Which would be easier to build - 8x10 SLR or TLR?

[Qeb]

Hey everyone,

Hope all are well.

I'm just thinking about 8x10 cameras in SLR or TLR.

Which do you people think would be easier to fabricate?

I'm just bored in lock down and am dreaming of when I have a studio.

Thanks for reading this!
Be well everyone!

Cheers,
Kevin H.

[Dan Fromm]

Ah. Dreamer dreaming dreamily. Looks much like a troll trolling trollishly. How's your budget?

Don't even consider making an SLR.

Making a two lens 8x10 camera is a matter of stacking two 8x10 view cameras, making sure that their film planes are in register, linking their focusing mechanisms, ...

But consider carefully whether you need reflex viewing or whether an inline viewer will do. Remember that with reflex viewing you'll be looking down into a mirror box and probably standing on a ladder, or from the side into a mirror box. In either case, the viewing ground glass will have to be in register with the film plane, the mirror will have to be positioned precisely and you'll need a front surface mirror. Oh, yes, You'll need viewing lens and taking lens very well matched on focal length. Getting two such may be difficult.

In-line viewing is easier to set up and might be usable by a person of normal height standing behind the camera.

When I was very young my parents took me and my sibs to portrait studios that used 4x5 cameras. The photographer (always a man) focused and composed through the lens (not a lot of either, the camera was on a stand or tripod, was basically prefocused and there were marks for us to stand on), closed the shutter, cocked it, inserted a film holder, pulled the dark slide and then fired the shutter when he liked what he saw. Why can't you do that?

[Oren Grad]

Don't even consider making an SLR.

If one is willing to give up the requirement of moving the mirror automatically as part of the shutter release action, and is willing instead to flip the mirror out of the way manually and then make the exposure separately, it becomes a closer call as far as mechanical complexity.

Whether that makes sense depends on what problem one is trying to solve by going to a reflex design.

[Dan Fromm]

If one is willing to give up the requirement of moving the mirror automatically as part of the shutter release action, and is willing instead to flip the mirror out of the way manually and then make the exposure separately, it becomes a closer call as far as mechanical complexity.

Whether that makes sense depends on what problem one is trying to solve by going to a reflex design.

Oren, your suggestion indeed avoids some mechanical complexity and precision machining but I suspect it isn't consistent with the OP's goal. I believe, perhaps in error, that Kevin wants an SLR or TLR is to be able to see the subject's expression etc. at the moment of exposure when shooting portraits in a studio. Your suggestion's time lag between the time the exposure process is started and the time the shutter fires seems longer than he wants.

[Oren Grad]

Oren, your suggestion indeed avoids some mechanical complexity and precision machining but I suspect it isn't consistent with the OP's goal. I believe, perhaps in error, that Kevin wants an SLR or TLR is to be able to see the subject's expression etc. at the moment of exposure when shooting portraits in a studio. Your suggestion's time lag between the time the exposure process is started and the time the shutter fires seems longer than he wants.

Understood - was just exploring the concept space, as it were. Seeing the subject's expression at the moment of exposure was my own motivation for purchasing a Gowlandflex, as the Graflexes I've owned still have a fairly long lag, if not quite so long as inserting a film holder in a standard view camera. I've owned different vintages of the 4x5 Gowlandflex in the past, currently have a 5x7.

[Qeb]

Hey everyone,

So, I keep seeing the sinar tlr from Glennview.
Does anyone know what would be an 8x10 camera that is similar to the sinar that has the 4 tubes holding up the front and rear standards?
http://glennview.com/sinarTLR.htm


~~~~~~~~

Hello grat, yes, I think it would be nice to be able to focus, compose, and see the subject (facial expression and pose) right to the end.
Thanks for the reply
~~~

Thanks for input Nodda and Oren

[joelio]

Hey everyone,

So, I keep seeing the sinar tlr from Glennview.
Does anyone know what would be an 8x10 camera that is similar to the sinar that has the 4 tubes holding up the front and rear standards?
http://glennview.com/sinarTLR.htm



~~~~~~~~

Hello grat, yes, I think it would be nice to be able to focus, compose, and see the subject (facial expression and pose) right to the end.
Thanks for the reply
~~~

Thanks for input Nodda and Oren

https://www.largeformatphotography.i...ighlight=norma

[Oren Grad]

Does anyone know what would be an 8x10 camera that is similar to the sinar that has the 4 tubes holding up the front and rear standards?

I think you'd have to fabricate extended risers for the front and rear standards so that you could build one for yourself.

[Nodda Duma]

If one is willing to give up the requirement of moving the mirror automatically as part of the shutter release action, and is willing instead to flip the mirror out of the way manually and then make the exposure separately, it becomes a closer call as far as mechanical complexity.

Whether that makes sense depends on what problem one is trying to solve by going to a reflex design.

The cost of the 13” diagonal roof prism required to cover 8” x 10” would feed my teenagers McDonald’s cheeseburgers and fries every day for approximately 25 years.

[Oren Grad]

The cost of the 13” diagonal roof prism required to cover 8” x 10” would feed my teenagers McDonald’s cheeseburgers and fries every day for approximately 25 years.

Don't need a diagonal roof prism. Look down on the viewing glass on top of the camera, as with a Graflex.