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Subject: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-04 06:00:11
From: Joel Alpers

David Lee, are you on this list?

This may have been discussed before (I was off this list for a
quite a while, until I learned that it had re-formed on Yahoo groups).

I saw your photos in Brian Reynold's MF folio recently, and am
dying to know details of your handmade box camera (particularly
lenses!)

Sorry if this has been discussed to death in my absence!

Joel.

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-04 22:32:53
From: David Lee

Joel,

Yes, I am on the list. The camera has not been discussed. The lenses are Mamiya twin lens lenses (Mamiya C series) and are 80mm focal length. I will be happy to share any details about it, either on the list or in private emails.

David Lee

----- Original Message ----
From: Joel Alpers
To: MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2007 5:39:57 AM
Subject: [MF3D-group] David Lee's box camera

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-04 22:44:21
From: John Thurston

David Lee wrote:

> Yes, I am on the list. The camera has not been
> discussed. The lenses are Mamiya twin lens
> lenses (Mamiya C series) and are 80mm focal
> length. I will be happy to share any details
> about it, either on the list or in private emails.

Please. . . Share the details here!
________________________________________
John Thurston
Juneau, Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-05 06:06:51
From: Joel Alpers

David Lee wrote:

> Joel,
>
> Yes, I am on the list. The camera has not been discussed. The lenses
> are Mamiya twin lens lenses (Mamiya C series) and are 80mm focal
> length. I will be happy to share any details about it, either on the
> list or in private emails.
>

> David Lee

>
>

David:

I would love to hear more. I saw your .dr5 slides in the recent folio
(Brian's) and was incredibly impressed by their sharpness!! Puts
my Spud to shame! (although there are those on this list (Sam ;) who
would say that doesn't take much effort from a camera (grin)

Did you make the camera for roll film?

Any details (I could put photos on a web site if you don't have a way) would
be most appreciated! Did you make a tilting lens board for focus plane
control?

Joel.

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-06 20:29:10
From: David Lee

Joel and group members,

I have just added photos of my camera to the photo section of this list. Take a look and read my descriptions. If you have questions I will be happy to answer them. If Joel or, anyone else, would like to put the photos on a web site, be my guest.

I also have ideas about making a 5x7 stereo camera, having made a pair of 4x5 cameras for stereo. If you just wanted it to focus at the hyper-focal distance (that is, make it non-focussing) it would be quite simple to construct.

David Lee

----- Original Message ----
From: Joel Alpers
To: MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, April 5, 2007 5:38:54 AM
Subject: Re: [MF3D-group] David Lee's box camera

David Lee wrote:

> Joel,
>
> Yes, I am on the list. The camera has not been discussed. The lenses
> are Mamiya twin lens lenses (Mamiya C series) and are 80mm focal
> length. I will be happy to share any details about it, either on the
> list or in private emails.
>

> David Lee

>
>

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-12 02:10:09
From: vlagal57

David;

I commend you on this art object! I think it's great. I have been
thinking about doing something like this for some time (even bought
the same mamiya lenses) but time has kept me from starting. So
contgrats for actually showing that it's do-able.

Two questions - it seems like you can use 220 film with this camera
since there is no 'counter-hole' - am I right? just curious why you
decided NOT to have a counter hole for 120mm film.

what type of wood did you use? i've toyed with plywood and solid
hardwoods etc. couldn't make up my mind - whad did you go with?

thanks for showing this baby off!

Vladimir

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-12 22:03:16
From: David Lee

Vladimir

I commend you on this art object! I think it's great.

I'm glad you enjoyed the photos of it.

I have been
thinking about doing something like this for some time (even bought
the same mamiya lenses) but time has kept me from starting. So
contgrats for actually showing that it's do-able.

Yes, it's definitely a very time-consuming project.

Two questions - it seems like you can use 220 film with this camera
since there is no 'counter-hole' - am I right?

Yes, you could use 220 film with it.

just curious why you
decided NOT to have a counter hole for 120mm film.

