I’ve been working away at the next camera for the past month, starting with the base and the front standard, then moving to the back standard. In the meantime I’m teaching a medium and large format photography class at the Student Art Association. Teaching is fun, and with the MIT crowd I’m free to be as physics-geeky as I want. Heh.

As far as specifics of the construction, I’m using three different aluminum alloys, aluminum 2024, 6063, and 6061. Aluminum 2024 is the hard stuff, and I’m using it where I need threads. Apparently it’s harder than brass. Of course, the final anodizing process will harden it even more.

Anyway, here are some highlights of the construction thus far:

That’s a lot of clamps for a relatively small base.

Machining the focusing rails.

The base I made was a little too small in dimension, so I added the necessary (and decorative) mini mitered frame around the edges.

The base with the channels cut.

One of the sides of the focusing rack. It’s a bit more complicated this time.

Of course while I’m building this camera, there are tons of other awesome projects popping up around the shop. Apparently there is a guitar building class going on (note to self: build a guitar sometime). Here’s Hayami working on his guitar:

I’m taking a break for a couple weeks, as the term is starting and the SAA is acquiring an 8×10 enlarger. So…um, hang in there.

As soon as the first camera was finished, I immediately thought about countless improvements. The front standard was too shaky. The whole camera was too bulky and heavy. The bellows sagged. The knobs were not finger-friendly.

So I went back to the drawing board, this time with some inspiration from other cameras (especially Lotus and Ebony) I had seen since I built my first camera. My goals: reducing folding depth, reducing weight, stabilizing the front standard, and keeping it simple. I also added things for measuring the position of certain elements (like the the front swing and shift).

I then applied for an MIT Council for the Arts grant and received a generous amount of funding from the council (!!)–which included money for materials, as well as a lens and different types of film to experiment with.

My goal is to finish the camera by the end of May, and so far I’m well on my way.

So I’ve already taken my camera out for a few spins. The results thus far have been amazing. When I took my first two shots, I had no idea what to expect. I was worried about light leaks or focusing problems between the surface of the ground glass and the film. To my delight (and surprise), the first two shots came out close to perfect.

And now I really have to say…I’m addicted.

Here’s one of the shots from the first trip to the Quabbin Resevoir (I have a better one, but that proof sheet disappeared…on purpose). (Click on it to view a larger size)

Here’s another photo from my class’ portrait session from last weekend. Shortly afterward, the photo of Zaphod and me (at the top) was taken by Graham Ramsay, my photo instructor–who is partially to blame for this insane project.

I was being slightly stupid with the film holder when taking it out of my pack, which is why you see a tiny light leak at the top.

Now, will I be making another? Well, this camera needs a few improvements, but in short….

You bet.

Keep in mind I was also working full time every day, so this was *not* an easy task.

I took a lot of shots throughout the night, mostly in an effort to create a time lapse video in the future. Here are a couple highlights:

All of the wood pieces are laid out. I spent an entire evening sanding each piece, first with 80 grit, then 100 grit, then 150 grit, then 220 grit sandpaper.

I then “ebonized” every part that “touched darkness.” Basically I rubbed the wood with a cloth dipped in India Ink.

Once all of the sanding and inking finished, I applied four coats of clear Danish Oil to the cherry.

For the brass: First, I made sure that all of the burrs had been filed away. Then I took some waterproof 600 grit sandpaper, placed it on top of a mirror (a flat surface) and sprinkled some water on it. Once I had sanded most of the heavy scratches away, I used a buffing attachment for my drill and some Brass-O to polish the brass. By the time I got to this point, it was 5 am on Saturday and I needed to leave for Sunday’s shoot by 3pm that day. As a result, I sort of half-assed the polishing, but I feel that it came out quite alright.

The font standard–a little buggy but it works.

In order to put in the wood inserts without terribly destroying the insert, I used Butcher’s Wax.

Yay, now I have a working front standard.

The camera–almost done. It just needs the ground glass and some way to mount the film holder.

Check out those movements!

Anyway, here’s a few quick photos from my first shoot. I’m trying to compile more detailed posts of the last part of the construction process as well as the assembly of the camera. I’m just extremely busy right now…but hopefully I can get *some* work done on the train to DC this weekend.

Also, I need a tripod and a camera bag. Any suggestions? I like the tripod I used, a big old gitzo, from technique. Something that size with a larger head…

More to come! Hold me to it!

I got to the last page…*chunk..ddddrrrr* *flisp* *flisp*

The. Shutter. Is. Not. Opening.

Mirror. Not. Flipping.

Camera. Broken.

Yeah…how anti-climactic is that? The last photo you ever take is a .002 pre-lab. I knew you were dangerous course 6! Psh.

Anyway, while the camera is off to Nikon to be nursed back to health, I’m borrowing The Tech’s d300 (drool) to document the building of my 8×10.

