[MF3D.FORUM:1172] Re: Bill's Camera design

[Greg Erker <erker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>     The beauty as I see it would be you can maintain about 70mm lens
>separation,  possibly you can find some lenses that will allow for 65mm?
>Then use a roll film back that you must alter the opening to 13cm...    You
>would not need to alter the gearing of the back if you select a 6x7 back,
>since two cranks would give you the desired 14cm per frame....so you would
>get two 6x6.5cm shots plus 1 cm to separate the pairs.  10 pairs per roll of
>220!    You would be assured perfect gg and film alignment since the makers
>all use the same international standard for gg / film alignment.

  Can a 6x7 back be opened up to 13cm or were
you talking about two separate things there?

>       You would have very simple and fast ground glass focussing, which is
>the ultimate..and also you would have the ability to have several lens
>boards with any fl lenses you want.  You never have to worry about focus
>distances or tilt etc. since gg focusing will show both images...with a mask
>on the back of the gg of course.  You can get the lens maker to ship the
>lenses to you in exact fl pairs.

  Using a gg at the film plane does solve the
problem of finder lens location in a 3LR.

  Getting the manufacturer to match up lenses is
nice but eliminates used lenses as an option.


>       You would also need a lens separation inside the bellows.  Between
>the lenses you would need a bellows type separator to accommodate for
>different distances between the front and rear standard.... These cameras
>fold up pretty small, specially if you use a very short rail....or better
>yet, have one rail for each set of lenses...

  Should be too tough I'd think. Since the septum
doesn't have to be 100% perfect (unless you want
to use the camera to shoot flat photos 1 at a time).

>      If this interest you, let me know, you can make two, one for me also!
>Maybe others might be interested in such a camera?  sure would overcome a
>lot of shortcomings of today's MF cameras..... lens tilt, rise, gg
>focussing, interchangeable lenses, focus at any distance, use different film
>for different shots (with two backs) very high end modern, multicoated
>optics,  The only downside would be its not handholdable....

  It's appealing but I have no LF experience or
experience with roll film backs so I don't know
where the gotchas would be in the project. I
also don't know if gg focusing would work for
my style of shooting.

>     Camera is about $600 to be safe, $1800 (about half this if used) for
>both 75mm lenses, $350 roll film back... few hundred for other supplies and
>then your labor...so about $3k total... a bit more than a
>Rolleidoscope...and this camera would be way more flexible than the Dr.
>Gilde MF stereo camera which cost $13k for a lesser version!   To me, this
>would be the ultimate MF stereo camera for landscapes... for people shots
>the lenses would be a bit slow but still very feasible....

  Pricey but maybe no too bad if I really
wanted one.

  Right now I'd need to be more convinced
my 3 lenses in a row idea can't work.

Greg E.