8x20/Banquet Camera Construction

[JohnGrey]

My brother and I are planning on constructing an 8x20 camera because we both love the wide format, but more to justify purchasing the Schneider 480/8.4. We're also looking to make some revisions and improvements to the general concept of the wide angle camera. Does anyone know where some plans can be found for them? Even a patent document that has the basic dimensions would be great.

[Steve M Hostetter]

I'm curious as to how much you paid for the 480mm 8.4 lens..?

[MenacingTourist]

I can't help with plans but you may want to look at modifying an 8x10 into an 8x20. I have a good condition 2D that I'm planning on doing this to. In my mind it's buying a film holder and building the back to fit and the hardest part seems to be getting/making the springs for the bail. Then there's building the bellows (there are good plans around). If you start with an existing camera most of the work is done.

Would love to see progress once you guys start.

Alan.

[JohnGrey]

I'm curious as to how much you paid for the 480mm 8.4 lens..?

$2800.

[el french]

Why not build a 20x20 so you don't waste 2/3rds of the lens :D

[Michael Jones]

Go here:

http://www.jbhphoto.com/vcam/vcams10.htm

While this deals with an 8x20 vertical camera, its informative.

Good luck.

Mike

[JohnGrey]

Go here:

http://www.jbhphoto.com/vcam/vcams10.htm

While this deals with an 8x20 vertical camera, its informative.

Good luck.

Mike

Yes, I've seen it. Very informative, unfortunately not much in the way of technical drawings and it'd take a while to try and suss out the math from pure perspective. His bellows construction on the other hand was incredibly helpful.

[JohnGrey]

Why not build a 20x20 so you don't waste 2/3rds of the lens :D

Even if they made film for such a thing (not saying they don't, but I've personally never heard of it), I'd have to wear a backbrace just to haul it into the field. :p

[Claude Sapp]

Dan Dozer had a great journal about his 8x20 project. Search this site and try to contact him, he may have some good info for you.

[John Schneider]

$2800.

That's quite high. Typical used prices hover around $1K, which is what I bought and sold mine for. E.g., Igor's has a 480 Sironar-N now for just under a kilobuck.

[JohnGrey]

That's quite high. Typical used prices hover around $1K, which is what I bought and sold mine for. E.g., Igor's has a 480 Sironar-N now for just under a kilobuck.

You ever see a Symmar-L for under a grand? If so, I'd ask what dead body they took it off of. ;) Besides, I've been burned on used gear before, so I'm a little twitchy about it to begin with. The lens I got had been used only twice, so I couldn't pass it up. Now their Nikkor-SW 90 we could maybe do business on. I've been looking for one for by Tach.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Dan Dozer had a great journal about his 8x20 project. Search this site and try to contact him, he may have some good info for you.

John, Dan and I built our 8x20's at the same time. He finished his well before me and kept a very good journal of the process. He sells it for a very reasonable price. His design allows for horizontal and vertical work. you can look in the classified section on APUG or possibly here. you can e-mail him. ddozer@dc.rr.com. Just make sure you put a note in your header about the journal. It helped me get the registration of my ground glass right .

Jim

[John Jarosz]

Dan's journal is quite good. He really doesn't have any drawings other than sketches, but that's all you'll need. Buy your filmholders first and build the back around the holder. I bought my used bellows from ebay, which, though not perfect turned out to be a good decision for me. My 8x20 is also a converted 2D. I'll recommend cherry or cuban mahogany (what I used) but not luan mahogany or any of the coarse grained versions. For the bail springs I used spring temper brass from McMaster Carr. Making those was not that difficult, just different than woodworking.

HTH

John

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Dan's journal is quite good. He really doesn't have any drawings other than sketches, but that's all you'll need. Buy your filmholders first and build the back around the holder. I bought my used bellows from ebay, which, though not perfect turned out to be a good decision for me. My 8x20 is also a converted 2D. I'll recommend cherry or cuban mahogany (what I used) but not luan mahogany or any of the coarse grained versions. For the bail springs I used spring temper brass from McMaster Carr. Making those was not that difficult, just different than woodworking.

HTH

John

John, I fashioned mine after a Kodak 2-D also. I bought an old parts 2-D for the hardware and then collected photos of all of the 8x20 Koronas and 2-D's and built mine out of American Black Walnut. Don't forget to build the matching tripod.

Jim

[Frank Petronio]

Didn't someone make a couple of banquet cameras out of plywood, sort of like Fotoman cameras on steroids? With a simple sliding box for focusing and maybe a tilting and rising lensboard (done on the lensboard itself, like some of the 1890s cameras).