Show us your home made camera...

[Tin Can]

Even better, even electroplating!

[Andrew Plume]

congratulations, terrific indeed

rgds
andrew

[vinny]

My newly completed 4x5 (not to be confused with a 5x4... Totally different animal )
Attachment 132983Attachment 132985Attachment 132986

Nice work. The rear standard extensions look a lot like off the shelf T track?
Before you build your 5x7, check out my website. I built and 8x10 complete and recently added a 4x10 back. I used 12" stainless (.039) feeler gauges from Mcmaster for my springs which require no annealing, just bending in a vise and pliers.

[DrTang]

Instant Box Camera, combination paper negative portrait camera and portable darkroom.

Whelp...there's one project I can now forget..I been thinking of building one ever since I read about them years ago..

but..where yours is like fine cabinetry ...mine would be like a homeless persons trunk all slapped together

I'll just sit this one out... you did such a fine job

[brandon allen]

Nice work. The rear standard extensions look a lot like off the shelf T track?
Before you build your 5x7, check out my website. I built and 8x10 complete and recently added a 4x10 back. I used 12" stainless (.039) feeler gauges from Mcmaster for my springs which require no annealing, just bending in a vise and pliers.

Yes, that is T track. It works and matches the other aluminum. I wish I had designed them for more forward movement rather than rearward. Live and learn.

Yes, the stainless feeler gauges are yet another step improved! Thanks.

I studied your site quite a bit while building, just to see how somebody else did things. I even asked you a few questions about milling machines...

The 4x10 is an attractive option to be sure. I tend to lean toward either wide or tall compositions. Food for thought!

B

[pdh]

Is black foamcore 100% opaque in full Sun?

As I said, yes seems so, but I've just remembered the paper can peel off the foam as the glue softens in the heat.
It was suggested elsewhere that Gatorboard is a bit more robust for this sort of little project, but it's hard to find and expensive when you can over here.
As you're in the US it should be easier and cheaper to come by.

[Jim C.]

Gatorboard is a brand name, you may have luck looking for melamine coated foam board.

[JoeV]

Whelp...there's one project I can now forget..I been thinking of building one ever since I read about them years ago..

but..where yours is like fine cabinetry ...mine would be like a homeless persons trunk all slapped together

I'll just sit this one out... you did such a fine job

I didn't invent these, they've been used in Latin America and other countries (Afghanistan, India, etc.) for many decades. They just haven't been well known in America. And just because I made one doesn't mean you shouldn't; the more the merrier.

~Joe

[jb7]

Nice looking camera Joe, and great pictures from it-

As a child, I remember being in a family picture taken on one of these in Majorca in 1972-
I remember the photographer attaching a logo to the negative before photographing it...

[JoeV]

@jb7: Very interesting, thanks for that bit of detail. Many of the intricacies of operating these cameras have died with their users, it's up to us to preserve their legacy and perhaps relearn some of their lost technique.

~Joe