DIY Open Source Field Camera Design

[Tim Meisburger]

Jac, so essentially what you are saying is that its the design and tooling up that is expensive, and after that cranking out additional copies is relatedly cheap. This is, in essence, what I keep thinking. Having a shop make the front assembly for an Ikeda Anba would be very expensive, but having them make 100 might be relatedly cheap. That's why I think if we can settle on a standard design economies of scale could make a parts kit affordable. Then, with a standard set of parts available it would be possible to make any number of modifications to the original design, and if an alternative design became popular then the small number of additional parts required could be made in the same way. Eventually we would have a small catalog of camera parts, and demand sufficient to make it economical for suppliers to provide them.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Jac, so essentially what you are saying is that its the design and tooling up that is expensive,

The design is only as expensive as the drafter/designer would charge. It could even be free. A fair compensation would be to gift some of the parts to the designer. Set-up is usually the most expensive part. Cranking out more copies is pretty reasonable.

Having a shop make the front assembly for an Ikeda Anba would be very expensive, but having them make 100 might be relatedly cheap.

Yes. In fact, an ambitious person could copy an entire Deardorff, for example.

That's why I think if we can settle on a standard design economies of scale could make a parts kit affordable. Then, with a standard set of parts available it would be possible to make any number of modifications to the original design, and if an alternative design became popular then the small number of additional parts required could be made in the same way. Eventually we would have a small catalog of camera parts, and demand sufficient to make it economical for suppliers to provide them.

If the modified parts are enough in demand, then yes, otherwise it is likely they might not be cost-effective to make.

[brandon allen]

I can't imagine it would be cost-effective for a machine shop/supplier to make parts available on an ongoing basis, but a group-buy would be plausible. Perhaps somebody would consider stockpiling a number of parts or complete kits that could be sold to builders down the road. Obviously that would require an investment.

[Joe Smigiel]

Having made a few bellows, I would suggest that a bellows is a part that could also be sourced if the camera design was standardized. I ordered a synthetic bellows from Custom Bellows for an 11x14 build and I was very impressed with the quality and turnaround time. The cost was reasonable and if we would be using a standard, quantity discounts should be available to bring the costs down further.

Frankly, making bellows can be a PITA. Ok if you want to be able to say you've made the entire camera, but otherwise it is a tedious labor. There are some savings involved if you buy the material and construct it yourself, but what is your time worth (assuming you can find the correct materials)? For a compact folding field camera, the materials need to be very thin, opaque and durable. Not many things fit that bill. Thin leather of sufficient size is very expensive and many opaque fabrics are too thick or not durable enough. The closest thing I've seen available recently is Thor Labs BK-5 rubberized fabric. I'm building a replacement bellows for a Rittreck 5x7 Field camera with it right now but have taken the precaution of spray painting the inside layer flat black as the original surface seems very reflective and much lighter in tone than the Porter's fabric that was previously available.

I'm also working on a replacement for a Toyo Metal Field Camera right now and will be attempting to get a bit more extension out of the bellows than the original had. That means I'm cutting stiffeners out of thin, dense paper at 45 folds per panel. Times 4 panels. That's nearly 200 precise cuts for the stiffeners. Mindless...

I wonder if it can be done on one of those Cricut or similar machines used for scrapbooking? Has anyone tried that approach?

[Tim Meisburger]

Brandon and Joe,

Bellows should of course be part of a standard design. Then they can be sourced from Rudy or Custom Bellows. Speaking of Rudy, it might be interesting to raise the parts issue with him, as I assume he might have connections with suppliers in China.

I'm back working on my 8x10 again. I made the back last September (I have fitted it to my studio camera so I can use in in the meantime), and am now working not he box. I am dovetailing the corners, but if I had to do over again I would probably finger joint, as dovetails so small are fiddly, and I find my eyes not really up to the task anymore. Still two corners to go, and for those I might borrow my wife's reading glasses. After I finish the box I can build the front, but after that I am stuck till I get (or make) some hardware.

[brandon allen]

Joe,

It would have to a cutting machine other than the cricut brand, as you may already know. My wife has a cricut and I was all excited to use it to cut bellows ribs, until I learned about the lawsuit and the cricut machine's unique inability to cut user-made designs. Useless.

[brandon allen]

Back on topic...

Personally I would be perfectly happy to use a standardized ready-made bellows. In fact I ordered mine from Rudy, with fine results.

I tried to get info from Custom Bellows and they never responded to my emails. Can anybody give specifics - what do they charge for an 8x10 bellows? Mine (4x5) from Rudy cost $140. On eBay right now 8x10's seem to be going for $175-185. I expect a bulk discount would apply if we made a big order.

Tim, while dovetails are very cool, finger joints are definitely the easier way to go - as far as the standard design is concerned. My hat is off to you, however, I'd love to see photos!

[IanG]

I wondeer if it can be done on one of those Cricut or similar machines used for scrapbooking? Has anyone tried that approach?

Steve Smith who has posted here but mainly posts on APUG has used a laser cutter to make bellows stiffeners he posted about it in a thread.

I've not tried using the Thorlabs blackout material for bellow, I just tried to place an order but their site gave an error report so I'll order by phone tomorrow. I've at least 8 or 9 sets of bellows to make.

At the moment I have a large roll of shutter cloth (for 35mm & 120 shutters) but am reluctant to use this for bellows as it's expensive. However I make my own shutter cloth for Thornton Pickard roller blind shutters and larger SLR/Graflex type shutters and have used this in the past for bellows. I'm experimenting with making dark blue cloth for someone else at the moment.

Recently I bought some blackout material for my new darkroom only to find it's not light tight, I'm assuming (hoping) it's not the Thorlabs material as it's quite thick and doubled would be impractical for small bellows.

Ian

[Joe Smigiel]

Brandon,

I was not aware of either issue with the Cricut machines. I thought it had a scanning trace function that would allow user designs.

I thought the drawbacks might be the maximum dimensions it was able to cut and perhaps the stickiness of the substrate sheets would be too much to release thin papers without damage.

Joe,

It would have to a cutting machine other than the cricut brand, as you may already know. My wife has a cricut and I was all excited to use it to cut bellows ribs, until I learned about the lawsuit and the cricut machine's unique inability to cut user-made designs. Useless.

[brandon allen]

I shot an email off to Rudy making a general enquiry about him making bellows for this project. I also asked if he had contacts for other parts suppliers.