camera — Blog — Tristan Still

We’ve made some progress on our build of a 20×24″ view camera. We put together the foam-core bellows using a healthy amount of matte gaffer tape, and did a test fit to the front and back standards. We started putting together the PVC pipe extension rail system, and we’ve got a whole host of small issues that will need addressing as the camera progresses. Excited about the prospect of having a working view camera, we attached the Fujinon-C 600mm lens to a piece of foam-core using the remaining gaffer tape, and made a makeshift ground glass from six sheets of tracing paper taped together, and had ourselves a proof-of-concept working 20×24 view camera! Some shots below (please excuse the focus/exposure of these snapshots!);

Read more about the development of the camera in here.

Testing the fit of the foam-core bellows

Looking through the camera from the incomplete front standard (yet to have a front face)

Our makeshift ground glass made from tracing paper

Looking through from the front of the camera to our makeshift ground glass made from tracing paper at the back…

Our half finished 20×24 camera sitting on a table on wheels (makes a nice stand!), sitting ready to test out the lens…

View of the temporary foam-core front standard with Fujinon-C 600mm lens – hastily taped together from some foam-core offcuts!

Piotr posing in front of the 20×24 camera

View from the back of the camera – Piotr’s image appears upside-down on the tracing paper ground glass on the back of our 20×24 camera – it works!

Piotr’s image appears upside-down on the tracing paper ground glass on the back of our 20×24 camera – it works! (Detail)

My turn to pose in front of the DIY 20×24 camera

With an expression somewhere between serious and quizzical, I appear upside-down on the tracing paper ground glass on the back of our 20×24 camera. You can’t tell, but I’m very happy with our progress so far!

As a collaboration with my good friend and fellow photographer Piotr Stopniak, we’re building a 20″ x 24″ ultra large format view camera for my next big photo project. Piotr is a Cgi/3d artist, and he was able to put together a 3d model of our design. It was a great way of nutting out what ideas were going to work and what wasn’t, and to make sure that everything would fit together properly when we go to make the final camera (provided we cut everything to spec). The idea was to make a working 20×24 camera that was simple, easy to build and relatively light. We didn’t need movements other than focus, so that helped to keep the design simple.

The front and back standards are to be made from pine frames with plywood sides, with the back standard deep enough to hold the film holder and something to hold the film holder in tightly. The main bellows are to be made from matte black foam-core cardboard, and will be able to extend and contract by using a simple box within a box design, where one box is ever so slightly bigger than the other. A simple loose material bellows will also cover the seam of the two boxes to eliminate any potential light leaks.

A rail system (similar to the box system for the bellows) will be employed to allow the camera to focus, by using PVC pipes, one inside the other and clamped to the base of each standard.

The ground glass will be a removable wooden frame with a frosted perspex sheet to allow focus.

We have a nice Fujinon-C 600mm lens to go on the front, and a very nice 20×24 film holder to go in the camera as made by Sandy King at S&S Film Holders. (Thanks Sandy!)

Here are some screenshots of the model of the camera.

See more here!

Some encouragement and inspiration for this project can be found here, here and here.

Building a 20×24 Camera – Part 3

Building a 20×24 camera – Part 1