Macro shot, anyone?

Pretend that the back is floating…sort of.

A close-up of the rack and pinion (the best so far).

The knob. I love that knob.

These slots will allow the front standard to slide from left to right. The front standard will also be able to tilt, shift up and down and swing from side to side.

I hope.

These are what I worked on today. They are the small pivots that will hold the front standard upright and square. (You’ll see what I mean in a bit.)

The blue ink is on there so that it’s easier for me to see the scribe marks. The rounded ends were first cut as accurately as possible on the band saw. I then took the piece to the sander to make the rounded edges nice and smooth.

Are you seeing what I’m seeing in my head? No? Well wait a little bit…

What consoles me is the fact that, hey, this thing is starting to look like a camera. I seem to have this crazy idea that I’ll finish it during finals week—my two finals are on Monday, so once that’s over I’m freeee! But, no, I really mean finishing…as in finishing the wood…polishing the brass.

Hey, I like to be optimistic. If it doesn’t get done? Well, I’m signing up for a year membership to the hobby shop anyway.

This is the state of the camera. As you can see, it appears to be less like blocks of wood and more like, well, a camera.

Here is the view from the side. As you can see the rod holding the pinions is now positioned in the right place (boy, that was a pain in the ass). It now moves the focusing rack forward and back pretty smoothly.

Here’s a view of the rack and pinion and the middle slides which will be responsible for holding the front standard up.

See those frames? Those will hold the ground glass and the film holder. Yes, I’m not doing a spring back (yet), but that will come in time. I just want to get to a usable camera first.

Making a hole in a piece of brass takes three steps. First, you need a center bit to drill a small hole right where you want it. For most of my pieces, precision isn’t necessarily required, so I’m eyeballing hole placements with a drill press and some scratch marks to save time. When precision is required, a milling machine is definitely needed.

The center bit is shorter and stiffer than a regular bit, so there is less chance of it wandering. The center hole is needed to keep your main bit centered as it drills out your hole—without it your bit will probably wander all over the place and will have a greater chance of entering the metal at an angle…which tends to mess up your screw placement.

The final step (at least for the holes in my camera) is to countersink the hole. This allows the screw to sit flat alongside the surface of the brass so that something moving across the surface will not bump against the screw. If this is not the effect that I’m aiming for, I will still slightly countersink the hole to get rid of the burr left over from drilling the hole.

Cutting a channel in a piece of brass is a whole different deal. This requires a milling machine (pictured above). The piece of wood is necessary to hold the brass in place. It keeps the vice from crushing the brass when it is weakened by having a slot cut in the middle.

In this particular case I attached the brass to the piece of wood with some screws, but no precision in positioning. This wasn’t the best plan, as I had to use an edge finder and adjust the angle of the vice slightly because the metal wasn’t parallel with the x-axis of the mill. A better way (which I followed on later pieces) is to cut a slot in the wood that is the width of the metal piece using a table saw or the milling machine. This way the slot is perfectly parallel to the sides of the wood piece. Then you can just slip the brass piece into place, screw it on, and guess what…it’s totally parallel. However, you still need an edge finder to find the middle of the piece—but it sure beats moving the vice around.

Here’s a view of the finished side piece. Two bolts will slide inside of that piece, and those bolts will be attached to the piece of brass that connects the base to the back of the camera. This movement will allow the back of the camera to slide as close as possible to the lens board in case a wide angle shot is called for.

Here’s a view of the current brass pieces all screwed in. Doesn’t that look fantastic?

Now here’s the next biggest challenge. See that giant wide piece of brass right under the bent piece? I need to bend both ends to 90 degrees. It has succeeded this far with a narrow piece, but so far I’ve failed completely with the wider test pieces.

Yikes. Maybe I should have been course 3?

I only kid.

• body
  
• base
• focusing rack
• front standard
• ground glass and negative holder
• finishing

I can confidently say that I’m finishing up the toughest and most complex part of the camera. I’m also hoping that my ground glass arrives soon so I can finish up some simple things on the ground glass and negative holder frames.

Here is what the camera looks like so far.

The metal piece on the side is eventually going to have a channel cut into it. The back of the camera will be mounted on this channel so that it can slide up and down the base, allowing me to compress the bellows as much as possible for a wide angle shot.

Also, the rod across the base is not mounted yet (the knob is obviously resting on the table). There will be a piece of brass holding the rod in the proper place so that the pinion can turn and move the focusing rack forward and backward.

A close-up of the rack and pinion. The goal of the focusing rack is (obviously) to focus the image that is projected onto the ground glass. This is done by compressing and stretching the bellows.

I’m really happy about these knobs. I couldn’t find any large brass knobs for this camera. So Ken Stone showed me how to make one from from a cylinder of brass.

The knob and pinion are held in place by tiny set screws, allowing me to make fine adjustments of their placements as needed.

This camera is finally coming together!