ONLINE; looking for photo paper

there's no denying, yes film photography and darkroom printing is still alive! but they're dwindling, supplies and options for paper and film are not that varied or readily anymore. finding them might be a needle in a haystack, dead ends and out-dated sites, local distribution discontinued. just makes the process much more interesting.

 

 

 

8 x 10" base & framing

Master Chan pulls out from his storage a very old, super large format camera, base rails and frames, plus the accordions. His contribution to the project he said. Paid him a fee anyway for the parts. This is going to need alot of restoration and dissection. But what an interesting process it is going to be.

LENS BOARD done

Collected all 8 lens boards from Master Chan! Kanta project Prototype #1 "interchangeable" is about to be realised. 4x4" starting with pinhole 0.4mm, 1mm, 27mm, 31mm, 36mm, 41mm & *60mm (*2 pieces)

KANTA, Making of a lens board

– making of a lense, a window, cut open, torn, ripped out
– section by section, it unfolds, the steel petals peel off
– the light within, the eye that watches, it edges closer, the time is slipping, the opening
– of steel you're not, but veneer, wood with iris see you, of mixed breed you are, vest we see less we be
– and alas, the plate fits, onto this steel eye, that will set forth, the opening to the world, of a moment present, it captures, but a moment of past it will exist
– pennies for the passage, all roads paved with good intentions needs a talisman. coins are the best holder/fixtures to hold the lense plate in place

LENS BOARD

VIsit to Master Chan, a camera restorer and lens board maker. calculations and measurements with a caliper to the 50th of a millimeter! commissioning seven plates for a variation of lenses. the board will be < 4 x 4 inches (101mm) at a thickness of 1mm ± 0.5 to 1mm for felt.

 

 

 

MATERIALS

besi buruk, junk 'recycling' centres. heading to one of these this week to look for containers and fixtures, plus whatever that might come in handy with the mounting.

Prototype no.2; insides

internal framing, holder in place, this is the viewing door, need to put in ground glass plates and we're ready for test printing! but first need to work on the other prototypes too.

WOODWORK; ground glass & negative holder

from left clockwise; grooved wood strips, cut glass, 1st & 2nd attempt, the successful 3rd, the ground glass fitted on groove strips

WOODWORK; holder

woodwork; ground glass & negative holder. trying hard to make this work. been quite frustrating, the 45 degree joints are just not working. manage to work on another approach and after 2 attempts, made one good holder. at the moment figuring out mounting. another challenge!

prototype no.2— fold camera

prototype no.2— fold camera. attaching a fold camera as the lens and focusing element. this is the first prototype built, it has more framing to hold the fold camera. currently building and designing the film plane (negative holder)

WOODWORK; prototype No.4

WOODWORK; prototype No.4 this is by far the most complex build and also the biggest box camera. aproximately 11 x 14 x 20 inch W x H x D. working with unwanted wood takes alot more work and and reconstruction

MORE READING

on theories on printing, as well as some inspiration from the Lukas & Sean, the guys behind the documentation of the Afghan Box Camera, the living art form of photography

ACQUIRED LENSES

— barrel lens, russian made, 210mm with aperture, large format

— Centrop / Bee Bee fold camera, from the 1920s/30s. restored and serviced for use by Master Chan for one of the four prototypes. 100mm lens with shutter No.0

 

 

GROUND GLASS

visit the local framer shop for some offcut glass. she was kind enough to cut them down to size. got them at 2mm & 3mm thickness. these will be used as the ground glass.

a crude sample after some sanding down, good enough to get an image. read more about the process of how it's made here 

 

 

HARDWARE

screws, joints, hinges, latches and brackets, must of any woodwork project, although will try to source old used hinges and latches as well if they;re in working condition

WOODWORK

Been doing some woodwork, working out the basic internal framing of the camera, so far there are four prototypes, three of them sharing similar framing and the fourth still not worked out yet.

Picture here some of the internal frame, cut to size from scrap wood from an old kampung house, ceiling bracing. interesting colours and variations.

 

 

FLIMSIES- forming the body

Flimsies– "a paper thin metal rectangular box designed to carry liquids. Standard container used by the British standards, they come in assortment of sizes and are more appropriately called oil cans." It is the project's choice to use these cans, as they are widely used for commercial purposes, found easily, and highly reusable. Considering the heritage value and origins of these cans, plus the interesting 'upcycled' versions, from dust pans for sweepers, post box and many more uses. It will form the outer shell of the camera. the project has amassed 7 of these flimsies from various places, biscuit suppliers, cooking oil cans from restaurants, kerosene & thinner from furniture factories. More info on how they're used soon. read more about the build of the camera here http://kantaboxcamera.blogspot.com/p/build.html

TEST SUBJECT; Justin Lim

testingwith sitter Justin using barrel lense at tilted front lens plane.

 

 

 

 

focusing mechanism

one of the simple (yet complex) solutions. after some in-depth reading into the functions of a view camera, large format cameras. found an ingenious way of using an old boom mic stand as an adjustment for the film plane. this would give the box camera interesting tilt and swing. although not from waste, it is a used found object. perhaps a visit to the scrap metal and plastic recycling centres might yield some other alternatives.

ACQUIRE woodwork tools

Acquired some woodwork tools, lined up about 4 prototypes to be build. the jigsaw will really come in handy. just completed the 1st prototype today, only the internal framing, still quite a few calculations but it's looking good. pictures to follow