Re: [Cameramakers] RE: Bipod constructional details
On Wed, 2 Apr 2003, Gerald Newlands wrote: I do not have plans, but I shall send a photograph tomorrow (Shall have to take the photo first). Will try and send smaller file. DO NOT send images and binary attachments to the mailing list. These will bounce. - Wayde, List Maintainer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] 4 x 5 View Camera
On Tue, 11 Mar 2003, Robert Mueller wrote: Incidentally, I was pleased to see offers for posting the pdf where all can download it. I have longed for such a site attached to this group but having a place for an occasional item is already a valuable help. There has ALWAYS BEEN such a web site available and attached to this group! The URL is located at http://rmp.opusis.com/cameramakers/cameramakers.html and is hosted on the same machine as the mailing list. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2003 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Graflex
On Thu, 23 Jan 2003, Chuck Moulton wrote: I better send you photos of the camera I'm working on off line. Please send me you e-mail. My e-mail is: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chuck Moulton - Or put the images on the web so everyone that wants to can see. I can help with that if you want. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2003 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Graflex
On Thu, 23 Jan 2003, Chuck Moulton wrote: OK,,,HELP please. How would I post photos? This mailing list is a subset of a group of e-mail lists and collection of articles under what came to be called the Rocky Mountain Photographer's Forum http://rmp.opusis.com/. At one time there was some interest in creating a repository of information on cameramaking to support this list, but it never got very far, see http://rmp.opusis.com/cameramakers/cameramakers.html If you want to post a camera photograph let me know. I can post the image here so that people on the list can view it. - Wayde, List Maintainer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2003 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Mime,Mime and Mime
On Thu, 23 Jan 2003, ronald anger wrote: Would somebody enlighten me as to what is Mime and how to access it. MIME generally (on the Internet anyway) stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions http://www.nacs.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/MIME/MIME.html http://hunnysoft.com/mime/ Most mailer clients support it transparently. What is it you are trying to do? - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2003 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Admistrivia - Reminder
Just a reminder that all posts to the cameramakers list should be plain text (ASCII, ISO-8859-1, or ISO 646). The use of HTML formated text should not be used. - Wayde, List Maintainer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2003 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] DIY large format enlarger
On Thu, 12 Dec 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: you could do the same with 8x10 negatives easily. Anyone else do something like this? Hmmm ... not specifically like this. Although I have thought of using LCD plates between a light source and the negative stage. My idea was to use the LCD to modulate the light as a computer driven dodging/burning mask. A monitor would be less expensive. I'd tend to think the light level would be kind of low though, and you'd have to deal with the bulk and weight of the monitor itself. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Bellows: more questions
On Thu, 24 Oct 2002, John Cremati wrote: 1) We are using two pieces of 60 inch wide of a light weight black 330d Cordura cloth which will have to be joined together to form the 20x24 parameter. Would you sew and glue them together or just clamp and glue? Sewing will punch holes. I'd be inclined to build the bellows with two glued diagonal seams. You want to make the seams diagonal so that the double layer of material doesn't stack like it would if it was parallel to the bellows axis. 2) We will be using very heavy exposed and fixed out graphic film( estar based ) for the stiffeners that is .007(7 mill) in thickness... Has anyone ever used this as a stiffener material or are we making a mistake and should stick to a heavy card stock? I dont' think that what you use for stiffeners matters all that much. The real issue would be if the glue you use sticks to the stiffeners. Then again, once the bellows is folded that probably doesn't matter much either. Why use photo material as the stiffener? I doubt it will improve the picture taking qualities of the camera, and this seems like an expensive material since you have to purchase the silver, fix it out, and throw it away. Perhaps you simply have the material on hand? Heck, unless you want to recover the silver, why bother with the fixing? 3) What type of glue do you think would be best using Cordura( a nylon) and estar film mix that would not add much bulk and would remain flexible. ? I've used contact cements, but it is hard to get it as thin as one would like. I think there are some spray type contact glues that would be worth experimenting with. 4) Would you recommend building and using a form for such a large bellows? Not sure what you mean by a form? I've never built a bellow this big though, so don't really know. Usually the stiffeners kind of define how the bellows will fold up, and once you get past the first couple folds the structure starts to be pretty self supporting. It may not be quite so simple for a really big bellows. 5 ) Would you coat the outside or inside of the finished bellows with some sort of rubberized black out paint? You should line the bellows with some sort of non-reflective material. I think black silk or lint free linen is commonly used. By the time you've got the outer material glued to the stiffeners (hey, if you use the film why not expose, develop and fix it to give you more light fastness?) and the inner linner things should be about as light tight as they are likely to get. Once we finally begin to make this camera we will document every thing and make it available to all.. Thanks, John Cremati Very cool! (I assume you mean the documentation and not the actual camera? wink) - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Bellows Material Cordura
On Tue, 15 Oct 2002, John Cremati wrote: Do you remember what type of Cordura that you used? Not specifically. It was a rubberized cordura that I purchased at Denver Fabrics. I had been looking for a good, thin, reasonably light tight fabric, and this was the closest thing I found that met my criteria. Did you use it for both inside and outside No, I only used the cordura on the outside. I used the Edmund Scientific flocking paper as a liner. The flocking paper wasn't the best idea. .Is your bellows very stiff? Not particularly. It is stiffer than I'd like, but this is due to the flocking paper and glue I used. The cordura is very thin, light, and flexible. how deep were the folds ? It has been a few years since I made this thing. I seem to remember 1/2 inch troughs. How does it collapse Well you push it together and the folds all compress wink. It collapses fine. You can always get a feel for just how much compression you can expect by summing up the thicknesses of the layers used in the bellows wall and then multiplying it by the number of overlapping folds. This is the absolute minimum compression. It will be somewhat less than this due to the thickness of the glue layer and the radius of the bends in the folds. and what did you use for stiffners... Cut up strips of manila file folders. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Cordura Denier Termanology.
On Wed, 16 Oct 2002, John Cremati wrote: This is a explanation of Denier rating from http://www.rockywoods.com/ that John Yeo had posted...concerning Cordura availability... Looking at this page it may have been the packcloth that I used. H, this place is in Loveland. That might physically be closer to me than Denver Fabric. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Bellows Material Cordura
On Sun, 13 Oct 2002, John Cremati wrote: Has anyone tried using Cordura Nylon as the outer layer in bellows fabrication ? It is supposedly the toughest fabric on earth and is water proof...( they are using it to make Fishing Waders...) The deener 160 blend seems to be there thinnest material as they are using it for clothing. http://www.cordura.com/ Any suggestions? Yes, works like a charm http://rmp.opusis.com/cameras/my4x5_2.jpg! - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Administrivia - policy
Just a reminder, sending binary attachements (that means images), html formated text, and non-standard character sets to the mailing list causes a number of technical problems. Many of you have expressed concern about viri for instance. Please make sure that you are sending standard ASCII or iso-8859-x text. Windows-1252 is as far as this list is concerned not a standard character set. Posters who do not comply with this run the risk of having their e-mail addresses blocked. - Wayde, List Owner ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Cold Light Enlarger
On Sat, 31 Aug 2002, John Fisher wrote: can you put on the list.that every could down load it. Not on the list, but rather on the list's web site. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] aristo cold head cost?
On Sat, 31 Aug 2002, Uptown Gallery wrote: Anyone have an idea what an Aristo cold head for 8x10 enlarger costs? I'd suggest contacting Aristo to get the latest pricing: http://www.aristogrid.com/prod02.htm - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Re: Film Holder Measurements
On Sun, 18 Aug 2002, Michael Hendrickson wrote: Meanwhile, if someone out there has the moments to spare -- I've found in the past that downloading the archive and then doing a search in a word processor works fairly well. Or to save the download time simply search the archive using your favorite either the rmp search engine http://rmp.opusis.com/htdig/search.html which restricts the search to selected photography web sites, or your favorite web indexer such as google, yahoo, etc.. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Re: Cameramakers digest, Vol 1 #408 - 1 msg
On Mon, 27 May 2002, John wrote: Just curious but why does the header show Cameramakers digest, Vol 1 #408 - 1 msg when this message is obviously not a digest ? The size of a digest depends on the amount of list traffic. Some decision has to be made about how often a digest of messages is generated. For this list the server issues a digest whenever it accumulates 30 kBytes of e-mail or once each day, whichever comes first. Since there was only one message posted on Saturday, that meant the system created a one message digest. (It probably wouldn't be too useful to wait a few weeks until there was enough e-mail to create a big digest.) - Wayde, List Maintainer ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Re: Subscribe
On Sat, 18 May 2002, Bo Wrangborg wrote: I want to subscribe Turn off html formated e-mail, point your web browser at http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers fill out the form, and click the subscribe button. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] DIY - Lighting (softboxes, etc.)