I figured that I would make the hole if necessary, but figured I would see how well counting the turns worked before I cut the hole. As long as I remember to keep track, this system works very well.

what type of wood did you use? i've toyed with plywood and solid
hardwoods etc. couldn't make up my mind - whad did you go with?

I am not a carpenter, but from my basic research I decided to go with hardwood plywood, rather than solid plywood, because I think the plywood is probably easier for the amateur to work with, and I believe it may be less likely to warp (although I could certainly be wrong about this).

thanks for showing this baby off!

Thank you for appreciating it. I will be at the convention with it by the way.

David

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-13 07:16:00
From: John Hart

> I am not a carpenter, but from my basic research I decided to go

with hardwood plywood, rather than solid plywood, because I think the
plywood is probably easier for the amateur to work with, and I believe
it may be less likely to warp (although I could certainly be wrong
about this).

That's a neat camera! From my recent work building MirScopes, I would
suggest using P95 (matte) black plexiglass (acrylic). It's very
dimensionally stable, strong, glues easily, is non-reflective (on one
side), is weather resistant with no warping, etc. It machines easily
(though you need a special saw blade - amazon.com has Hitachi blades
for about $40), and the edges can be flame polished with a propane
torch. Just a thought.

John Hart
www.mirscope.com

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-13 10:14:01
From: David Lee

John,

This is very good information. Maybe I'll use this for my next one (which will use 55mm lenses). By the way, I meant to write "solid hardwood" not "solid plywood".

David

----- Original Message ----
From: John Hart
To: MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 6:15:31 AM
Subject: [MF3D-group] Re: David Lee's box camera

> I am not a carpenter, but from my basic research I decided to go

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-13 22:33:01
From: Joel Alpers

David Lee wrote:

> Joel and group members,
>
> I have just added photos of my camera to the photo section of this
> list. Take a look and read my descriptions. If you have questions I
> will be happy to answer them. If Joel or, anyone else, would like to
> put the photos on a web site, be my guest.
>
> I also have ideas about making a 5x7 stereo camera, having made a pair
> of 4x5 cameras for stereo. If you just wanted it to focus at the
> hyper-focal distance (that is, make it non-focussing) it would be
> quite simple to construct.
>
> David Lee

David:

Thanks for posting the photos - I've been busy at work, and just got a
chance
to view them.

I like the sport finder!

Did you have much trouble finding matching lenses?

Any idea what the image circle of the 80mm lenses is?

Joel.

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-14 07:30:40
From: saturnscope

To add to the discussion on materials for a camera such as this I dug
out my old 1998 web page file and put it back up. It shows how to
design an extremely sturdy, easy to assemble and finish MF stereo wood
camera body. I used Mamiya C330 lenses.
Sometimes you can change the design approach to address the strengths
and weaknesses of the material. I use wood a lot for my stereo
projects and products and have found some different approaches to
design that make wood an excellent choice.

This design uses a Lego or butcher block design approach. It is a
glued laminate solid hardwood camera body with complex geometry.

I never finished the camera, I went on to use the lenses on the "Stereo
Whutnik" project that is on my website. I should go back and finish
this thing.

As a side topic, I used a cnc router to cut the pieces. Nowdays you
can get into cnc home routers inexpensively, and even cnc laser cutters
are much cheaper than before. Machinery isn't as much of a problem as
it used to be when I started.

Al

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-14 07:35:52
From: saturnscope

It would help if I gave the web address:
http://www.seriousviewers.com/mfcam1/mfcam.html

Al

Subject: Re: David Lee's box camera
Date: 2007-04-15 14:21:06
From: David Lee

Joel,

Did you have much trouble finding matching lenses?

I tried at least 6 lenses to find 2 that matched pretty well. And I still had to had to switch one lens to another shutter to get both the lenses and the shutters matched. And after all that I still have to make sure the apertures are visually matched before shooting.

Any idea what the image circle of the 80mm lenses is?

No, but it easily covers the film I am exposing.

David Lee