Building a 4x5

[LabRat]

Building is good, but there are soooooo many decent 4X5's floating around for bargain prices, that it would cost less to buy your choice of quality cameras than to build...

Unless you had something specialized in mind... ;-)

Steve K

[adamlikesbikes]

I agree that there are cameras at good prices but the camera I want vs the camera I can afford are very different and building allows me to get a camera that does what I want it to do in an affordable way (I already have most of the raw materials on hand)

[John Layton]

Two points in favor of employing relatively larger front bellows dimensions, one being that this facilitates larger rear lens element diameters as mentioned above...the other being potentially better control of bellows-induced flare.

On the other hand, a bellows with relatively smaller front dimensions will generally offer better compression...which in the case of an especially long bellows can make more sense in terms of facilitating the use of a broader range of (short to long) focal lengths, especially when assuming that the bellows in question would not be interchangeable with a "bag" (wide angle) bellows.

In Adam's specific case...as he'd mentioned not wanting to go with anything longer than a 210mm, and that for mostly landscapes (assuming nothing closer than, say, 5 feet distant), relatively large front bellows dimensions would be OK, as his maximum bellows length would likely not need to be greater than about 12 inches - and thus compression would not be so much of an issue.

[esearing]

Maybe buy a used intrepid and remake the wooden parts in nicer hard woods.

[adamlikesbikes]

Very interesting stuff John. I'll explore larger sized front bellows. My only thoughs against it are in terms of compression, as this is a camera I will want to take put into the field, with compactness being a priority but as you said since I only need about 12" of extension (I was planning on doing 300mm) there isn't that much to compress anyways.

I'll probably beef up my front standard design by little bit, perhaps an inch or so, which will still allow for the design that I have in mind.

[Tin Can]

The first camera you make will show your mistakes

The second will be way better, plan on that

Every prototype has this problem

I want an H1 as it doesn't fold, the lens stays on and both fit is a tiny bag

https://www.chamonixviewcamera.com/cameras/45hs1

or

https://www.chamonixviewcamera.com/cameras/45h1

[adamlikesbikes]

I'm using all the tools I have at my disposal to make the best first camera I can. My brother (who has absolutely no interest in cameras) is helping me through this build because he freelances in industrial design. We're 3D printing everything first to ensure a good fit and then will advance to to plywood, aluminum, and some more complex 3D printed components.

That chamonix is one beautiful camera dear god

[adamlikesbikes]

What are some different camera back ideas that people have had success with? I see this one https://apenasimagens.com/en/build-y...5-camera-back/ isn't too complex, but as for other ideas, what have y'all done?

[Jim Jones]

LF camera builders may find a few features of Jon Grepstad's cameras useful: https://jongrepstad.com/building-a-large-format-camera/.

[Jim Jones]

What are some different camera back ideas that people have had success with? I see this one https://apenasimagens.com/en/build-y...5-camera-back/ isn't too complex, but as for other ideas, what have y'all done?

This idea may be elegant, but is unnecessarily complex. Careful construction of a back with appropriate surfaces well blackened and based on the models of well over a hundred years ago should still work fine.