentle, i can actually do a 'T' mode while the paper clip is in there. a soft squeeze will leave it open, even with paper clip in place.

[rippo]

thanks walter!

and some pix...


and here are two images. the lens has some mechanical vignetting due to the long tube, which was predicted in 'Primitive Photography'. i've cropped the self portait, and left the monkey one alone. vignette is off-center, no doubt because i had to mount the lens off-center in relation to the packard/lensboard opening.

the self portrait was horribly overexposed because the packard failed to close. can't you see the panic in my eyes? :) yet it scanned well enough, so go figure. thank god for film, eh?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2365/2039885938_d0c98b2fdb.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2402/2039088885_8534e3ad9a.jpg

[Ash]

Awesome :)

Sounds like the paperclip idea is less destructive. I was thinking in the air as I've since sold my Calumet and I can't physically play around with the old mod to work out what would be best!

[Sandeha]

Pretty good, pretty good.

[Asher Kelman]

I'm impressed too!

Ash, what's the reference to your mod?

Thanks,

Asher

[rippo]

thanks all!

[Ash]

It's in my sig.

[Jim Galli]

Very nice! Possibility is endless. ;)

[C. D. Keth]

Very nice! What are the elements in it, or is that a secret? :)

[rippo]

thanks Jim and Christopher!

Christopher: nope, not a secret! front element is an uncorrected positive meniscus, diameter 62mm, fl 400mm. rear element is an achromat, diameter 52mm, fl 300mm, Coated. lens is about f/4, with a focal length of 200mm or so. some pvc pipe, foamcore and glue, and i'm in business!

landscape lens is built too, but haven't tested it yet.

this is fun!

[rippo]

landscape lens works too! here's a picture from the landscape lens, f/11 with a funny 3-pointed star shape cut out (no specular highlights in the OOF region to speak of, didn't make a difference). and below that, a still life using the portrait lens mentioned earlier.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2291/2063013717_9f16aec1ba.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2247/2063014331_c090dddceb.jpg