4x5 Stereographic Camera Project

So I've decided to finally build a 4x5 stereographic camera that I've had in the back of my mind for a long while. I've been gathering parts and putting together a plan for the build. For anyone who is interested, I'll be documenting the build and have made the first video to show the components I'll be using and discuss my overall approach to the build. Here is that video.

As always, I'm very interested in ideas and insights from the community so if you have ideas to share or questions don't hesitate to let me know.

I've got the camera disassembled which has made it much easier to see how it's designed and how I can go about fitting a second back to it with correct alignment and registration.

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The camera was designed with an internal offset that allowed attachment of the back on the left and accommodated the original ground glass on the right. This offset actually made it much easier to determine how to change the seating of the original back to allow the second to sit in the same position on the other side. After making a couple of measurements to verify that they would seat in equivalent positions on each side, I cut a couple of grooves to allow the backs to seat flat (the backs have bent edges which reach around the edges of the body so a couple of grooves were needed so the the inside ridges weren't raised by the edges of the body). Once those grooves were cut, the backs seated exactly as I'd hoped.

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This also showed me how much the outer body needs to be extended to meet the overhang of the far left and far right edges of the back assemblies mounting plates. I'll need to make a couple of wood wedge shaped pieces to (or possibly just blocks depending on aesthetics and my woodworking capabilities with the minimal tools I have) to extend out the sides of the body on both sides.

Finally, to get both backs to seat properly butted up against each other while seated in the new grooves, I needed to remove the button that releases the revolving back on the right side back assembly along with its spring and part of the internal arm that the button would engage when releasing the lock that allows the back to revolve. The below image shows a comparison with one back retaining the button and the other removed.

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Once that was taken care of, the backs were able to seat butted up edge to edge, sharing the new grooves, and in proper alignment.

Got the body cleaned up. Removed all the glue residue and standard down the body to the clean wood.

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I also cut two blocks of wood to extend the body on the right and left sides to meet the overhanging edges of the mounting plates on the backs.

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Those are glued up, clamped, and curing now. Next up, I’m thinking about using some moldable wood putty to build up some transition points to make the blocks seamless with the curved top and bottom plates on the camera so that there is a smooth transition to the front.

I also need to find what’s left of the veneer that I have so I can figure out if it’s best to veneer this and stain it or paint it without veneer. There are some challenging curves that I have to take into account in terms of veneer so will have to think about that.

Just made the second video in the series showing the nearly completed camera: Building a 4x5 Stereo (3D) Camera - Part 2: The Teardown and Build

For anyone following this build, here is the latest video showing the finished camera and discussing its construction and specifications in detail including a detailed explanation of how lens spacing works on a scaled up double-focal plane stereo camera like this. Here is the video.