Home-made SLR to View Camera Conversion

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pavlosfotosathgr/5400091495/
A home made (d)SLR to View Camera Conversion with Pentax P30t
and Volna 80/2,8 P6 mount .
Can mount any lens and any SLR , shift 20mm any direction , tilt limited only by the space left between camera/lens , the rail moves the front or back brace or moves itself front & back , one of the braces alone can be used as a pano head , and replacing the lens board with a film holder and mounting an enlarger lens with macro tubes on the camera converts it to a slide copier .
A lighter , smaller , stiffer , easier to handle and more handsome version is on my workbench , and will be possibly ready at about the end of March .

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Attila · Expire: 2025-11-18

Welcome! Pretty interesting cam! Please share some photos too , taken with this camera.

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

I'd love to know the build-cost and equipments for something like this. I know there are stuff on the market like the Zork adapters, but they're much too expensive...

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

Here are a couple of pictures made with the device .
As about the cost it is really big . This is the 3d version and as some parts were made in a machinery workshop , plans changed , lenses bought an finally found not idoneous for the purpose , column drills and other machinery bought to be able to make it home etc , it can be justified only if I can produce and sell it .
It can be made much simpler , but if I want to sell it , it must be sturdy , easy to handle , light etc .

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

Sorry , I think info on my previous post is too limited so I continue .
About the fotos first , they are both shot using an Helios 44/2 58mm f:2
lens and a Pentax K10d .
As about making something like this , it's easy to make something less complicated ( and expensive ) using three microfocusing rails ( the stuff sold on e-bay for $12 each including postage ) , an L brace and a straight
bar of aluminium ( or even wood ) . You fasten the L brace on one rail so that it can shift right and left . It can also swing on it's fastening screw .
The second rail is fastened on the vertical leg of the L and carries a second , smaller L where you can mount the camera body by the thread
you usually mount it on a tripod . The second L can swing back and forth on it's mounting screw .
So you have the body that swings and shifts . All you need now is a plate to mount the lens , and the third rail to variate the distance between them . Use the alu bar to put them in a reasonable distance between them and focus with the rail . The lens is mounted on an old filter ring
glued in a hole on the plate , and a punch shaped bellows is mounted on both camera and lens .
As it's more difficult to explain than make , you can see some suggesting fotos here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1557326@N22/

martinsmith99 · Expire: 2013-11-18

Interesting but not sure I'll try it. Laughing

Welcome to the group.

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

Coool, thanks for the info. I actually might try something. What makes what YOU want to do more complicated and expensive?

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pavlosfotosathgr/sets/72157624108080127/
As you can see in this flickr set , it started as a toy , and it went on more and more laborious .
In the begining I wanted to play , and the cost ( and risk ) was a 40 euro
bill . Then , shift movements , parts made by specialised people , MF lenses , design errors , rised the cost up to the point that I should make a perfect machine or nothing .
And a perfect machine has to be handsome , easy to handle , rigid , light and compact . On the other hand , having a perfect machine , one can hope to sell a couple of copies , to have refunded part of the cost
for the development .
I don't still have the final thing , but I'm too close to .
As about a self made stuff , the first attempt I did worked , and it would do better , if I had mounted a couple of rails on the brace , the way I describe in my previous post .

rawhead · Expire: 2014-04-29

What price range are you thinking about if you'll sell it? If it's significantly cheaper than the Z�rk offerings, I will seriously consider it.

Scheimpflug · Expire: 2011-11-18

Wow, this is really a great project! Surprised

I have to say, as a fellow P30t owner, it sure is nice to see such a humble camera being showcased for the photo shoot. Mr. Green

Please keep us posted here on the development of your next version! If it really does end up being "lighter, smaller, stiffer, easier to handle and more handsome", that's going to be quite a nice piece of equipment! Cool

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

It's going to be a modular system . One brace alone is a panohead , as it can move the camera back and forth in respect to the swinging axis so that you can make it coincide with the nodal point of the lens and have no parallax . Also it should be used alone with a simple lens plate and a focusing rail for only-back-tilt-shift movements . The brace will cost ( approx ) 400 $ . Two braces for full movement possibility , accompanied by a three movements rail ( focusing by moving the back , or the lens ,
or the whole thing for makro ) will cost 800 $ . In both cases a bellows with mounts for camera and lens will come along with the brace(s) .

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

The site for "Geometry" is finally uploaded . Here's a link to it
http://bluescargo.gr/geometry/

sichko · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 2475 Location: South West UK

What a great piece of work. And impressive pictures. Congratulations.

pniaouris · Joined: 22 Feb 2011 Posts: 36 Location: Athens

thanks sichko