Almost complete camera, a few questions!

[ruskidd]

Hey all!

I have recently acquired a DE VERE large format studio camera from a famous artist's back shed studio.
it is extremely heavy, and made mainly from cast aluminium. The bellows are almost perfect.
it looks like it used to fit onto tracks, i think it may have come from a warehouse/factory set up?

the camera has come with a 5x7" reducing back, though i believe the camera was built for 8x10 (or larger size)

I would like to shoot this in 8x10, but I can't seem to find any info on buying the right back for this camera.
the 5x7 back measures a 280mm square, is this a standard size for a camera back? where would i be able to purchase one, or is this easier to fabricate myself?

as for the lens, (to shoot 8x10) I am looking at the Industar-37 300mm (11.8inches) 4.5, does this lens cover 8x10? if not, what would be an ideal mm to cover this size?


(excuse the newbie questions) but i would love to get this back up and running again!

the front


back (with holder)


back (without holder)



hope some people can answer these (excuse the newbie questions) but i would love to get this back up and running again!

thanks!

[Frank Petronio]

You could watch eBay in Europe/UK for something to appear but those haven't been made in generations so you most likely would need to adapt a back from a different camera.

[Jim Jones]

It should be easy to adapt an 8x10 back from another camera, mounted on a plate like the current 5x7 back. Perhaps the 8x10 back must be spaced out a bit from the plate to allow for the sliding retaining clip. You'll have little clearance for 8x10 film, and might possibly loose a little of the image. The camera appears to be a graphic arts, not a studio, camera. It is best suited to photographing flat subjects where no front or back camera movements are used.

[IanG]

10x8 De Vere backs do appear on Ebay, you might also try MrCad. I'm not sure if the backs are the same as the De Vere 10x8 Monorail cameras there's a 5x4 reducing back on Ebay at the moment you might ask the seller for the dimensions.

Here's some De Vere info your camera must have been similar to one of these beasts



I can email the hi-res versions if you want them

Ian

[John Kasaian]

Probably the easist solution is to get an old wooden 8x10 back and adapt it to fit. Elmer's Glue, a cabinet saw and a rasp should suffice for most of the work.

[nolindan]

Gott im Himmel that thing is massive. From the catalog, it looks like it is their "Mark V" copy camera. Well, it's massive for an 8x10 camera, but puny by the standards of copy cameras.

I would first give a go at taking pictures with this beast. Make a lensboard from some black foam core and use a +4 close-up lens as a landscape lens. Try shooting some paper negatives in a 5x7 holder and see what you think of working this camera.

Or just go through the motions: punch a 5mm hole in some cardboard as a 'lens' & board so you can see what you are aiming at on the ground glass. "Through a glass, darkly", as it were.

You might not find this thing much of a pleasure to use for pictorial work. What with scanners there isn't much call for the camera's intended purpose of photographing paste-ups and reproducing old photographs.

There is an American photographer who is using the family newspaper's old 15 foot long copy camera for portraiture:
http://thomaslockehobbs.wordpress.co...nel-portraits/
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...hographic-film

[ruskidd]

wow! thanks guys for all the info! you've all helped me out on this one,

will post some paper negatives soon

what sort of environment would have this been used in?

[IanG]

what sort of environment would have this been used in?

Most of these big De Vere's went into Government departments/Research establishments. De Vere had big military contracts as well, I bought an ex-Navy 54a enlarger in the mid 70's with it's ani-vibration mounting frame - it had been used on board a ship.

In the UK though the big Catalogue compamies like Kays, Littlewoods etc, shot very image for each page to size, each transparency was stripped into the artwork so they needed big stdio cameras and an array of backs. I knew the chief photographer at Kays and went round their studios in the 70's they had a vast number of LF cameras I think there were about a dozen studios and many photographers and assistants, as well as an inhouse E4 later E6 processing lab. They took in some outside work as well.

Ian

[ruskidd]

interesting, I suspected with the 'made in England' metal stamp, art deco style feet and tracks it was some sort of Research/strictly business camera. thanks for the info!

made a few paper negatives today with the 5x7 back, First 4 i Hurled the beast around for a semi-interesting shot...

shot with a 150mm Ilex Paragon barrel lens




and last 2 are taken with a found plastic projector lens. really soft focus, fixed aperture. interesting to play with (self portrait on right)