# So you want a view camera and haven't much cash!!



## ColRay (Feb 3, 2013)

So you want a view camera and haven't much cash!!

 Make one yourself.

Start by picking up a cheap Russian lens and shutter $20 on ebay

Hunt around for some scrap timber and any thing else that may be useful .

Visit the local hardware shop for nuts and bolts also a can of paint.

The total cost was about $A150

After making this camera I h made a series of salt prints 

 Both the camera and prints where entered in a fine art craft exhibition .. and I won first prize $2000 ( big head)








picture sharing


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## BlackSheep (Feb 3, 2013)

Nice.
Where did you get the bellows from?


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## ColRay (Feb 3, 2013)

BlackSheep said:


> Nice.
> Where did you get the bellows from?



Hi Blacksheep I made them, the pink  cloth I picked up at the local charity shop, the liner is thin black paper from a print shop. Colin


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## terri (Feb 3, 2013)

Great work!


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## ColRay (Feb 4, 2013)

Thanks Terri.


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## irfan.in.tx (Feb 4, 2013)

Great ingenuity and craftsmanship. Congratulations on the results and the prize.


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## runnah (Feb 4, 2013)

Very impressive. I would like to try something like this except I know it would end up in a pile of glue, nails and broken pieces of wood with a light sprinkling of frustration.


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## ColRay (Feb 4, 2013)

Thank irfan

runah
" I know it would end up in a pile of glue, nails and broken pieces of wood "

  just like the first few I made


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## runnah (Feb 4, 2013)

ColRay said:


> Thank irfan
> 
> runah
> " I know it would end up in a pile of glue, nails and broken pieces of wood "
> ...




Ambitious but rubbish is my motto.


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## Rick58 (Feb 4, 2013)

Nice work and a lot cheaper then a Bender kit.


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## amolitor (Feb 4, 2013)

What about the ground glass? You seem to have designed the rear standard with no rise/fall and to swivel somewhere other than mid-frame. Why didn't you simply duplicate the design from the front standard, with suitable modifications? Not a criticism, just trying to understand the design choice!

Fabricating your own bellows is pretty hard core 

Nicely done, by the way.


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## ColRay (Feb 4, 2013)

Thanks guys

amolitor   Rear stand  I realise that now .let's put it down to one of those  senior moments 

The ground glass was homemade form 2mm picture framing glass ground with automotive grinding paste 

Design choice. it was not so much design .. but built on the run around a double dark slide.

Colin


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## amolitor (Feb 4, 2013)

That makes it doubly awesome  "Improvising" something of this much mechanical detail is pretty impressive.

Could you give a quick rundown of tools and materials used, and how you used them? Are the standards glued up, Bender style? Or screwed (I see some screws involved..) or both? It looks like you may have routed out some stuff.


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## ColRay (Feb 4, 2013)

I will dig out some construction pics.

Because the camera was made for an exhibition ..Metamorphosis .. recycled materials where used as much as posible.

like:

a couple of old chaires, penfolds portwine box, speaker cabinet, cupboard door,metal broom handle. 

tools used:

router, thicknesser, saw table, docking saw, drill press, chisels ect

Note all the tools used where hardware store budget lines.

Pictures soon Colin


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## ColRay (Feb 4, 2013)

Started a new thread on how it was made Colin

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...316371-making-my-view-camera.html#post2859597


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## BlackSheep (Feb 4, 2013)

ColRay said:


> BlackSheep said:
> 
> 
> > Nice.
> ...



Very cool!


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