"Budget" ULF Landscape Rig?

[Drew Bedo]

What follows are just my coffee fueled early morning idle thoughts while sitting in the pre-dawn silence of the house . . . .

A ULF camera could be built along the lines of an "Afghan" arm-hole box or chest camera. In my inner vision, it would be fixed focus at infinity, set up for a specific lens. Maybe it is a single load one shot at a time or it could have an Afghan camera like arm sleeve or two to allow changing films.

The basic idea is to trade ease of transport and storage for ease of DIY construction and reduced cost (for ULF). I am thinking of some kind of wooden chest with a length or depth (width?) close to the infinity focus of the taking lens. The sheet of film or the glass plate would be clipped or clamped in place without a film holder. The lens would be permanently mounted. Perhaps a small box would fit over the mounted lens to protect it in transit.

Exact steps in operation would depend on contraction details, but I am thinking it is moved around in an SUV or pick up and operated from that vehicle, not packed around. Maybe some sort of cart would work too. Format might be variable; just put in something bigger or smaller. Focus is fixed, so after setting it up, there is no need for a GG or rear viewing hatch. Simplest build uses a top-hat shutter, (the box cover?) . More money brings a large Packard shutter.

Ok . . .I'm done.

[jp]

It's worth getting a film holder and making that work with it.. Otherwise, one shot and go home. If you have a camera with no film holder and film/plate in place, you will need a shutter to keep light off it at all times such as when your hat is in use.
Some of the cheap pinhole cameras have cams that lock the film holder tight rather than dealing with fancy springs, etc...

[Tin Can]

I have 2 ULF Pinhole boxes

One uses a 11X14 film holder and weighs a lot, I have posted it before

Just before winter I made a 5.5 X 14" box camera

Sprayed heavy duty cardboard box flat black inside, added DIY shutter, bent scrap metal into a radius that matched focal length, gaff tape X-Ray, one shot

Both are picnic table cameras, the cardboard one needs a sand bag

Testing will resume

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51029117326_1bd53cb469_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kKgyKG)IMG-0231 (https://flic.kr/p/2kKgyKG) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51028392703_b300fd7074_z.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2kKcRmc)IMG-0233 (https://flic.kr/p/2kKcRmc) by TIN CAN COLLEGE (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

[Oren Grad]

An oldie from the LF Home Page:

https://www.largeformatphotography.info/cameras/hand-held-11x14.html

[martiansea]

Sliding box tailboard camera seems like the simplest practical thing.
Those Afghan cameras are big, but they're only taking small photos with it. The ones I saw they were doing like Brownie size photos or smaller. The box is so big because it contains the darkroom...
If I wanted to get serious with ULF, I'd become skillful at making dry plates.

[Drew Bedo]

Afghan Camera: Sure, small ID size portraits. That is what they do. The format is small to allow them to do wet chemistry development inside the cvamera.

What I was kicking around was something along the lines of the old falling plate casmerasd where the exposed plate (or sheet of film) would be stored laying down flat in a box in front of the focal plane. Changing plates/film is done with the arm-sleeves, so no film holder is needed . . .and the formqat could be pretty large.

Eliminating the ULF film holder cuts way down on initial cost here. Also allows for multiple formats as materials become available, such as odd sized X-Ray film or different sized dry plates.

[pound]

Afghan Camera: Sure, small ID size portraits. That is what they do. The format is small to allow them to do wet chemistry development inside the cvamera.

What I was kicking around was something along the lines of the old falling plate casmerasd where the exposed plate (or sheet of film) would be stored laying down flat in a box in front of the focal plane. Changing plates/film is done with the arm-sleeves, so no film holder is needed . . .and the formqat could be pretty large.

Eliminating the ULF film holder cuts way down on initial cost here. Also allows for multiple formats as materials become available, such as odd sized X-Ray film or different sized dry plates.


https://youtu.be/5AOlPuTQt-M

i was kicking around this idea where the camera can be slimmer by used of a mirror. I won't need the processing to be done in the box. I just need to be able to keep the exposed sheet into a film/paper box and shoot the next one.

