TRIPOD; mounting

made the base and filler from left over salvaged wood. using the standard dual lighting stud as the screw, works great!

 

 

 

TRIPOD; mounting

need to fabricate a mount system to fit all 4 kamras. Found an old surveyors field tripod

ACQUIRED; Durst M305 Enlarger

acquired an old durst 35mm enlarger, electrical still working, needed some repairs and replacement parts. will be showing how the photo printing process to would-be apprentices for the Kanta project

RESTART; unpacking kamras

for the next few stages. test prints, some more building, and preparation for field use. studio workshop is open to people who are keen to have a closer look.

HIBERNATION

NOTE; project in hibernation till february, pending completion of work for group art show "Making Space; we are where we aren't" opening set for 30th January 2015. a few experimental processes and ideas here.

DISSECTION

two lenses dissected this morning. Of the two, the nikon 35mm prime lens gave the most promising lense! also salvaged parts to use in the making of a simple spring loaded shutter. thanks Japheth Lim for the glasses!

looks like it contains 2 glass elements, did a quick test and the focal point turned out to be at 150mm. Exactly the focal length i was looking for, the image circle is bigger than a singular element, this is going to be an excellent portrait lens!

 

 

TEST PROTOTYPES

Say hello to Kamra number 1, 2, 3, & 4. After much delays and being on the back burner, all 4 prototypes are ready at test stage. Restarted the building of the kamras mid november after the completion of the bicycle map project. Finally meeting some benchmarks, with the first print few weeks back and the completion of all the prototypes (test stage). the most complex build no.4 was really pushing the boundaries of my woodwork skills, plus the unending rain is making the wood warp quite considerably. it's gonna be a photographic new year, Happy New Year everyone! 

from left; no. 4 wooden box, no. 3 upcycle, no.2 foldie, & no.1 interchangeable

FIRST GLIMPSE; proto 4

prototype 4; it's not just a wooden box, almost complete! reverse-build #kantaboxcamera #kamraefaoree #afghanboxcamera #reversebuild #camera

PROTOTYPE #4; wooden box

INSIDES; all wooden camera, the most complex and interesting build. just completed the main internal framing, next, some small tweaking, fitting in the rear swinging door before putting in the focusing mono rail #kantaboxcamera #kamraefaoree #afghanboxcamera

Enlarger head tilting

studio 25 antarabangsa; printing darkroom, back in Ampang, doing some test, tilting the enlarger head to do life size prints, calculations on distance, projection size #makingspace #instudio25 #darkroom

PRINTING STOCK

finally all printing stock ready, still in boxes, need to cut them down to sizes, do some test and flashing for test printing. photo emulsion chemicals for another art project. only the simple dev & fixer for kanta project

CHEMICALS;
ROLLEI Black Magic
Variable Grade 300ml
Gelatine base 100gr
PN Developer 260ml
Additive Hardener 250ml
Citrin Stop 250ml
FIS Neutral 250ml

ILFORD
Multigrade Developer 1 litre
Rapid Fixer 1 litre


PHOTO PAPER;
ILFORD negative paper
5x7" RC matte 100 sheets
5x7" Art paper 50 sheets
3.5x5.5" RC gloss 200 sheets

IMAGO positive paper
5x7" RC gloss 50 sheets

 

 

SPHERICAL AQUA LENS

prototype #3; upcycled kamra, spherical aqua lens. this version is built using only waste & unwanted material

LENS BOARD

eight made, fitting lenses on. 2 of the prototypes will be sharing lenses, with interchangeable built into it

FOCUS TRAIN

Constructing; call this focus train, still work in progress, it is the focusing mechanism for prototype #3; reused kamra

BOTTLES

sealed bottles & measures, repurposed expired medical containers for storing concentrate chemicals for mixing 'in-the-field'. for reference; 5ml, 10ml, 70ml, 80ml, 130ml, 160ml, 170ml & 225ml. thanks to suann for her garbage contribution to the project

PHOTO-CHEMICALS

got my chems from our local film hero, KoonYik Chin. thanks for the empty bottles, they'll come in real handy when these cameras go mobile. check out Bang Bang Geng for local film & photo printing production needs, the new old school

Koon Yit (right) "it's all about promoting photography"

GRINDING; ground glass

today's attempt at making new ground glass. AHH!! broke one while sanding. 2mm piece. maybe attempt a test print with proto #1 with 210mm lense

SUPPLIES; photo printing paper

was in Singapore on personal matters, took the opportunity to get some photo supplies from my old haunt down at Peninsular Plaza. Nice to see familiar faces after more than 5 years

1. rubies :) same faces after all these years!
2. photo printing paper, ilford, not many options, better than none
3. films still readily available
4. photo chemicals, wow still some kodak powders!

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Kamra #2; foldie / first print

first attempt at image capture & printing out of box. exposure is too long, light quality is very important, extremely low exposure value about minus three to minus four, which is about the luminosity of a half moon. ISO rating for the paper is about ISO 4 for easier calculations. Still puzzling, figuring out the exposure timing; according to calculations it is a sitting of 3 minutes & 20 seconds for this particular lense. more test needed. 

prototype no.2— fold camera; hello again

1. hello again, time to jump start the project again after all the commotion of the other project
2. light leak, image clear
3. good morning, i see you clearly

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