I have recently taken a giant step forward in photography in general (some might argue that this is a step into the past).
Due to showing my KAP shots, I have befriended a local professional photographer "Ron Klein" who has encouraged me
to consider larger format photography. Not just going out and buying a $4,000.00 camera and risking it to the winds
of fate, but getting a older used lens and building my own camera from wood, metal, cardboard or whatever. His reasoning
is that you can put that same money into a lens that is extremely good and build the rest yourself and have a camera with
capabilities of extreme sharpness.
I don't expect that I will wind up getting a $4,000.00 lens anytime soon, but I have gotten several quite good lenses that
are anywhere from less than 10 years old to more than 80 years old. They are various focal lengths, for different formats
of film and cost me from $15.00 to $365.00. I purchased all but one of them on eBay and expect it will be a while before
I have cameras made to use all of them, but I will say that it has been quite an interesting endeavor. Most of these lenses
came with a shutter fitted to them and have an iris for adjusting the "f" stops.
The first camera I made uses a 120mm Angulon lens. I wanted to shoot easily available roll film so I would have the ability
to take several photos without having to change film. I made it to shoot 3 frames of 120 film (normally 2 �" X 2 �") which
produces a negative 2 �" X 7". The lens would be considered a short telephoto lens when used with 35mm film, but with this
format it gives a fairly good panorama. As seen in most of my photos, I tend to like shooting in "Portrait Format", I guess
I like seeing the ground and the horizon all in the same shot � the straighter down the better I like it too. This camera is
fairly crude, kind of boxy and made of wood, but the object is to take quality photos. It took me a little while to get all
the light leaks inside the camera stopped, but it definitely fueled my desire for larger format photography. I have since given
this camera to a friend. Moving to larger format and single shot loftings required me to rethink needing the use of Radio Control
for tripping the shutter and some aiming.
The second camera I made uses a 65mm Super Angulon lens and also shoots 120 roll film. This one uses 2 frames of film per
exposure and nets a negative that is 2 �" X nearly 5". Obviously this has a much wider-angle lens and captures quite a nice
angle of view. On both of these cameras it is necessary to bring the rig down to wind the film and cock the shutter between
exposures. Originally I had hoped to build in a winding mechanism, but not only was running out of time, but also had not
acquired a self cocking shutter to use with the lens. In the future I hope to redo this camera so I can shoot the whole roll
without having to bring the rig down between shots.