Straw Bales

Here's another , taken with the same camera. I bought the camera for just over £10. It had no name, and was in a bit of a state. The bellows were split and hanging off. I had to make a new set. But once I'd applied a bit of TLC to the brass fittings it all worked fine, a testament to the excellent build quality and the stable nature of Honduras mahogany. I kept the original ground glass screen but altered the back so it would take modern 5 x 7 film holders.
The camera came with an unnamed 8" barrel lens, but this was taken with aFallen apples in my garden.jpg 203mm Kodak Ektar.
 
Thanks Ian. It's my guitar building workshop and painting studio. No home should be without one!
 
Very nice. Please would you share a picture of the back you made? Thanks.
 
Hi Naz. Here are some pictures that should show what I did. 1 the unnamed half plate camera.jpg2 camera back with film holder in place.jpg2 camera back with film holder in place.jpg3 camera back with ground glass screen half out.jpg4 camera back with one clamping strip taken off.jpg
 
The first shot shows the unnamed camera with home-made bellows fitted.
The next shows the 5 x 7 film holder in place. I had to reduce the width of the back opening by gluing in strips of wood, to get a snug fit. And chisel some wood off the left side of the opening so the film holder would slide far enough across to centralise.
The camera had its own wooden frame with ground glass. But the frame was too wide and had to be cut down at top and bottom. And an extra piece added at the left side. Also, it wasn't as thick as the 5 x7 film holder so I had to glue the two chamfered strips of wood on, to make my system of holding the frame in place, work.
The last shots show this system, which uses loose clamping strips. I knew this would work as I have used it on several home-made cameras.
To use the camera you put the ground glass screen in the back. The nuts lock it tight. After composing and focussing you remove the screen and replace it with the film holder.
 
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Fantastic work. I really like the simplicity of your design. Thanks for sharing the pictures. Did you modify the original back which came with the camera or build a new one from scratch?
 
Thanks Naz, I modified the original back, as described above. You should be able to see my additions in the photos as they are paler in colour. I used the same wood as the original camera, Honduras mahogany, and could have blended them in by darkening and French polishing them. But I wanted them to look different, to avoid future confusion. So I gave them an oil finish.
 
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