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Archive 2016My digital view camera lives again!
p.1 #1My digital view camera lives again!
I know most here aren't interested in this perpetual project of mine, so I'll make this update brief and then won't bring it up again for a while.
* * * * * * *
I dropped and broke my second A7R last August, so put this project aside until I was in a position to replace it with another one. Thanks to a generous friend who gave me a used one for Christmas, however, I was able to bring it to the front burner again.
So I finished a few final details earlier today and then took the camera down the street to photograph my usual test scene late this afternoon.
I'm going to redo the bellows mount on the camera side -- I have an idea about how to do it even better still! -- but otherwise, this latest "Frankencamera" revision -- my fourth! -- is functionally finished.
(Obviously, there are some cosmetic issues that still need to be addressed, but there is no hurry for me to take care of those, because they don't have any effect upon the camera's operation.)
And here's the photo I took with it:
It was taken with a Contax N 17-35/f2.8 lens zoomed to 21mm and stopped down to f8. Note that I did no cropping or perspective correction during post-processing (which, of course, is the reason why I wanted to have movements available in the first place) and I haven't yet profiled the body, so the color isn't dialed-in yet.
The upper corners have started to go soft, because I removed the mask over the rear lens element that otherwise would have limited the size of the lens' image circle so they weren't visible. I used about 8mm of rear fall, which is roughly a third of the frame, so I was pushing things fairly hard here. (Of course, at night, which is when I do most of my photography these days, I suspect this won't be an issue at all, because the corners aren't likely to be even slightly visible. Or if I use my Contax 645 lenses, for which I another lens board and mount.)
Otherwise, though, I'm happy enough with the image quality and this particular sample A7R body appears to be a pretty good performer, even if it is a little bit scruffy cosmetically. When I checked it for hot pixels, I found only 10 and 3-4 of them aren't very bright, so they probably don't matter very much. And the overall noise level is nicely low, too ... better in both respects than my last A7R body was, in fact.
The next step from here is to finalize the bellows mounting at the camera side, then tidy up the cosmetics. I'll then use it for a while, as I ponder the best way to implement electronic aperture control and/or auto-focus....
* * * * * * *
I dropped and broke my second A7R last August, so put this project aside until I was in a position to replace it with another one. Thanks to a generous friend who gave me a used one for Christmas, however, I was able to bring it to the front burner again.
So I finished a few final details earlier today and then took the camera down the street to photograph my usual test scene late this afternoon.
I'm going to redo the bellows mount on the camera side -- I have an idea about how to do it even better still! -- but otherwise, this latest "Frankencamera" revision -- my fourth! -- is functionally finished.
(Obviously, there are some cosmetic issues that still need to be addressed, but there is no hurry for me to take care of those, because they don't have any effect upon the camera's operation.)
And here's the photo I took with it:
It was taken with a Contax N 17-35/f2.8 lens zoomed to 21mm and stopped down to f8. Note that I did no cropping or perspective correction during post-processing (which, of course, is the reason why I wanted to have movements available in the first place) and I haven't yet profiled the body, so the color isn't dialed-in yet.
The upper corners have started to go soft, because I removed the mask over the rear lens element that otherwise would have limited the size of the lens' image circle so they weren't visible. I used about 8mm of rear fall, which is roughly a third of the frame, so I was pushing things fairly hard here. (Of course, at night, which is when I do most of my photography these days, I suspect this won't be an issue at all, because the corners aren't likely to be even slightly visible. Or if I use my Contax 645 lenses, for which I another lens board and mount.)
Otherwise, though, I'm happy enough with the image quality and this particular sample A7R body appears to be a pretty good performer, even if it is a little bit scruffy cosmetically. When I checked it for hot pixels, I found only 10 and 3-4 of them aren't very bright, so they probably don't matter very much. And the overall noise level is nicely low, too ... better in both respects than my last A7R body was, in fact.
The next step from here is to finalize the bellows mounting at the camera side, then tidy up the cosmetics. I'll then use it for a while, as I ponder the best way to implement electronic aperture control and/or auto-focus....
Dec 27, 2016 at 07:57 PM
p.1 #2My digital view camera lives again!
Sweet! You should cross-post this to the alt forum. Have you tried it with any larger format or enlarging lenses?
Dec 27, 2016 at 09:10 PM
p.1 #3My digital view camera lives again!
freaklikeme wrote:
Sweet! You should cross-post this to the alt forum.
Thanks ... and done!
Have you tried it with any larger format or enlarging lenses?
Yes, I've tried it with the handful of medium- and large-format view camera lenses I still have on hand -- i.e., various Mamiya Press and Polaroid 600 SE lenses I stripped from their focusing helicals and/or remounted in Copal shutters, as well as a couple of Sironars and G-Clarons -- but they're clearly showing their age, because their performance was definitely a tier below the Contax lenses I use (and which were the primary reason I built this camera, because I wanted to use my favorite lenses with movements and there were no commercially available alternatives.)