[William Whitaker]

https://youtu.be/5AOlPuTQt-M

i was kicking around this idea where the camera can be slimmer by used of a mirror. I won't need the processing to be done in the box. I just need to be able to keep the exposed sheet into a film/paper box and shoot the next one.



This is brilliant!! Kind of like a ULF, wet, SX-70...

[William Whitaker]

I'm sure this idea has been suggested (and probably done).
A yard barn with a lens in the wall and with an internal wall at the film plane on which film (or paper) could be placed (via masking tape or a magnetic easel arrangement).
The subject area would be outside (obviously!), perhaps as a nice garden to be a set/backdrop with appropriate furniture for a portrait setting (or still life). Of course it would be weather-dependent. And there would be a lot of other difficulties.
But you wouldn't be limited by format size. The processing facility could be placed within the building itself for an "all in one" camera.

And it wouldn't require a film holder.

[Tin Can]

I should do this as I have 2 yard barn options right now

At my old Chicago studio I made a series of 6" holes in my 100% blackout studio/darkroom facing a street with blank wall 30 ft away, old elevated railway

I tested with the 790mm Reinhart Wollenstan lens (http://www.re-inventedphotoequip.com/Formats.html) and expected a staircase to be built right in front 30 ft away as that was in the plans for The 606 (https://www.the606.org/). Plans were changed, I sold and moved.

If you go to The 606 link (https://www.the606.org/), my old studio is the first picture.

Don't miss it at all


I'm sure this idea has been suggested (and probably done).
A yard barn with a lens in the wall and with an internal wall at the film plane on which film (or paper) could be placed (via masking tape or a magnetic easel arrangement).
The subject area would be outside (obviously!), perhaps as a nice garden to be a backdrop with appropriate furniture for a portrait setting (or still life). Of course it would be weather-dependent. And there would be a lot of other difficulties.
But you wouldn't be limited by format size. The processing facility could be placed within the building itself for an "all in one" camera.

[Drew Bedo]

Yard Barn: Well OK I guess. That idea goes back to the Renaissance I think.

I was thinking of something that would be possible to transport . . .at least to back into a scenic overlook. I do recall someone building a camera into a cargo container on a utility trailer. My vision is for something less, something "more minimal" (yeah. . .I said that). Trying to go ULF but simply. Probably not suitable for wet plate process, but that too might be possible.

I can't do tis myself for several reasons, but I'd love to see someone give it a try.

[William Whitaker]

Perhaps John Layton will recall for us his 11x14 box camera from the early '80's....
John??

[John Layton]

My first DIY 11x14 - yes indeed! A series of large nesting/sliding boxes. Remember the old "Boy Scout" telescoping drinking cup? Same idea but on a much larger scale! Lots and lots of felt light baffles - but it worked!

But the thing weighed a ton. Subjects either had to be in my studio or very, very close to the trunk of my car. Lucky for me that I happened to own at the time a Quick Set "Gibralter" tripod - could pretty much double as a building jack I think!

[Drew Bedo]

John: Sounds like it was quite a project.


what was the approximate max extension of the lens board from the focal plane? Could it focus at infinity?

[pound]

of course previously I shared my ULF build in this section so not sure have you seen it. It is a sliding camera + afghan box camera design. It has focusing ability via the sliding and ground glass and yet you can load one sheet of paper at one time through the sleeve holes by covering up the ground glass when ready to load and shoot.


https://youtu.be/N5QpZmt-8eo

[John Layton]

Drew...the camera's focus parameters actually followed that of the lens I'd purchased prior to starting the build (a 19" Eastman Anastigmat) - so yes, this FL could focus to infinity.

Then I wanted to do some macro work and found that my telescoping boxes just would not extend far enough with that lens, and adding more box sections would have added another ton of weight! So...I found an old 12" Series III Dagor - and managed to do some good close up work with that lens.

