Materials: walnut mainly, except oak for load bearers and tripod mount plate and birch ply for lens board. Cherry for removable leg locks and triangle brace for tripod (from wood re-sawn from crown molding). Conley "5 x 7 anastigmat, Effective Focus 7"" f/4.5 in an Optimo No. 3 shutter.
I hadn't started out to build a view camera; that was a by-product of restoring an old wood tripod. The tripod was just 3 legs I purchased in the 1980's from a shop called "Tools of the Trade" that dealt in buying and selling of used tools; I thought it unusual to find a set of camera tripod legs, they reminded me of my old Crown that I had in the 1960's so I bought them. I hadn't any shop tools then, and they sat in storage since then until recently. I found a piece of mahogany of suitable width in my scrap box, and decided to use it to make a tripod top (I gave up on the desired cherry or ash which I did not have in proper dimensions; most of my wood is re-cycle scrounge or donations from family and friends).
When I got done, it just didn't feel right to have an old, classic tripod without an appropriate camera to go with it; I really wanted a Kodak Pony Premo No. 3 that was on an Ebay auction, but I'd never done one and did not have adequate strategy, I'd put up a max bid of $100, the other fella got it for $101! I felt frustrated and impatient (I'm stage 3 terminal with PC, in home hospice, and my time is getting limited as I could be bedridden within this year and am already close to semi-invalid) so I decided to build a camera. Found a Calumet 16" (I think that was the original size, not sure of exact length) bellows, $20 postpaid, as is for project bellows with the last 6 folds separating on two adjacent sides, and that was a deal I couldn't resist. That of course steered the direction of the project, one has to build around a bellows chosen.
I trimmed the deteriorated folds off the end, and removed the metal frame from the front as well (they fasten from the outside with machine screws of precise length, not so good with a wooden front end), made up wooden frames from two layers of 1/32" model plywood glued together with the directions crossed and installed them on the now shortened to about 12" bellows. A Kodak ground-glass was had for $8.00.
Focus is by lead-screw, with a 1/4-20 threaded rod passing through dry-lubricated (graphite) bronze bushings at either end, front is counter-sunk under the brass plate, commercial brass knurled knob (McMaster ... ) augmented by home-made crank (mora wood handle hand turned) bearing on the other bushing. I think on experience that a 3/8-16 would be a better pitch choice, 20 pitch is a little too fine for easy focusing. Flat springs ground from broken Craftsman 1/2" bandsaw blade turned out to be a temporary expedient; I need to get some spring temper phosphor bronze from McMasters (I just found out about that material, 2x12 inch available from .005" to .125" at economical prices) for long term solution.
The tripod legs are not a good design; the pins, instead of being mounted in the sturdy, good load-bearing brackets as on the Crown, were mounted to the leg ends, through 2 thin brass plates and peened on the other side; one plate was missing and I had to make a copy, but could not get as good a peen as factory, and even that was inadequate to long-term stability (the tripod is wobbly because of general non-rigidity of this method). I made up the brackets with the aid of a Harbor-Freight bending brake.
I had not even thought about doing LF again when I started, but I can't have a 4x5 and not use it; acquired a pack of Ilford MGIV RC Deluxe, some Ilford developer and "hypo," three covered plastic pencil boxes (covers surgically removed by me) for 5 x 7 size processing trays. Built a simple contact printer with push-button switch under the handle, 7-1/2 watt night light incandescent bulb; even that, with 2 layers tracing tissue is too bright! Exposure of approximately 3 seconds, that's too short to control adequately. I'm purchasing a Federal 450 enlarger this coming week, too.
Of course, after the project was well under way, I found a nice Pony Premo No. 4, sans lens and shutter and missing the bright-field viewfinder but has the original lens board for only $95, and picked up an original Rochester Optical plate holder to go with it, along with unused Kodak septums. I'm still looking for the right lens/shutter combo (1 - 1/100, B&T, f/8, 5-1/2"FL or nearly so) for that.
I also discovered on McMasters a "linen tester," a very nice 5x stand magnifier for focusing; I found I could focus in moderate sunlight without a cloth using it (focusing, not composing!). The Fresnel lens over my ground-glass cost only $2.99 USD, it's sold as a FlexiThin magnifier, medium size (they have smaller ones, and one nearly 8 x 10) from the Chinese company MightyBright, which I picked up at a Beverly's craft & fabric shop.
This project has been a serious challenge for me, as I had to give up my beautiful DeWalt woodworker's 10" table saw, customized to full-cabinet and Biesemeyer type fence, when I moved into senior housing about 4 -5 years ago; I only have my 10" bench-top Craftsman DP and bandsaw, and my Bosch router and a customized router table plus a JET Mini wood lathe for serious woodworking tools. I don't have a planer or other thicknesser/flattener either, only elbow grease and sandpaper which leads to non-parallel sides of boards that want work-around's in construction. With every detail virtually affecting every other, development has continually provided new problems after each previous one was solved!
I've entered this in the woodworking competition at the Sonoma County Fair, which runs from late July through early August; our entries are due next week, Thursday through Saturday (judging and arranging in advance of the fair opening), and will get it back when the fair closes. Hopefully, I'm still in reasonable health when I get it back, and can go out and take some interesting (I hope!) photos, I've only taken a handful of paper negatives so far, several of the complex patio from my balcony, and experimented with shooting the fireworks on the 4th to use up some loaded holders so I could justify mixing chemicals.
BTW, I did 4 x 5 LF first about 1960 - 65, including 4 quarters at the photo school at RIT; I realized during that first 3 in freshman studio that I really wasn't cut out for being a professional photographer for a living, and with one quarter in photo science that maths and chemistry weren't my strong suit. I dropped out of photography altogether, taking pix only at Christmas down home with a Brownie Hawkeye flash 620, and from 1972 for several years an original Kodak 110 (is that correct, the 16mm size?) pocket camera which I still have stored away, complete with accessory electronic flash. Stopped taking pix again sometime, until I got a digital for woodworking project photos for posting to the web.
Hope you like it,
Regards, John
Santa Rosa, CA
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