On Sun, 28 Apr 2002, Martin Trucco wrote: Is there any news about the Collins link mentioned a while ago? I would like to know about online step by step instructions to build lighting tripods, softboxes, etc. from PVC 3/8 tubes or so. Don't forget that this kind of information is available in the list archives: http://rmp.opusis.com/pipermail/cameramakers/ In this particular case, the link you are looking for can be found in the original post at: http://rmp.opusis.com/pipermail/cameramakers/2002-March/004691.html - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Please remove
On Thu, 11 Apr 2002, Rick Dingus wrote: Please unsubscribe or remove me from this list. Thanks. ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers C'mon people, the URL for unsubscribing is located at the bottom of every post, and sent out automatically at the beginning of each month! - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] A View Camera as an Enlarger
On Fri, 8 Feb 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: considerable distance. So I bought a gear motor that I may further gear down to drive the standard. The motor is reversible with the appropriate wiring. The question I have is if anyone can direct me to some information on how to wire a motor that requires a capacitor between two of the three leads. The wiring diagram on the motor shows that the capacitor goes between the red and blue leads with one of those two leads then going on to the main power source. The other main power source goes to the third black lead. Then is says that you reverse the blue and red lead to reverse the direction of the motor. There are several books on this topic. A trip to the library would probably get you the information you need. Searching the web is also an option. The following is what I could dig up in short order: http://www.capacitorindustries.com/Tutorials/Motor%20Starting%20Capacitors.htm http://www.metalwebnews.com/howto/elec-mtr/elec-mtr.html http://www.elevatorbooks.com/elmotrep3rde.html http://www.electrosales.com/bodine/ac_info.html I don't know much about capacitors, but I think they can build up a lot of charge that if discharged could put out a lot of energy. The simplest capacitor consists of two metal plates separated by an insulator. Connecting a power source between the plates causes a charge build-up to occur. One plate gets an excess of electrons and the other a dearth of electrons. If the power source is removed, the attractive forces between the two plates retains the charge until a conductive path is connected between the plates to discharge them. Yes, these can store a good amount of energy, but this depends a great deal on the storage capacity (capacitance) of the capacitor. The capacitance (C) is a measure of the charge (Q) or number of electrons it can store at a given voltage (V). The relationship is: C = Q/V Of particular interest for motors is the fact that the voltage across a capacitor lags the current flow into the capacitor. If you connect a discharged capacitor to your power supply you will immediately get maximum current flow into the capacitor, but the voltage across the capacitor will be zero. As the charge builds up on the plates the voltage increases and the current drops to zero. This is really not too unlike filling a bottle with water, here you are just filling it with electrons. For the motor this voltage lag, or phase shift is used to cause a shift in the voltage applied across different motor coil windings in order to create torque. Remember that it is the difference between the generated magnetic fields created by the motor coils that creates the force - opposite poles of magnets attract. I also see what may be a mark on the capacitor that may indicate a negitive terminal. Does it matter which way the capacitor is wired (negative or positive) between the leads? That indicates an electrolytic capacitor. In these, the insulating properties of the dielectric (insulator) between the plates, and even the plates themselves usually depend on the polarity of the connection. (If you've done any aluminum anodizing you can imagine making a capacitor out of the anodizing cell with the anodic coating being the dielectric.) Electrolytic capacitors can achieve greater capacitance values than passive parallel plate designs. In a DC circuit, the polarity of the electrolytic would indeed matter. In an AC circuit there is a bit less of an issue, but I'd hazard to guess that the negative lead should be connected to the common side of the motor circuit. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] LEDs
On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Steve Goldstein wrote: Here's a link to an LED-array color head. I've had this bookmarked for quite some time, though I've never gotten around to trying to duplicate it. I have no idea how well it works for color printing, or even for BW on VC paper. http://www.trailing-edge.com/www/led.html Interesting! This may work OK for color printing since this material is specifically sensitive to red, green, blue by design. After all, it is intended for our eyes. It is the BW material that I'd wonder about. BW material doesn't have to be specifically sensitive to visible red, green, and blue. Probably the thing to do is to look at the spectral curves of the LED's and see how much overlap there is? This would give one a idea about how close to a step-wise, continously variable spectrum you could get. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] LEDs
On Tue, 5 Feb 2002, Steve Goldstein wrote: Here's a link to an LED-array color head. I've had this bookmarked for quite some time, though I've never gotten around to trying to duplicate it. I have no idea how well it works for color printing, or even for BW on VC paper. http://www.trailing-edge.com/www/led.html I was just thinking that with a grid array such as this, one could also drive it with a mask image pattern. Anyone for computer controlled dodging and burning? - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
RE: [Cameramakers] Re: Cold Light Head Construction
On Mon, 4 Feb 2002, Dave Schneider wrote: I think the Zaon VI controller measures the light output and then adjusts the time to compensate. I don't think the light is adjusted. Can't help you much on the necessary electronics to drive a flourescent lamp. Go to the Alternative Process subsection of the Theory and Techniques page on the RMP site http://rmp.opusis.com/theory.html. Here you will find a link titled Flourescent Lamps, Ballasts, and Fixtures - Theory of Operation, Troubleshooting and Repair. That may be of some help. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] RE: Cameramakers
On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Barry Young wrote: ... good info snipped ... The definition is up to the Bureau of National Standards and the American National Standards Institute, they are the final authorities) Basically yes ... however there is no longer an agency named the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). In 1988 the name was changed by the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/faqs/qnbs.htm http://www.nist.gov/ - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
RE: [Cameramakers] Laser alignment tool
On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, John Sparks wrote: When you rotate the fixture, if the base of the fixture and mirror are parallel, the spot stays on the same target on the laser fixture. The spot does move on the enlarger baseboard, but since the base of the laser pointer fixture is also rotating with the laser, it doesn't matter. Ah ... OK, I did indeed miss the point about the base moving with the laser - very clever! - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
RE: [Cameramakers] Laser alignment tool
On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, Greg Nuspel wrote: All I am trying to do is check if the laser is 90 degrees to the surface it is on. I think you could be within 1/32 over 8'. This makes the system within 1 minute of perpendicular to the base. I think that is pretty good for a homemade alignment tool. All I know is that I haven't seen too many drill presses that are set that accurately. That is why I said to project the beam over a long distance, the greater the distance the greater the accuracy achieved during this adjustment of your tool. The most important part is to make sure the surface you are placing the laser on is level. Ah yes, now I see what you were getting at. I had missed that you were trying to align the laser. Once you have the laser aligned perpendicular to it's base make white target to place over the laser with a hole the same size as the laser beam it's self. It should be easy to see if the hole is over the laser by watching the projected beam. When this alignment tool is placed on the base of the enlarger it's beam will project upwards to the reflective flat surface you have placed on the part you are trying to align. Just adjust it so that there is no beam showing on the target or it has an even dot around the hole, depending on the spread of the beam. I bet most people using something like this could achieve an alignment within a few minutes of parallel. Yep, that's it! - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] How to keep old leather Bellows soft?
On Wed, 12 Dec 2001, Robert Mayrand wrote: I have access to a stock of old burke james red bellows. So I bought a few for my camera project. I wanted to know how can I preserve them as soft as they are, oil, armor-allanything?? Conservation is one of those topics for which there may be lots of answers, but no clear correct one. Rather than adding my opinions to the pot, I'd suggest you take a look at some of the conservation resources available online http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/ - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Re: Enlarger Diffusion.