But then I became intrigued with the possibility of doing some landscape work with the the 12" - realizing at the same time that I'd need to chop all of those telescoping boxes roughly in half, and then re-felt them all.

So...I then built my second "budget" 11x14 - again out of 3/4" ply that I had lying around from other projects - but this I time found a bellows (new old stock, DeGolden Busch) for 50.00 - and also purchased some gearing/shafting/focus rack from W.M. Berg, and built a more "traditional" folding camera. Still a bit heavy...so I created as many holes and other recesses in this camera as I could without it falling into pieces - and used this camera for awhile until some life changes demanded that I put it away for awhile, in favor of smaller (up to 8x10) formats.

Much more recently...life changes have once again permitted the use of 11x14 - and I've discovered that my remaining stock of Tri-X (exp. date 1988) actually has a rather pleasing amount of base fog! At any rate...here is a recent(ish) photo:

213892

[Drew Bedo]

Pound and John:

Wish I had the skill set, tool set and other where-withall to do that sort of thing.

Just goes to show that there in more than one way to achieve a goal.

[Michael Roberts]

I love frugality—when it is possible. I like the challenge of doing things as efficiently as possible. The main challenge I have faced with a budget approach to ULF is the cost of film holders. I built my first 11x14 for around $100. https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?47057-Ultra-light-DIY-ULF-Camera&p=1328239&viewfull=1#post1328239

My first ULF lens was an APO Nikkor 480mm I picked up for under $100.

X-ray film is inexpensive.

But 11x14 holders run at least $175-225 used, and are more tricky to construct than a camera. So, Drew's arm-hole-access-box could be a difference-maker.

[Michael Roberts]

More to Drew’s original post, a wide angle, fixed focus camera similar to Dirk’s recent 8x10 could be constructed pretty inexpensively... though I think you might have to go up to a 300mm lens to cover 11x14 which in turn means a deeper box, closer to 12" than 8" https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?162049-8x10-point-and-shoot&p=1585307&viewfull=1#post1585307

[Drew Bedo]

Well my concept (and this is just an in my mind project) is meant to be minimalist; eliminating the Ground Glass spring back and film holder. The camera bopx is imagined to be bought at Hobby Lobby or a flea market. /the film is afixed directly to the rear wall (in some way) after adjusting for the infinity focus of the lens or perhaps a calculated hyperfocal back focus. Heck, maybe a footlocker from Goodwill could be made to work (look for one with little wheels).

This leaves the lens as the major non-recurring expense.

[Drew Bedo]

I have written this before but its still good.

In the 1990s I knew a collector who had two huge ULF studio cameras displayed in his collection. At the time I had access to large sheets of film used for CAT scans and MRI at a hospital where I worked. . .and had access to the darkroom automatic processors for the film. I suggested that we collaborate on doing some ULF imaging. When he realized that I meant to actually make photographs with his cameras he broke out in a cold sweat and had an anxiety attack. No pictures were made.

[MartinP]

I read this thread and thought of a basic container that might serve as a camera-body. At work I had to sort out a way to move CVD and AlN wafers coated with light-sensitive material from one cleanroom to another in our test department. Of course there are specially-built containers in Production, but for testing we use all sorts of weird sizes of materials so a large container with removable holders inside was the way to go.

The quick and cheap solution was to go and order some plastic storage-containers of various sizes. These are black PP, with dust-tight and light-tight(-ish, fully light-tight with neoprene strips added) lids and resistant to the solvents they might come in contact with. The largest size I used was about 18x12x12" internally, but larger ones are available, and it occurs to me that these would make an excellent (and robust) large / ULF body, as one could fix a lens-mount and focussing system at one end with light-trapped 'arms' at the other.

Edit: Various focus distances could be accomodated by fixing a limited-range focussing system on to a changeable cone, rather than a long-range focussing system mounted directly to the body?