The fastest 4x5 camera ever!!!

[Robbie Shymanski]

I wasn't sure which topic to put this in. Could have gone into "Cameras" or "Lenses" or into the "show your camera" threads. I think it deserves its own.

I just built this. Took me about an hour of tinkering. So there is one case for its speed. (I really should be working on other things, but I am easily distracted.) The lens is a Barco Delta HD-6C ML. It is an 8 lb. monster I liberated off one of those old three lens video projectors. And, yes, I still have the other two. These have been sitting in my garage when I rediscovered them over the holiday. Looking at them I wondered if it could just cover 4x5. So, today I finally dug out a Crown Graphic Graflock back I knew I had lying around. A couple pieces of birch ply and some screws... voila! The lens already has helical focusing and almost no depth of field. Set up as is, it has a focus between 3 and 30 feet. I imagine using a 1/2" ply would give me an infinite focus, but that is for another day. I am guessing the f-stop around 1.2 and 1.4. I plan to use it for paper negs at some point. I wish I had more time and less to do.Attachment 64465

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[Kirk Gittings]

Cool!

[David R Munson]

That is fantastic. Shoot something with it!

[Eric Rose]

The hell with paper negs, shoot some film! That looks totally cool. Love the felt pen on the GG.

[Justin Cormack]

I used to visit the Barco factory fairly often, they also used to make radios. They didnt make the lenses though, not sure where they came from....

[erie patsellis]

Robbie, just a suggestion, but if you remove the front aspherical diopter the back focus increases and some of the soft focus look goes away, makes the illumination across the neg more even as well.

The manufacturer is U.S. Projection Lenses, now a division of 3M.

Oh, and it should be ~F.9 to F1, depending on the specific model HD-6 lens. I use HD-8 and HD-10 lenses for various projects, nice multicoated super fast lenses that come dirt cheap.

[Robbie Shymanski]

Thanx Eric. Actually I think I can fix the focal length by extending the paths on the helical track. One of the things I like about the lens is that it is incredibly sharp, so I don't wanna take the lens apart. But thanx on the f-stop rating. I was being conservative estimating its value. Once I run some film/paper through I was going to get a more accurate number.

[brett_jurgens]

I have pulled similar lenses out of crt projection tvs. I always thought I could do something with them. This has me curious now.

[Nathan Potter]

Fun experimentation Robbie - the kind I like to do. Crude but functional. I hope you don't attempt any sophisticated home improvement projects if this is an example of your woodworking skills.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Nathan Appel]

woot!