On Sun, 2 Dec 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hmmm. I've been fighting this fight, too. One problem is that if your diff material isn't absolutely creamy smooth, you have to space it quite a ways behind the neg to ensure that any graininess is entirely out of foucus. I can't seem to find milk-white, smooth diff material available by itself. ...snip... One success i've had on a small scale is actually a piece of white shopping bag plastic. Based on your comments and success with whith shopping bag plastic, it might be worth checking out white Plexiglass. This is the same stuff used for making light boxes, and is readily available from plastic supply houses. Another possibility would be frosted drafting mylar. The frosted mylar is what Howard Bond has been using for his unsharp masking, and more recently for dodging and burning masks mounted just above the negative. In any case, heat is something to be concerned about. A piece of heat absorbing glass between the lamp and the diffuser may be in order? By the way, all, the 4x5 SLR is almost done. Does anybody have any suggestions for posting pictures? You can't post pictures to the mailing list. You CAN send them to me directly and I'll put them on the RMP cameramakers web site at http://rmp.opusis.com so that people can see them. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -- ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technology http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html -- ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Rack and pinions in SF Bay Area
On Thu, 29 Nov 2001, TSHACK wrote: Anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area know where I can walk in and get some racks and pinion gears. I know I can order them from Small Parts, but I want something I can get my hands on before I buy. You could probably look up any local gear and/or bearing supply houses in your area, and call them to see if they either have such material available or are distributors of Boston Gear Products http://www.bostongear.com/. Another option I just realized, would be to go to the Boston Gear home page, and see if you can find a distributor near you. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -- ISART 2002 International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technology http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/meetings/art/index.html -- ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Re:larscan help
On Tue, 20 Nov 2001, Gareth malham wrote: try again? http://malcam.fucx.co.uk/ just checked it No ... still am getting a name lookup error. Don't know why. Well the idea is to be able to record a day from midday to midday in a single flat image with a view to capturing the movments of tides. That could be interesting. I'd certainly like to see the results when you get this working! I'm unsure about stepper motors and what they do? Any good links would be appreicated It is a motor that rotates a certain amount depending on the application of a pulse or a binary code. There are lots of designs, the simplest being a ratchet on a shaft driven by an electromagnet. Usualy though it a motor designed without a commutator. You energize the coils and the rotor rotates until it aligns with the field coils. If you treat the field coil switching as a binary code you can drive the motor by sending it a string of binary coded words. Figured if you were already planning to use an embedded microprocessor this might be a good approach. That way the microprocessor has control of the motor speed and length of rotation. You can search the web for stepper motor info. One URL I dug up that looks pretty good is: http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/ Just a simple PIG processor Not familiar with that one. Don't suppose you have a URL I could look at? which will read voltage from a photo cell inside the camera and adjust the pol filters to keep nthe voltage constant, this is somthing which my father, who is an electronic engineer will help me with. Sounds like a servo motor with an analog lead/lag feedback control might be more apropos. It would at least eliminate the need for A/D sampling and the possible need to do D/A conversion for your servo control (unless you used a stepper motor). Of course noise could be an issue. Either way should work. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Idea for bellows support
On Thu, 15 Nov 2001, george jiri loun wrote: The reason why amateurs try to replace bellows is for the most not their bad function but the fact that not every amateur is able to make them well. Once learned the art of their making, there is hardly anything better. Maybe, once their material could improve, but for what purpose?? George George, in general make some good points, but you are a lousy brainstormer. The idea is to explore the possibilities rather than to shoot them down. Sometimes incongruous ideas can make someone think a slightly different way that leads to an innovation. Is there something better - maybe and maybe not, but shooting down the suggestions in a brainstorming session is a sure way to lock yourself into a mental prison and kill the discussion. We all agree that bellows work well, and that they aren't really all that hard to build. However, suggesting that we shouldn't think about different designs, ideas, materials, etc. is antithetical to the premise of this mailing list. It seems to me that if we all adopted your position there really wouldn't be much to talk about. Why should we bother using plastic for camera bodies? After all, wood has proven to be more than adequate. Coated lenses - no need for that since plain glass works pretty well. Heck, why even bother building your own camera? You can buy them for heavens sake, and you might also notice that probably 98% of the commercial cameras don't use bellows anymore either. Perhaps I should just shutdown the list since there doesn't seem to be any point ... I'm not saying that we shouldn't be critical of ideas, just be careful about how you do it. Is your criticism constructive or are you simply torpedoing what may actually be a creative process? Right now I think you are dancing pretty close to the latter. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Idea for bellows support
On Thu, 15 Nov 2001, george jiri loun wrote: a lens is the closest that we get to the eye, in nature. No ... a lens is the closest that we get to the lens of the eye. Bellows is the closest we get to the skin around our joints.. Funny thing is that the skin around my joints bunches up and wrinkles. It doesn't fold up in nice even bellows like folds. The wrinkling is much more akin to the natural effect of giving some slack to a piece of cloth, uneven folds at relatively random intervals. My skin also seems to have some resilience that allows it to expand and contract a bit. Few bellows do that either. Your body must be quite a bit different than mine. I agree that there are some fundamentally optimal structures in nature, but I can't yet say that I'd agree that a bellows is necessarily one of them. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] On-line Gallery Update
Tue, 13 Nov 2001 16:56:28 -0700 (MST) Jodie Allen Wrote: The RMP Online Gallery has been updated. You me see the new pictures at http://rmp.opusis.com/members/gallery.html or follow the links from the RMP page http://rmp.opusis.com. Thank you to the people you contributed new pictures. Also, Neal Ulevich's pictures which were in the previous gallery have been moved to the Featured Artist Gallery http://rmp.opusis.com/feature/gallery.html. If you haven't seen Neal's panoramics, go check them out. I think Jodie only notified the specific list that supports each gallery. Figured that it might be worth letting all of the rmp lists now that both the rmp and carbon http://rmp.opusis.com/members/gallery.html http://rmp.opusis.com/carbon/gallery.html galleries have been updated. The general gallery page is http://rmp.opusis.com/galleries.html. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Archives - is compressed version available?
On Tue, 30 Oct 2001, TSHACK wrote: I'm trying to download the archives to look for past information, and it looks like its a raw text html file. Is there a compressed version available? If you go to http://rmp.opusis.com/pipermail/cameramakers/ you can download the entire archive (7 MBytes) or by month (looks like the biggest size is about 404 Kbytes). These are NOT raw html, but rather plain mailbox files (Header delimited ASCII). That allows you to drop them into your mail program as if you just received all of the messages. I don't have any of these available in compressed form. As for searching for past info, there are several other options. One is the search engine I have setup specifically for the site at http://rmp.opusis.com/htdig/search.html. The entire archive up till probably last Friday (whenever the indexer was last run) is currently searchable. If you don't like that, I can tell you that the robots from several of the big search engines such as google, yahoo, and altavista often crawl the site. That might also be a solution. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Rack and pinion template system
On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, Dan Rhoades wrote: I was wondering in anyone would be interested in a template/jig to be able to shape and cut a rack and pinion out of wood. How do the guys making the wooden gear clocks do this? Was curious enough to do some web searching with limited results. The closest stuff I found was: http://www.howstuffworks.com/gear.htm?printable=1 http://www.communitypc.com/ http://www.bmumford.com/ebay/details/details.html http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/indextool.mv?prodid=AP-MAKINGWOR http://www.mjdtools.com/books/42209.htm Lots of books on how to do this it looks like, but no obvious web tutorials. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Thin glass for a within-camera platen - thanks for help
On Sat, 20 Oct 2001, Jeffrey Goggin wrote: The idea of vacuum back or pressurized bellows sounds good, but how do you avoid the problem that only the paper film backing is likely to be flattened, not the film itself? This is a problem, of course, but as you point out, using 220 film lets me work around it. The problem I'm still trying to solve is how to make the film-to-bellows interface (not to mention the lens itself!) more airtight. I assume you do realize that pressure or vacuum alone isn't what is going to flatten the film. It is the pressure differential between the opposite sides of the film that will hold it in place. In other words, you will need to ensure that there is less pressure behind the film than in front of it. If you make things air tight and simply pressurize the chamber you would presumably have the same pressure behind the film as in front of it. That doesn't gain you anything. After all, if you do nothing the chamber is pressurized according to your local barometric pressure. I'm guessing you'd always want to have an air leak behind the film if you want to pressurize the film chamber. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] ROTATING CAMERA PROJECT IDEAS
On Mon, 22 Oct 2001, Michel Dusariez wrote: Please explain, you project to construct a rotating camera to cover 360degrees on one pice of sheet film 4 x 5 inches size ? Yes, I would also be interested in knowing the details about how you plan to do this? Remember you that the length, for a full 360 degree turn, of the film size is twice the focale length multiply by 3,1416 !!! Yes, that gives you the circumference of the circle mapped out by the lens of a given focal length. This is the normal design criterion I've seen used for creating panoramic cameras. I have wondered however, if this is the only approach? If the speed of the film translation through the camera is changed it seems that this would either compress or expand the recording of the image while at the same time changing the effective shutter speed. It seems like there may be some resolution issues, but off the top of my head it seems like it may be possible to deviate from the circumference computation. However, I'm not terribly certain about this. Thought it would be a good topic for discussion though. Good luck in your construction, feel free to ask more. Is your book on panoptic camera construction still available? I have a copy and it is quite nice. I'd suggest people looking into building one of these get a copy if it is still available. a lens and slit a rotating 360 degree image around the center of a 4x5 sheet film. I can do the woodworking out of 1/4 oak. I did the calculations and will use a 40mm lens (from a 35mm camera). So here is where i can use some help: As noted above, we would really be interested in seeing your computations. 1) Camera Rotation: I think this is pretty much six one way and half a dozen the other. You'll have to choose the method that you feel fits the best with your abilities and sensibilities. 2) slit shutter: Since the image will be exposed around a circle (imagine a record player) I need to be able to open the slit shutter and close it at exactly 359 degrees, so I don't over expose. Alsi it would not be good to close the shutter before completing the rotation. Slit cameras don't usually use or need traditional shutters. You are recording a slice of the scene on a narrow piece of your film and the shutter is actually the movement of the slit with respect to the film. You could simply take the lens cap off to let the light in, start the camera, and then put the lens cap back on when done. You might overexpose at stripe of the film at the beginning and end, but if the film is long enough that usually isn't a big problem. On a 4x5 sheet that might be a bigger issue. This is partly why many slit cameras may make more than a 360 degree revolution. If you expose for 720 degrees with an overexposed stripe at each end, you can select the segment of film that has the best image and exposure. The simplest idea I have, is a thin metal shutter, with a light spring. Some type of small electro magnet can be triggered to open, and than at a set point in the rotation released, closing the shutter by the spring. You could probably do that, use a film cap, or incorporate a copal shutter or something scrounged from a junk camera. Any ideas where I can scavenge such a magnet? i like to steal parts from disposable cameras, broken cameras, VCRs etc. Well you could just wind one using a nail and some magnet wire. On the commercial side, you are looking for a solenoid. Available from any electronic parts supplier. Another source would be the coil out of a relay. You'd be able to find these in old cameras, VCR's, etc.. This is a real experimental camera. I think the effect ls like applying the Polar Coordinants filter in Photoshop. Yes, we'd be interested in knowing more details. I can't see how this would be like using polar coordinates? That would imply a circular sweep. What I'm envisioning is a moving slit which would give you cylindrical coordinates not polar. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] ROTATING CAMERA PROJECT IDEAS
On Mon, 22 Oct 2001, Sam Wang wrote: OK. Here it is. Is this what you are interested in? http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/text-conical-strip.html The web space at RIT as well as the cameramakers archive is also searchable at http://rmp.opusis.com/htdig/search.html - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] re: crackpot medievalists or creative endeavors?
