Hi everyone !
After taking my Busch-Pressman D out of the closet to shoot a few sheets of film, I'm hooked on large format again, and this time, it's bad... I'm seriously considering building my own 11x14 camera so I can shoot Ilfochrome and paper negs in-camera for a start into cheap ULF... Eventually i'll gather enough money to get me some film, but for now all I have is a box of 50 sheets of 11x14 ilfochrome paper that just begs to be used !
So, before I start in that wild endeavour I just wanted to ask a few questions, just to be sure that i'm thinking along the right lines, here...
First. I shoot mostly nudes and portraits, but I don't think that I am willing to go with the extra bulk of the extra-long bellows needed to shoot with a 700-800 mm portrait lens at 1:1 magnification... (you did know that 11x14 is the smallest format where you can fit a human head at 1:1 ?), so i'll settle for a shorter bellows, let's say enough for a normal (18") lens at 1:1 magnification, that's about 36" of bellows draw, or 900 mm that leaves the possibility of using longer focals at lower magnifications...
Second. For my main subjects, i don't really need back movements, the front movements on the other hand are critical to get all that nice sheiplung-thing going on, which should be useful with a 400 mm lens that has very narrow depth of field at 1:1...
Third, for a lens, I was thinking about starting with a process-type lens, a 260mm f10 APO-nikkor would do nicely... On the short side for portraits, I agree, but for environmental nudes, it would be perfect, i would just have to find a packard shutter for it and everything would be perfect !
Fourth, Where do I start ? What should I leave to professionals ? Bellows ? Ground-glass back ? Should I cannibalize an old beatten Deardoff for parts ?
The design I was thinking of would be a folding flatbed, fixed back camera, with a single extension bed. I want to keep weight to a reasonable minimum since I am likely going to do some field work with models using that monster. For the same weight saving reason I am thinking about building the camera as vertical only, since 90% of the photos I make are vertical and 99% of the photos I've ever put on gallery walls are verticals also.
I have to perfect my desings (focussing mechanisms, movements, etc...) and look into materials more closely (wood ? aluminium ? ABS ? Cardboard ?) but I'd like to get you ideas and thoughts on the project I am getting myself into...
I'll keep you posted during the next (weeks, months, years.... ?) as this project unfolds, and i'll probably get a section on my website devoted to it...
I am looking forward to your comments and suggestions !
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