Going wider still!
As mentioned in an earlier article about my home built 6×12 panoramic camera, I said that I was considering constructing an even wider panoramic camera, a 6x17cm camera. Well here it is!
I have retained some tried and tested materials and construction methods, namely plywood construction and a basic box shaped body. This time however I cut the body from a sheet of 6mm plywood rather than buy a box pre made and then modify it to suit. I departed from my original construction method, by lining the interior of the camera body with adhesive foil which was then sprayed matt black rather than coating the exterior with foil and spraying matt black.
Basic construction – The first steps
The film chamber was constructed in a similar method to my 6×12 camera,(this was made from a surplus picture frame), I used backing paper from a used 120 roll film to ascertain the dimensions of the film guide, I wanted it as wide as possible whilst still supporting the film. Every surface of the film plane had to be perfectly flat and smooth to ensure the film emulsion did not get damaged when being moved across it, the outer edges were curved down to prevent damage to the film emulsion.
Having completed the initial construction, the film chamber was given a coat of matt black paint. The next stage was to cut a hole in the front centre section of the camera to allow the lens to project into the camera body. A smaller box section was then constructed, this would be fixed to the front of the camera body to hold the lens. Tests were made with paper negatives to check for correct lens to film plane distance. It was at this point I discovered that the Georg Leitmeyer 90mm Angulon (a Schneider Angulon rebranded by the looks of it) that I had obtained would not fully cover a 6x17cm image area – somewhere at the back of my mind I thought it would just about cover the area required, hence I had to purchase an alternative lens – this being a Schneider 90mm Super Angulon.
I made the film advance shafts from steel bolts that were ground at one end to form a T that would locate in the film spool to enable the film to be advanced, holes were drilled in the top of the camera body to accept the winder shafts. Steel washers were fitted inside and outside the body to provide further protection against light leaking into the film chamber and causing fogging. The lower film spool retaining guides were again made from steel bolts inserted through the base of the camera body. A steel spring and washer were used to provide downward pressure to hold the winder mechanism inside the film spool.
Film winder
Originally the camera back was designed to be thinner than my 6×12 cameraback and again fit inside the camera body to form a light tight seal, subsequent tests revealed that the thinner back construction did not provide an adequate seal, as a result the camera back was modified to overlap the camera body by 10mm all round – this has proved to be much more sucessful.
Modified camera back – note red window for frame registration
Camera back with cutouts for winder knobs
The winder knobs were constructed from a section of wooden broom handle – they were trimmed down, drilled to accept the winder shaft and fitted with brass caps.
Interior view with film transport in situ
My original plan had been to use the natural wood finish for the camera, but after some consideration I decided to opt for matt black instead since it highlighted the brass fittings and gave the camera a better overall look.
The finished camera
Initial test for light tightness, focus, film advance, frame spacing and coverage were made using Fomapan 100 and 400 film. This was when I discovered the suseptability of scratching with Fomapan film, hence the reason for adding an additional protection layer – in this case the reverse side of 120 film backing paper to both film guides. Indicators in the form of small white beads have been fixed to the camera to give an approximate guide for framing the image. Also a quick release plate has been fixed to the bottom of the camera for ease of fitting the camera to a tripod. Once these final details had been sorted it was time to take some proper photographs! Some samples are shown below.
Some final thoughts.
My initial plan was to reuse my Schneider 90mm f6.8 Angulon as used on my Intrepid 4×5 and my home built 6×12 cameras, unfortunately it only covers just over a 5 inch (125mm) circle of coverage, hence the need to use a Super Angulon as these have a much larger circle of coverage – in addition this negates to a large degree having to use a central density filter to even up exposure across the image.
The lens has been set using hyperfocal distance to obtain maximum depth of field at a minimum aperture of f11, although I generally use a minimum aperture of f22.
Also 6×17 proportions do not work for every subject, it is better suited to landscapes and wide vista photographs. Another major consideration is that a 120 roll of film will only yeald 4 frames per roll, so no room for error. For those who are interested the frame numbers used on a 120 roll of film, are the central set and using numbers 1, 4, 7 and 10.
All things considered I have had a great deal of fun (and some head scratching!) constructing my 6×17 camera and I can now look forward to taking plenty more photographs with it.
Sample Photographs