On Tue, 2 Oct 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a message dated 10/2/01 5:47:51 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: What is ABS plastic? Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene it is the stuff usually used to make black plastic sewer pipe as opposed to the translucent white Poly-Vinyl-Chloride (PVC) water pipe. Can I use that to build a lightweight super-large format pinhole camera? I don't see why not. You'd probably want to cut and glue sheets of the material. Best bet is to call a local plastic supply company and see what they have to offer. There are a LOT of options when it comes to plastics. ABS is the same plastic used in motorcycle helmets. It requires complex and expensive molds to formand is not practical for a one off camera. That is only true if you figure that you must work with injection molded material. You can always work with sheets of plastic much the same as you would a piece of wood. I use a Walker Titan 4x5 camera that is made of ABS and love it. I don't have to worry about rain or snow and can shoot when many other (probably smarter) people have gone indoors. Look at A HREF=http://www.walkercameras.com/index.htm;Walker Cameras/A for more information. Yes, the Walker camera sounds pretty cool! View Camera magazine had a good review of this camera some time back. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] camera making research
On Sun, 30 Sep 2001, Jake S. Boen wrote: I'm thinking of applying for a fellowship of which I would research camera making and its role in the education of photography. I don't know enough about formal photography education to help much here. My gut feeling is that camera making isn't something that is often taught in a photography school. Most people just buy a commercial camera. I guess I'd say that camera making is kind of an art in itself, and is closer in many respects to engineering. For example, I know of engineers who are not photographers who have worked on designing cameras. (Companies hire engineers for this kind of thing, and there are a number of specialized scientific designs not generally used for artistic or commercial photography.) The number of photographers who build their own equipment seems to be quite a bit less. What are the names of famous photographers who made their own cameras and used them on a somewhat daily basis? This seems kind of a tough question. Are you talking about people who designed and built their own cameras completely from scratch, or do you include in this those who simply modify existing equipment to meet some need? If you mean the first of these, I'd hazard to guess that the numbers are small. If you really mean the later, then in some respects almost all photographers are involved to some degree. Especially if you allow for equipment other than specifically cameras. Do you know of any photography institutions who teach camera making in their curriculum besides pinholes? You might check the following: http://www.rit.edu/~661www/departments/imaging_photo.html http://www.rit.edu/~andpph/ipt.html Do you think that students are missing out by not building their own cameras? Depends on the student and his/her goals I'd guess. Probably also depends on what you mean by missing out. The end product would hopefully demonstrate the need for institutions to teach the subject matter and to present a design of a simple monorail camera that anyone can make, use, and learn basic LF principles. I guess I'd argue that the skills and knowledge are already available, and taught. What may obscure this is that we live in a society that tends to honor specialization rather than generalization. Camera making is a fairly general topic that spans at the very least the following specialized disciplines: - Mechanical Engineering - Materials Engineering - Optical Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Computer and Software Engineering - Machining and tool making - Wood Working - Mold making - Chemistry and Chemical Engineering - Ergonomics and human use engineering This could be expanded further into sub-disciplines of each of these, and/or consolidated into the broader overview sciences such as Physics. This list focuses more on the applied sciences as used for manufacturing. Basically, if you were a camera making company such as Nikon these would be the kinds of people you would probably hire, along with some photographers and marketing people to help direct the design in a direction that makes sense artistically. I guess the question I'd have to ask is whether or not you think that the artist who makes his or her own camera can somehow create better art than the person without this experience? I'm not too sure that there is, or even should be, an answer? Seems like kind of a personal issue to me. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] camera making research
On Mon, 1 Oct 2001, julian wrote: An interesting idea. I understand that in the beginning years of photography, if one could find a lens, building ones own camera was a reasonable possibility. At the beginning of every technological change the researchers and hobbyist's must naturally construct their own equipment. It takes time for the economics of the new technology to become known and for the infrastructure to evolve. Until that happens, the experimentalists, researchers, and hobbyists are the ones who must build the equipment. I think the story goes that it was the optician that Niepce' had asked about lenses for a home built camera who ultimately introduced Niepce' and Dagguerre. Of course the camera obscura as an art tool existed prior to this time, but I don't know if these were sold commercially or always constructed by the user. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] A Comment from the List Administrator
On Tue, 18 Sep 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Anybody ever known me to spam before? I thought this was too important not to pass along: This comes from Tamim, a writer and columnist in San Francisco, who comes from Afghanistan. OK, I think in light of the last weeks events we can tolerate a few posts expressing everyone's general frustration. As far as I'm concerned that it certainly understandable. That is why I've not said anything about these posts. We are after all, basically a group of colleagues in a virtual meeting space. One can't reasonably expect people not to react to such things. I also must say that I too have appreciated the posts from those kind enough to express their sympathy and regret. However, it does appear that a reminder to everyone that this is a topical discussion area, and that we should respect that people are here primarily for the discussion of topics related to the construction of photographic equipment and repair. I hope that those of you who must say something about the terrorist attacks consider this very carefully before choosing to post something about this here. My suggestion is that the general media has saturated us all with so much of this material, that it is probably best to let this list remain a place for us to escape from some of this assault on our conciousness. To the rest of you, please show a bit of patience. These are trying times, and for the most part a few such posts only serve to prove that we are still human. Arguing about whether or not they are spam is in many ways much worse than simply deleting the errant post and going on with our lives. Think of it this way, you are in my living room in the sense that I host this list. I don't tolerate fights in my living room and will simply throw anyone who chooses to pick a fight out the door - no questions asked. This has always been list policy. - Wayde, The List Owner ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] New Anodizing Process
I was just reading through some of my industrial intelligence reports and ran across the following. Thought this might be of interest to this group: http://www.microplasmic.com/inprint.htm - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] 4x5 enlarger qustion
On Fri, 7 Sep 2001, Matt Mengel wrote: I too am planning to build a 4x5 enlarger. I am planning on using a speed graphic body and build a stand. I am a machinist and welder so I can pretty much do what I need to but I was having trouble with the light source. I dont have any sketches as of yet. The project is sort of back burner but ifI come up with something I'll let you know. I was thinking diffuser style but I got a catalog from Edmund Optical and they have condensers for custom applications s If you are interested in the cold light source, you should probably check out the Aristo Lamps http://www.aristogrid.com/heads.html. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Rack and pinion
On Tue, 4 Sep 2001, John Yeo wrote: I've just seen toothed belts... but i guess a toothed belt could be glued to something solid and fuction as a rack gear. Maybe, but I'm a bit skeptical that it would be optimal. I built a camera using the plans as published in View Camera magazine several years ago. This used a piece of chain and sprocket gears with the chain rolled out flat on the focusing rail. It works, but the pitch of the gears isn't designed to put much force on the flat chain. The pitch on these gears is designed to pull the chain around a radius rather than pull it linearly. Consequently if there is any resistance the mechanism tends to skip. Since then I've found that rack and pinion materials can be purchased for less money than the gear/chain combination used in the plans I used. So ... I if you have to decide which to purchase, I'd suggest just getting a the true rack and pinion. If you are scrounging this stuff for free, well then that is a different matter, and you'll have to decided if it is worth tinkering with. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Rack and pinion
