"Budget" ULF Landscape Rig?

[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.

[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:

[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.i...=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.i...=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.