Hand Held 5x7 from Kodak 33a

[Ironage]

Here is another project, which I suspect will be rather easy to build but I am wanting the perfect design. I have a 5x7 Kodak 33a camera parts leftover and want to build a hand holdable camera from them. My idea is rather simple, and I am certain it will work, but we will see how usable it will be. Here is the starting parts.



My desire is to make it as simple as possible, and knowing that I will want to use it for environmental portraits, I will be using a Kodak 203mm lens fix focused at maybe 8 feet. I am still working out the perfect focus though.

Now for a question. For handheld exposures with a large format camera, my gut feeling is that I will be able to use a shutter speed of 1/60 second because the 203mm lens is equivalent to a 50 mm on a 35mm camera. 1/60 can be hand held at that speed and format. The old rule of thumb I know is the shutter speed should match the focal length of the lens. Following that rule I should set the shutter to 1/200 second. So which is it? Anybody know?

[cuypers1807]

I can use 1/60 with my converted Polaroid 900 (Razzle 900) on 4x5 with a 150mm.

[Tin Can]

My Wanderlust with one flashbulb is great at 1/30th fixed focus set for 5 ft

[Jim Jones]

Old rules of thumb are a good starting place, but each photographer should make up his own rules based on his own experience. Back in the days of 35mm Kodachrome 25 I eventually became fairly successful using 1/8 second for night shots, and down to a second if there was something solid to hold the camera against. A reasonable exposure for full length Kodak 33A portraits in good daylight with ISO 400 film might be f/22 at 1/125 second, well within hand-held range. You will have more than +/- one foot Depth of Field. Daylight head-and-shoulder portraits will be more difficult, with DoF of a few inches at most. Perhaps the quickest way to focus the camera is to attach a string to the camera's front standard and knot it at the distance to the sitter's nose. The plane of focus should be slightly further from the camera. The sitter drops the cord from her (or his) moments before you trip the shutter.

[Bob Salomon]

A 35mm with a regular 50mm lens is substantially smaller and lighter then a 57 with a 203mm lens. The rule of thumb is to use a shutter speed equal to or faster then your focal length.

[Ironage]

Here is an update on the project. I wanted the camera to be foldable for easy travel so here is what I came up with:



I used stainless bolts to extend the focus point. The no. 10 size only went to long enough to make the camera focus at about 13.5 feet, which I think will actually be better.

Here is the back. I don't need the focusing screen so I removed it to save weight. Did the same with the clips used to shift the back from portrait to landscape.



Here is the camera in the folded position.



The nifty trick that ended up working rather well was to use a spring loaded button to hold the supports in the open position. Here n the locked position.



I found an old Graflex foldable viewfinder on eBay and am awaiting its arrival. I am also interested in a way to attached the cable release in a good ergonomically location. Maybe a hand crafted hand hold is the answer for this.

[Ironage]

Here is a finished camera. I ended up focusing the lens at 13 feet and adding a rangefinder so I can see where 13 feet is! I have also experimented with a close up filter and can make sharp head only shots. I am quite pleasantly surprised at the sharpness while hand held, even to 1/60 of a second, but then I am only making contact prints. Under the loupe, they don't look printable, but 1:1 contacts look very good.

[Ironage]

I made the camera to make contact prints for alternate processes. Here is coffee toned cyanotype made from a handheld shot with this camera.

[Ironage]

Here is another contact print. This time on Bergger warmtone paper. I handheld this shot and composed through the popup viewfinder. The close focus was made possible with +1 close up supplemental lens. I set the rangefinder to 2.5 feet and focussed by moving the camera closer are farther.

[Ironage]

Here is another which was taken to see the depth of field and focus distance. The camera is permanently set to focus at 13 feet. Handheld again and contact printed on Bergger paper.