On Wed, 5 Sep 2001, Barry Young wrote: In searching for cheap alternatives to expensive racks, Probably the classic source for rack and pinion gearing is Boston Gear http://www.bostgear.com/ in particular: http://www.bostgear.com/products/open/spur.html Might also be interested in gear theory http://www.bostgear.com/products/open/theory.html They don't have any prices listed that I could see, but you can put together a shopping list, and submit it for a quote. The last time I checked, you could buy a couple of pinion gears and something like six foot of matching rack for roughly $100, maybe less. I ended up spending around $80 for the sprocket and chain assembly that was recommended in the View Camera plans by John Layton. So ... this is at the root of my suggestion that if you plan on buying this stuff, it is probably worth pricing a set of rack and pinion gears. I have tried a toothed belt fastened to a flat surface with the cog rolling along it, They have massive backlash and slop. I never got it to work well enough for a camera despite trying the finest toothed belts I could find. I tried miniature bicycle type link chain with MUCH better results, but the chain is tough to get fastened in an acceptable way and cost nearly as much as the dang racks I was trying to avoid. Yes, the sprockets have very sharp teeth so that they can catch the belt or chain link and pull it around the curve of the sprocket wheel. If you lay it out flat the parts will still mesh, but the end of the sprocket teeth is too small causing the slop, and the pressure angle is just too shallow. Basically the sprocket teeth are like little wedges and any pressure on the mechanism makes the belt or chain slide up to the tip of the wedge. You need a more square set of teeth for the linear forces. Small Parts Inc. sells reasonably priced nylon racks which I will experiment with next. A pair of racks is about $20. Yes, or you can get brass or stainless steel for a bit more. In any case, the price isn't really that much considering the hassles you end up with when you try using these other items for something they are not designed to do. I liked the suggestions of attaching the focusing rail to the chain or belt (at a small point) and then running the loop over the sprocket as it was intended. Other options are: 1. Use a threaded rod with a nut attached to the focus rail. Your focus knob could then be at the back of the camera under the ground glass. 2. If you don't have a notched belt or chain and matching sprocket you are still in luck! Attach a piece of string to each end of the focus rail and then wind the opposite ends of the string in opposite directions around a focusing shaft. Turning the shaft then lets out one end of the string while pulling the other. (If you've ever taken apart an old radio this is how the tuning knob would run both the dial and the rotary vane capacitor.) 3. If you have the notched belt or chain, use them in a similar fashion to suggestion 2. 4. Buy (or scrounge) an actual rack and pinion combination 5. An idea for a really big camera would be to use servo or stepper motors to control the camera motions. Then just stand behind the glass and push buttons to focus 6. etc. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] 4x5 enlarger qustion
On Tue, 4 Sep 2001, David wrote: Is there anyone with plans or pictures of a home made enlarger that they would share. It would help also to have someone to ask a few questions of. That is what the list is for. Ask away! - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] 14X17 film holder
On Mon, 13 Aug 2001, Joe Portale wrote: I can provide these numbers for 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 and 11x14. Give me a little bit and I'll do that this evening. While we are at it, why not setup the table for the whole gamut? Say 2X5, 5x7, 4X10, 7X17, 8x10, 11X14, 14x17, 12X20, 16X20 and 20x24. If you've got these data I'm certainly willing to put them up on our web page. I think a table of rear box sizes would be helpful. In my research, it seems that most rear boxes are 13% to 17% larger that the film size. An example would be 12 inch rear for an 8X10 in film. I'm not too sure that the rear box size is a standard though. Film holders need to be interchangeable, the rear standard only needs to be consistent with the camera maker's design and/or system. Using a 4x5 reducing back on an 8x10 camera would be an example. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
RE: [Cameramakers] 14X17 film holder
On Mon, 13 Aug 2001, John Sparks wrote: There are ansi standards for 4x5, 5x7, 8x10, probably 11x14 and maybe a few others (probably 2x3 and 3x4). However, the banquet sizes were never standardized. Each camera maker made film holders of their own design and specifications or used particular holders made by someone else. Some builders make different cameras to fit holders from different sources so even the same cameras would require different holders to work correctly. If you want to build a camera to take some odd size, you probably want to find a source of holders (or design and build your own) before building the back. Make sure any holders you buy have the same dimensions. Yes, that is my understanding as well. I'm primarily only interested in posting the ANSI standard dimensions. If there are references to the dimensions used by a given manufacturer or system, that could also be useful as long as the manufacturer or system is referenced. Also, I suppose if this group wanted to create a standard set of dimensions so that all of our cameras could use film holders interchangeably, that would also be an option. I'm not sure we really want to go there though. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Liam Lawless Paper - Enlarged Negatives by Reversal Processing
We've just added a new publication by Liam Lawless to the RMP web site at: http://rmp.opusis.com/documents/reversal4.pdf This is a follow up paper to Liam's original publication of the technique in the World Journal of Post-Factory Photography. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Re: [RMP] Public Lectures on Meteorological Optics (fwd)
This just came through on the main rmp list. Thought you guys might find it interesting. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -- Forwarded message -- Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 13:45:55 -0600 From: Neal Ulevich [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [RMP] Public Lectures on Meteorological Optics Interesting Web Page Dept. The following deals with using a very modest webcam for astrophotography. I http://www.usno.navy.mil/pao/QuickCamAstro.shtml Neal Ulevich - Web Page: http://rmp.opusis.com Mailing List: http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/rmp - ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Intel/Mattel Microscope QX3
Neal's post about the using the $50 web cam for astrophotography reminded me of a similar post he made a year ago about the QX3 toy microscope. A quick search of the the mailing list archives got me the original post on that too. I've included it below. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -- Mon, 24 Jul 2000 17:41:15 -0600 One or more list worthies remarked about the images made by the Intel/Mattel Microscope QX3 which are on my web page. FYI here is a URL to a web page which has much more info on this low-cost device, including seriously heavy modifications. http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/intelplay/intelanatomy.html Best, Neal Ulevich ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Speed Graphic Enlarger/spectral trouble
On Mon, 18 Jun 2001, Matt Mengel wrote: I think I have enough info to get started BUT, there have been some concerns here as to spectral problems with different light sources. Can anyone shed some light (sorry) on what the problem(s) would be. I am not at all familiar with this. If I used a source with the wrong color temp. what would happen? I'm speaking in the BW sense of course. The issue is that the sensitivity of photographic emulsions depend on the frequency of the light used to expose it. This is a common variable between different enlargers. No two light bulbs are quite the same, and different enlargers use different technologies (cold light or flourescent, incandescent, halogen, etc.). The upshot of this is that if you cut up a sheet of enlarging paper and exposed it under different enlarging systems you would get varying exposure times. Another twist on this is that modern variable contrast papers use two different formulations in the emulsion. One is a low contrast emulsion that responds to one color and the other is a high contrast emulsion that respones to a different color. I think the colors are green and blue, but don't remember for certain. This allows you to adjust the print contrast by changing the relative amounts of each color of light through filtration. The limits of the possible changes depend on how much of each of the two colors of light are emitted by your light source. So, as far as what would happen: - First, I'm not certain that there is a particular standard color temperature for BW enlarger lights. Maybe, but I don't know it. If I had to guess, it is probably daylight at around 5500 Kelvin. - Your enlarger will print with different exposure times compared to your so-called standard light source. - You will likely have a different contrast (filtration) range than someone with the standard light source. The good news is that you will calibrate any enlarger for your printing times, and that you can check your maximum and minimum printing contrast ranges. That is really all you'd need for BW. (For color the filtration range becomes a much bigger issue.) - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Speed Graphic Enlarger
On Thu, 14 Jun 2001, Robert Stoddard wrote: Here's another idea: I have been intrigued by the possibilities of using what are called compact fluorescent bulbs to form a light head. These lamps are designed to replace an ordinary screw-base household bulb and provide fluorescent advantages (low power consumption and heating with high light output and long life) in ordinary household lamps. I see no reason why they couldn't be used to make a good diffused cold-light enlarger light head, unless the spectral output of the bulbs is a problem. RKS Well I guess I need to throw my ideas into the pile. I've thought it would be nice to use a fiber optic illumination plate http://www.edmundoptics.com/IOD/DisplayProduct.cfm?productid=1443 as the enlarger light source. That way you can move the lamp and filter assembly out of the enlarger head http://www.edmundoptics.com/IOD/Browse.cfm?catid=243FromCatID=34. That should minimize the enlarger head's weight and vibration. It also means that you could put a great deal of control into the desk mounted illumination source. For instance, with precision control of the source intensity would mean that you could eliminate the need to have aperature control on your enlarging lens. I think the Salt-Hill enlargers were actually designed this way, but don't know that for certain. Another possibility would be to make use of something like a high resolution LCD plate that could be used in place of the negative holder. You'd then be able to use this thing for making digital enlargements. Of course the problem here would be the pixel pattern that would probably occur due to the enlargement of the imaging plate. Probably the best direction from here would be to resort to a scanning laser system ... Just some random thoughts. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Navy Training Manual for Photography on-line