Sweet! You should cross-post this to the alt forum.
Thanks ... and done!
Have you tried it with any larger format or enlarging lenses?
Yes, I've tried it with the handful of medium- and large-format view camera lenses I still have on hand -- i.e., various Mamiya Press and Polaroid 600 SE lenses I stripped from their focusing helicals and/or remounted in Copal shutters, as well as a couple of Sironars and G-Clarons -- but they're clearly showing their age, because their performance was definitely a tier below the Contax lenses I use (and which were the primary reason I built this camera, because I wanted to use my favorite lenses with movements and there were no commercially available alternatives.)
Dec 27, 2016 at 09:53 PM
p.1 #4My digital view camera lives again!
Congrats - looks like this opens a lot of opportunities! I would like to see a front and side view of your setup shown above, too!
Dec 28, 2016 at 11:01 AM
p.1 #5My digital view camera lives again!
retrofocus wrote:
Congrats - looks like this opens a lot of opportunities! I would like to see a front and side view of your setup shown above, too!
After photographing with it last night, I disassembled it this morning, because I figured out a better way to attach the bellows to the A7R body, so I cannot take any photos of it for another day or two.
However, here is a photo of it without the bellows (and with a Fuji X-Pro 1 body) that I took while assembling it, which I'll post as a placeholder:
As you can see, it's necessary to use a heavily recessed lens board (which I modified by extending it an additional 5 mm) in order for the Contax N lens to focus at infinity.
This version of the camera was assembled around a Toyo VX23D 2x3 view camera and a Toyo Robos rear standard, which I modified by cutting off the tilt mechanism. (Earlier versions were assembled from bits and pieces borrowed from the Toyo 23G, 45G, and 810G view cameras collecting dust in a hallway closet.)
And here is a photo of the front from the previous version, which is largely unchanged compared to the latest version (the only change made was to switch to a Toyo Robos rear standard, which will be more flexible going forward with regard to accommodating a body such as the upcoming Fuji GFX), and with a Contax 645 lens mounted instead of a Contax N lens:
The only downside to this camera that I've discovered so far is that, overall, it weighs 15.5 lbs. with tripod, A7R body and Contax N 17-35/f2.8 lens. Fortunately, that's not so heavy that I can't still carry it over my shoulder while I'm on foot, photographing around my neighborhood at night.
Congrats - looks like this opens a lot of opportunities! I would like to see a front and side view of your setup shown above, too!
After photographing with it last night, I disassembled it this morning, because I figured out a better way to attach the bellows to the A7R body, so I cannot take any photos of it for another day or two.
However, here is a photo of it without the bellows (and with a Fuji X-Pro 1 body) that I took while assembling it, which I'll post as a placeholder:
As you can see, it's necessary to use a heavily recessed lens board (which I modified by extending it an additional 5 mm) in order for the Contax N lens to focus at infinity.
This version of the camera was assembled around a Toyo VX23D 2x3 view camera and a Toyo Robos rear standard, which I modified by cutting off the tilt mechanism. (Earlier versions were assembled from bits and pieces borrowed from the Toyo 23G, 45G, and 810G view cameras collecting dust in a hallway closet.)
And here is a photo of the front from the previous version, which is largely unchanged compared to the latest version (the only change made was to switch to a Toyo Robos rear standard, which will be more flexible going forward with regard to accommodating a body such as the upcoming Fuji GFX), and with a Contax 645 lens mounted instead of a Contax N lens:
The only downside to this camera that I've discovered so far is that, overall, it weighs 15.5 lbs. with tripod, A7R body and Contax N 17-35/f2.8 lens. Fortunately, that's not so heavy that I can't still carry it over my shoulder while I'm on foot, photographing around my neighborhood at night.
Dec 28, 2016 at 11:48 AM
p.1 #7My digital view camera lives again!
atracksler wrote:
Here's my homebrew solution;
That's cool and certainly more cost-effective than my approach.
Here's my homebrew solution;
That's cool and certainly more cost-effective than my approach.
Dec 29, 2016 at 10:56 PM
p.1 #8My digital view camera lives again!
Audii-Dudii wrote:
That's cool and certainly more cost-effective than my approach.
Yours looks nice though! Mine looks like it was assembled by children
That's cool and certainly more cost-effective than my approach.
Yours looks nice though! Mine looks like it was assembled by children
Dec 30, 2016 at 07:45 AM
p.1 #9My digital view camera lives again!
atracksler wrote:
Yours looks nice though! Mine looks like it was assembled by children
Pro tip: A can of Krylon will go a long way toward changing that!
Audii-Dudii wrote
That's cool and certainly more cost-effective than my approach.Pro tip: A can of Krylon will go a long way toward changing that!
Dec 30, 2016 at 09:19 AM