Diy veiw cameras

[Rus Lan]

Has anyone built their own camera by these books:
West, Bert. Build your own view camera, or
Romney, Ed and James Tannehill. Build a view camera?
Does they have friction focusing or geared focusing? Any opinion of these cameras?

[Glenn Thoreson]

I've built several. No book learning, though. I just wait until a suitable bellows makes an appearance. Then start digging around in the junk under the workbench. Out comes the table saw, etc, and fist thing you know a camera appears as if by magic. Friction focus, geared focus, it all depends on what I find around here. It's not all that diFficult. Well, unless you want it to look like it came off a store shelf. Good luck. :D

Edit: I should add that if you're looking to build a 4X5, look on the auction site for bellows. You can get a brand new Sinar bellows for 69.95. Really easy to use for a home build.

[Robert Hughes]

I built an 8x10 box camera in November out of art store materials (standards from canvas stretchers, black foam core boxes), a 10 1/4" lens off the Dreaded, and a fresnel from OfficeMax. It works great! Wish I had known about the bellows, that would have been really keen. Maybe I'll make another! :)

[Rus Lan]

Thanks guys!