On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, Marty Magid Wrote: I have Vols. 1 2 of the Navy Training Manual for Photography printed in 1951. Vol. 2 has about 15 pages devoted to developing and drying aerial film using the Smith Developing Outfit, and has tables for development time using various films. It also has photos of the apparatus. There are 3 sizes of the Smith outfits for roll film: 5 1/4 X 25', 7 X 75', and 9 1/2 X 200'. The scans of these pages are now available on the RMP web site at http://rmp.opusis.com/documents/navy/page01.html. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] 5 bw film for sale
On Wed, 6 Jun 2001, Robert Stoddard wrote: I hate to reveal my stupidity, but just how does one use this 5 wide film? Are there 5 roll film backs available to fit 4 x 5 Graflok? Seems to me that the only cameras I have ever heard of which used such a film were aerial cameras...RKS This would be ideal film for the old Number 5 Cirkut cameras. Let's see, try pointing your web browser at: http://www.panphoto.com/Cirkut5.html http://www.mindspring.com/~smackdaddy/history1.html If anyone knows of one of these for sale, I'd be very interested. Might not be able to afford it, but would be interested. For those of you who might like to build something like this, Michael Dusariez, who is on this list, used to sell a nice book on the subject. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] enlarger lenses
On Wed, 23 May 2001, Gene Johnson wrote: The reason I got curious about the point source is I have this nice 12v 100A light source with halogen bulbs. 100 amps ... if so that is impressive. How you you power this thing? You sure you don't mean 100 Watts? - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Talk on JPEG-2000 (fwd)
-- Forwarded message -- Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 18:25:01 -0600 From: Joshua Eskin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello Wayde, Could you distribute this meeting announcement to the Rocky Mountain Photogs group? I think it will be of interest to them. Please do come if you can. Sorry for the short notice. =Josh The Colorado VR Group is pleased to welcome Louis Sharpe of Picture Elements, who will be giving a talk on the upcoming JPEG-2000 standard. Louis is on the JPEG-2000 committee, and is in a position to tell us the inside story on this very promising, but late-in-coming standard. The new JPEG promises files that are easier, faster, smaller, and more flexible. It will affect how we set up our Web sites, how we take photos, and almost every aspect of how we handle images. The talk is this Saturday, April 7, at 2pm. It will be in the conference room of the Boulder Technology Incubator, at 3215 Marine St. in Boulder. Marine St. cuts across from 30th St. to Arapahoe. A map is at www.panopticvision.com/Map_to_BTI_Boulder.gif. All are welcome to attend this talk. If you are interested in imaging in general, we are working on forming a Colorado Imaging Group, so that all of us who work in the field can meet and share our knowledge and experiences. If you are interested, but can't attend the Saturday meeting, send me a note. You are also welscome to join the Colorado VR Group, made up of people interested in Virtual Reality and Immersive Imaging. Our sign-up page is at www.yahoogroups.com/group/colo-vr. See you there! =Josh == Joshua D. Eskin, Ph.D.303-485-9800 President, Panoptic Vision, Inc., Longmont, CO == ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] dumb question
On Mon, 2 Apr 2001, Joseph O'Neil wrote: Is there an FAQ for camera builders (or similar listing) where to find hardware, specifically for a feidl camera? thanks I've started a simple minded source page that accompanies this mailing list. Check it out at http://rmp.opusis.com/cameramakers/cameramakers.html Probably the most comprehensive collection of links and info is Jon Grepstad's pages which you should be able to get to from my page above. I'd be happy to put an FAQ on our web site is someone wants to put it together. Actually, we could put a good deal of info here if someone wants to help put it together. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] bellows
On Fri, 16 Mar 2001, george jiri loun wrote: Why not to use the "original" material? Well ... "original" material would be Moroccan Leather. This stuff has become a bit difficult to find in sufficiently thin stock. I did locate an importer here in the U.S. that could get it from a tannery in Italy, but the minimum order was around $5000 and would have been more material than I could have used in my lifetime. I ordered leather samples from all of the tanneries in this country that I found contact info for, and none were able to provide leather this thin. So far the thinnest leather or leather like materials I've found are from bookbinding supplies. Some of the samples I got from Denver Bookbinding http://www.denverbook.com/dbbcpl.htm looked promising, but I haven't tried using any of these. I have received professional bellows material from a Shutterbug advertiser Flexible Products Corp. in Florida. Their address is www.flexproducts.com . A very fairly priced, prof. quality, they will even help you with advice (they did to me, 12 years ago, I still have a lot of it, so cheap it was...-:) Your experience from 12 years ago sounds pretty good. I called them a couple years ago when I needed to locate some material, and they weren't particularly helpful to me. Could be the guy I talked to was just having a bad day, however he was more interested in selling me a bellows than the material to make my own. Besides, I don't think it hurts for us to explore other possibilities. Some of these newer polyester or nylon materials are very durable and water resistant if not waterproof. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] bellows
On Fri, 16 Mar 2001, Huib Smeets wrote: Daniel: since the material is so flexibel, how do you make it rigid, do those paper spacers realy last? What is interesting about bellows is that once they are folded the folds themselves provide a certain degree of rigidity. The cardboard spacers don't really need to provide much stiffness once the bellows is folded, and since they are glued between the inner and outer bellows surfaces, they are pretty well protected. In a certain sense, the spacers serve their biggest purpose by helping you fold the material in the correct places during construction. Some of the old texts I've found that discuss bellows making only use sheets of Moroccan leather with the fold lines marked with a grease pencil. You really don't "have" to use the stiffeners, but I think they do make things easier to fold. I never tested it (don't want to cut up my coat) but it looks like a light-tight material, and you can wash it after you camera hit the dirt. Yep, that is what is kind of interesting about these new bellows materials. Hope this helps for anyone looking for bellows material. Indeed! Thanks for the info. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
RE: [Cameramakers] bellows
On Thu, 15 Mar 2001, John Sparks wrote: There is at least one other person on this list in the area. I live in Monument. Very cool! Looks like we've got someone in nearly every town up the front range. Ken Watson is up in Ft. Collins. He does wet plate Collodian, and has been building cameras to support that habit. Ed Rasmussen is in Laramie and builds kite cameras. I would think rubberized cordura nylon would be similar to stuff used for raincoats. Fairly smooth and slippery. Raincoats yes, but smooth and slippery no. The stuff I have is a very matte black on the outside. The inside, rubberized surface is a light grey rubber. The stuff was available in a maroon, red, blue, green, grey, etc. I've thought about Ultra-suede for a bellows but figured it was too thick. Yes, that was what I decided too. Do you know what width the fabric comes in? I think the stuff I got came in the standard bolt width (1 yard?). If I get back down there sometime, I'll check to make sure I've got the name and sizes correct. One thing you can also consider is that the outer covering doesn't have to be completely light tight "by itself". It helps for this to be as light tight as possible, but a few very small pinholes are probably not terribly significant. You have to remember that you will be laminating this stuff with the stiffeners and inner liner, and that it is the complete sandwich that must be light tight. I've even tried adding a layer of aluminum foil to the sandwich before. That works if you are really paranoid grin. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] bellows
On Fri, 16 Mar 2001, george jiri loun wrote: Well ... "original" material would be Moroccan Leather. -- Would it?? That's kind of the problem with a word like "original". It isn't always clear what one means. I'd hazard that a very large number, if not all, of the very early camera bellows were made using a very thin leather. but the minimum order was around $5000 and would have been more material than I could have used in my lifetime. -- Your experience sounds pretty useful for the rest of us. At the time, I contacted all the cameramakers I knew of to see about the possibility of a joint purchase of scraps from a local user of the material rather than placing a full import order. I didn't get much interest so dropped the idea. We could probably try again if there is interest, but I don't know if I still have the contact info. Well, next time try perhaps with more kindness, maybe that will help. It did for me, even if they were more interested in selling me a bellows than the material to make my own... Oh you don't say wink. I don't recall being mean or anything, but hey I've ruffled feathers before. They are certainly worth talking to. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] bellows
On Thu, 15 Mar 2001, Daniel Rhoades wrote: I've had a few people asking about the bellows material I used with my camera so I did a little research and found that the only place I could find it in my town (Colorado Springs, CO) was a Hancock Fabrics. I hadn't made the Colorado Springs connection! I'm in Boulder! You might be interested in the Rocky Mountain Photographers Forum list. There are a group of people, mostly located along the front range, that discuss local photo activities on this list. Check it out at: http://rmp.opusis.com/lists.html http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/rmp Here's the info I got: The material is called Micro-Suede and it is availible in several colors including black. It is 100% polyester, very thin and light proof (I tested it in a light proof room with a high power flashlight pressed against the cloth and I had to check and make sure the flashlight was on. Sounds very similar to what I found at Denver Fabric, although I'm fairly certain that this stuff I found was called rubberized cordura nylon. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Plate silvered for daguerreotype
On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Manuel Estbanez wrote: I'm not a Daguerreotypist. My experience has only been to watch someone else make a Daguerreotype, and to read about the chemistry. So, for what it's worth I'll offer the following observations. What's the ideal look of a plate silvered for daguerreotype?. It should ideally be a mirror finish. and the ideal silver thickness? It has to be thick enough to allow you to make a silver mirror, and not so thick that you spend all your money on silver grin. Basically the Daguerreotype process works only on the top few molecular layers of the silver surface so at a minimum you'd need the film to be a couple silver molecules thick. Practically, you will get a bit more than this since the most common way of making these plates today is by electroplating. Any formula for calculate/control this ideal silver thickness? The old plates were silver clad. I'm not too certain what process was used to do that, but most plates today are silver plated. The control is whatever you can achieve in your plating process, and what you can afford as far as the amount of silver you want to plate. This is something you'd need to work out with your plater. There may be an issue of solid solubility and diffusion between the copper/silver interface too, but this is outside my realm of expertise. Again it is something you'd need to discuss with your plater. I'd suggest that you contact the Daguerrian Society http://www.daguerre.org/ and get a copy of their guide to contemporary Daguerreotypy (Don't remember the title exactly). They have a listing of material sources in this publication that includes several platers who are setup to make Dag plates. Some excellent discussion on safe handling of mercury too, pretty much a "must read" if you are planning to work with this process. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Daguerreotype camera
On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Manuel Estbanez wrote: I have a 5 x 7 wood view camera and I want to adapt a sheet film holder for daguerreotype use but, it is easy to make a simple daguerreotype camera?. I have a rack- pinion (Darlot lens). Any archive, link, etc.. about it? The Daguerreotypist that I know uses an old Speed Graphic with a slightly modified film holder. The Dag plate is fastened in place with a piece of double sided sticky tape. Basically, there isn't anything special about the camera needed to make Dag.'s ... that I know of anyway. PD: Sorry, my english is very bad Your English is much better than my non-existent Spanish. Don't worry about it. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Re: Blackening Brass Rails
On Mon, 26 Feb 2001, Sandy King wrote: Do you have any formulas for blackeining aluminium? Besides painting, and/or powder coating probably the best method would be to black anodize the aluminum. I've posted to the cameramakers list about how to anodize before. Go to http://rmp.opusis.com/htdig/search.html and search for anodizing. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Re: Blackening Brass Rails
On Sun, 25 Feb 2001, Bradley M. Small wrote: From one of the amateur telescope makers there is also this site, that explains how to anodize aluminum http://www.focuser.com/atm/anodize/anodize.html Seems a simple enough and relatively inexpensive process. I haven't tried it, but it would be worth a shot. This is indeed a very nice site! I just skimmed through it and it looks fairly complete. I'll have to add a link to it from the cameramakers page. Saves me writing something up. I have tried anodizing, and yes it is fairly straight forward. The temperature is somewhat critical though. At high temperatures the acid bath dissolves the oxide layer as fast as it forms and the net result is electro-polishing. At more or less room temperature the resulting oxide film is porous and can be dyed as was done in the web article, and at lower temperatures the oxide layer becomes much more dense (hard anodizing). The hard film will be a dark grey, and won't dye particularly well if at all. This film is usually used for wear resistant coatings. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
RE: [Cameramakers] Re: Blackening Brass Rails
On Sun, 25 Feb 2001, James Headley wrote: I have a friend locally who does a lot of powder coating for me. He is in the aircraft industry. Let me know if I can help you get anything power coated. It is a great way to go and he is one of the best and least expensive around! Yes, the last lens boards I made I had powder coated. These turned out very nice! Also you could plate the items but this is much more expensive, especially if you are trying to color it. Brass plates pretty well. I don't believe that aluminum is a particularly good candidate for plating though. I did try copper plating some aluminum heat sink blocks for a radiometer system I was building once. It works, kind of, but the copper didn't stick terribly well. I think the propensity of the aluminum to surface oxidize tended to undercut the plating. There may be a way, but I didn't find it. Using a nickel passivation layer first maybe? I also can't think of any aluminum plated parts that I've seen either. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] List changeover is now completed
If any of you had not unsubscribed from the topica list, you may have received an announcement saying that the topica cameramakers list has now been shutdown. That should complete the transition from the old list server to this one. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Springs and Spring Backs
On Thu, 25 Jan 2001, Bradley M. Small wrote: O! So the lift handle is only joined to the ground glass frame in the center. Then the lift handle is connected to the camera back. So basically ti si very similar to the Giant Mouse Trap. I think you've got it! - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Wood Strength table URL
Here is another interesting table of info: http://www.woodbin.com/ref/wood/strength_table.htm - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Springs and Spring Backs
On Thu, 25 Jan 2001, Bradley Small wrote: 4. Magic Layton Spring Back -- THis one confused me so I am not sure I understand it correctly, as the gg seems to be bond at the center and the end and is sprung in an opposing direction. It doesn't appear that it would be able to sit flat on the film holder, but ther emust be some movement I can't grok. This has a big U shaped frame (lift arm) that is hinged at the open end against the back frame. The closed end of this U is the handle. The ground glass frame is hinged at its midpoint and attached to the sides of the U. It then uses coiled springs attached between the sides of the lift arm and the back frame to hold the whole thing down against the camera back. We can try an ASCII diagram (you'll have to turn off proportional text in your mail reader for this to work.) ... The O's are the hinge points and the @ symbols the connection points for the springs. You are looking straight at the camera back, and you'd pick up on the lift handle on the right hand side to slide the film holder in from the right. -@-| O O | Lift Handle --- | | | | | | | | Ground| | | Glass | | | | | | | | --- | O O | -@-| ^ ^^ | || Hinge Hinge Coiled Spring If you've got the article, there is actually a pretty good picture of this mechanism there. The ground glass frame rotates freely around the verticle axis in this diagram. Anyone have any others? Anyoen have any experiences with any of these that they love or hate? Any reccomendations or warnings on these? What are the spring materials that you all incorporate? I have seen hacksaw blades, bandsaw blades, windshield wipers, rubber bands. Or people just buy these things industrially somewhere? Yes, and you forgot to include piano wire and springs scrounged from other equipment. If brass or other non-ferrous springs are to be made, how does one make such a thing? Basically the same way you make one using ferrous metals. I understand that non-ferrous metals don't temper the same way as ferrous ones... Yes and no, the problem is that you may find yourself wanting to work with beryllium copper. The dust from this is quite toxic and I wouldn't recommend it. Scrounged or purchased springs and spring steel are probably the simplest approaches. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Bellows and movements
On Tue, 23 Jan 2001, Bradley Small wrote: How long should the bellows be? I am assuming that the longer is for closeup and the shorter is for infinty and wide angle. How much movement is necessary? I assume at some point it is no longer useful. I assume each of these movements has a name. Left/right? Up/down? Rotation left/right? Rotation Up/Down? Should both the back and the lens have movements, or just the lens? These are questions that only you can answer since they all depend on the kind of photography you want to do? One of the better pieces of advice I was given when I got interested in these cameras was to decide on the lenses I wanted to use first and then look for a camera to fit the lens. Very few if any view cameras can use any possible lens out there. If you plan on only using a normal 150 mm lens on this camera you probably don't need the bellows to be more than twice this or 300 mm. With shorter lenses you can get by with less bellows, and the minimum focusing distance becomes more critical. For example, the camera I built using the View Camera plans can barely focus my 135 mm lens, and then only after I modified the front focus a bit. It can focus longer lenses fine. Naturally if you want to use long lenses you'll need longer bellows. If you are doing photography where extreme perspective control is either not needed or noticeable (portraiture, landscape, etc.) it is unlikely that you'll need many movements. For catalog layouts, studio work, or architectural photography more movements may be necessary. Basically these are all choices YOU have to make. Anyone have any ideas on back rotation? Spring back construction? I saw graflock backs on two different cameras, but in absence of one of these mechanical marvels, how would you manage the spring part of this back, I was considering breaking a couple mouse or even rat traps to make center mounted spring arms. I am sure someone has already come up with a better way. "Better" is one of those words that has no meaning without comparison. YOU need to figure out how YOU want to do it, and what YOU think that YOU can build. If as you say, you looked at all of these other cameras you should now at least have some ideas. I've already offered a few of my own in a prior post. You may also want to browse some of the construction sites that you can find on the list's new web page at http://rmp.opusis.com/cameramakers/cameramakers.html. I think that John Grepstad may also have an FAQ, but I'd need to go check. Basically, there is no "right" way to do this. This is where you get to be creative grin. I also say a fresnel on one of the viewing scrren, this may sound naieve but it looked exactly like those full page magnifiers that you use on a small print book. Would one of these work or is ther some special quality that they need to possess? A Fresnel lens is often added behind the ground glass to bend the diffused light from the screen back towards your eyes. This has the effect of increasing the apparent brightness of the focusing plane. That is helpful in low light conditions. I have used one of those "full page magnifiers" in my camera. It works, but the ruling in this kind of magnifier are fairly coarse, and I find them to be a bit distracting for fine focusing. I wouldn't worry about this on a first camera. While I am on this, how big is an actual ground glass for a 4x5? Uh, well ... it has to be at least 4x5. Basically it has to fit the ground glass frame. How big are you planning on making your frame? What is the purpose of the lines. Some had a grid, some had little corner hash marks some didn'thave any lines at all. These are guides that you can use during focusing. They give you a reference for parallelism so you can make perspective corrections etc.. For example, they can help you determine if the sides of the building you are photographing are parallel. If I make my own glass, could I just pencil these on? Sure, or print them on overhead transparency material and tape them to your ground glass or ... What is the normal thickness of a ground glass, looked like 1/8" or so, guess I could steal one out of one of those dimestore picture frames and frost it somehow. Yes Is it only frosted on one side? Yes, on the image forming side. Could I just get that etching cream or do I have to take ti to a sand blaster? Don't know about etching cream. A sandblaster works, carborundum and some elbow grease works too. You can also purchase bulk ground glass from several places. Edmund Scientific is where I got mine. Lenses seemed to all be on something like a 4"x4" (or possibly 10x10cm?) lens boards is this a standard size? If it is, what are the exact dimensions of these lens boards, how thick are they? This is your camera system. How big do you want your lens board? How thick are you going to make it? These are all YOUR choices. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: [Cameramakers] Plans for 4x5
On Thu, 18 Jan 2001, Tyler Samson wrote: Nope, not meant in humor at all. We could all benefit from a website or published matter regarding your adventures in camera building just as I hope we will all benefit from my adventures and misadventures with the 8X10 project. That word hope should probably have been capitalized. As I've already noted, if people want to write articles, I'd be happy to make them available here in association with the list server web pages. Contact me off list if you have anything to contribute. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Building a 4x5 View Camera
On Wed, 17 Jan 2001, Bradley Small wrote: I assume that like everything else there are standard dimensions to a 4x5 monorail view camera. Could someone please provide them for me? The only standard dimensions that I'm aware of would be those of the film holders. Outside of that, I think that the design is pretty much up to you or the manufacturer. I suppose that there are some common, although not specifically standard lens board sizes. It kind of depends on which camera systems you want to be compatible with? That really is only an issue if you want to be able to interchange parts. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] using CCD's for cameras
On Wed, 3 Jan 2001, ken watson wrote: The packages are hermetically sealed. It would be difficult removing the glass, the color filters will most likely change once exposed to humidity and other contaminants we are talking about 5 micron sq. photodiodes so dust may also be a problem. OK, but since these things are used in real devices the flare issue can probably be dealt with. How do the scanner manufacturers solve the flare problem that got us to this point? The obvious solution that comes to mind for me would be to minimize internal reflections in the camera housing. Even traditional film isn't flat black and causes some flare. Perhaps the digital sensor could be mounted at a slight angle so that surface reflections would be directed at a light absorbing surface? As long as you know that angle, and possible the transfer function of the optical path, you could probably correct the resulting image abberations programatically or even design the optics to compensate. This is a lot of spoofing to get the device to do what you may want. The problem centers around most flat bed scanners actually scan the underside lip first where they get the information for white balance AND light level before they read the glass. If the sensor encounters out of range I have no idea what they do. I think there are serveral issues here. First of all, people have already made cameras out of old scanners, so we know that it CAN be done. Secondly, this group has a fair number of tinkerers, engineers, and machinists so even hacking into the low level electronics, although perhaps difficult, can be part of the "fun". Finally, you have to consider that one may not need to go any lower level than this to simply get a scanner to do what you want. I do not know of any one that has engineering kits. A search on the web found a kit from TI http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/psheets/abstract/apps/socu005.htm. Not to mention that there is a pretty big market for computer imaging systems, not just digital cameras and scanners, that sells imaging solutions. For example: http://www.sbig.com/sbwhtmls/online.htm http://www.mars-cam.com/frame/boardccd/boardccd.html http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/msp/snapshot.htm The other issue is that the CCD itself can be damaged by only 5KV of static discharge. This is considered extremely low so any handling of the device or assembly is hazardous to its health. The electrostatic discharge issue is nothing particularly new. The chips in your PC can be damaged by 5 kV discharges. However, I agree that this is on the low end of the scale. If you get a noticeable static spark from your fingers it can easily have a potential of 100 kV or more. There are however ways to mitigate the problem. I think the key thing is that this is a pretty experimental crowd. I'd like to foster a sense of innovation here and see what people can come up with. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] optical switchs.
On Thu, 4 Jan 2001, Michel Dusariez wrote: Thanks for all repys about optical switchs. Gene Johnson sent me some scanned schematics for some optically switched relays. I've made this scan available on the web at http://rmp.opusis.com/cameramakers/relays.jpg. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] optical switchs.
On Wed, 3 Jan 2001, J. David Malinsky wrote: I have a circuit based on an LM311 comparator IC I have use in a number of applications with input from a variety of sources including photo sensors and microphones. Running from a 9 or 12 volt battery isn't a problem. I can post a schematic in pdf format if you are interested. DON'T POST BINARY FILES TO THE LIST, it will usually reject them unless they are really small. What I CAN do, and have actually be planning on mentioning, is to create a web page to go along with this list. Something kind of like what I've been doing at http://rmp.opusis.com/carbon/carbon.html. We could make a link to your pdf file there. I'd also like to start compiling a collection of reference material related to camera making. Things such as film holder standard measurements etc.. Let me know if you want me to put your pdf file on the web? - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
[Cameramakers] Administrivia - List Addresses Updated
We finished pouring the rest of the e-mail addresses from the old cameramakers list into the new one. The good news is that now all 260 of us should be here. There were several people who had unsubscribed however, and it is possible that the act of dumping the old subscriber base into the system re-subscribed you. If this is the case, you will have to unsubscribe again. My appologies for any inconvenience that may cause you. This isn't something we should have to do again. At this point the transition to the new list should be complete. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] Administrivia - List Addresses Updated
On Wed, 3 Jan 2001, J. Wayde Allen wrote: We finished pouring the rest of the e-mail addresses from the old cameramakers list into the new one. It appears that if you were already subscribed to the list this operation may have overwritten your list password. If so, you should have received a notification with the modified password and can edit your subscription options to change it back if you wish. To change your password and options visit: http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/options/cameramakers/your_address_here or by typing your address in at the bottom of the info page http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers and hitting the edit options button. - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
Re: [Cameramakers] optical switchs.
On Tue, 2 Jan 2001, Michel Dusariez wrote: Is anybody in the list who have some experience with tiny optical switchs ? And also some source. How about a bit more info? Are you talking about light activated electronic switches (light changes the current in a circuit or closes a relay) or are you wanting info on optical switches that switch beams of light on and off? How tiny? - Wayde ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ___ Cameramakers mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://rmp.opusis.com/mailman/listinfo/cameramakers
