Jon Grepstad: Building a Large Format Camera. ISBN 82-993938-ane-7

Plans and Instructions for Building a 4 x 5 Monorail Camera.
Second, revised edition. Oslo, Kingdom of norway 2000.

jon grepstad, large format camera

My volume Building a Large Format Camera is an 85 page transmission with instructions and plans for building a 4 ten 5 in. monorail photographic camera with friction focusing. The volume has 30 step-by-step drawings, 23 sketches and 11 photographs, a wealth of references to relevant literature and numerous useful addresses in the US and Europe. Most drawings are to scale.

The commencement edition of my book appeared in 1996. For the 2d edition,
which was published at the kickoff of January 2000, 20 new illustrations
have been inserted in the text, ten photos of the camera accept been added,
more than sources of information on bellows-making have been included, and the
literature and references accept been updated. I have also added as an
option a more sophisticated ground drinking glass frame blueprint and also a few
paragraphs on scaling the plans upwardly for an 8 x 10 camera.

Materials: Hardwood, brass, rails. Skills needed: Boilerplate woodworking
skills. The camera has been designed so that it does not require very
advanced skills or tools to build. Tools: Electrical drill, various
handsaws, miter box, c-clamps, files, carpenter's square, other ordinary
tools. To be bought: Standard bellows (may also exist handmade), ground glass
(you may also make your ain ground glass), lens.

My book tin now exist downloaded gratuitous of charge hither:

  • Word format (ii.five MB)
  • Pdf format (1 MB)
  • Figures in pdf format (400 kB)

The measurements in my manual are metrical. Noah Kelly has kindly converted all of the measurements on the materials list to imperial (inches):

  • Measurements (Word format)
  • Measurements (Pdf format)

Delight annotation that my book is copyrighted and cannot exist uploaded to other websites without my permission.

Photographic camera features:

  • Front Tilt (limited simply by bellows)
  • Rear Tilt (express but by bellows)
  • Swings (express just by bellows)
  • Lateral Shift (40 mm or 1 3/4″ off center, may be customized)
  • Front end Rise (50 mm or 2″, may exist customized)
  • Front Fall (25-twoscore mm or 1–1 1/2″, may be customized)
  • Rear Rise/Autumn (none)
  • Maximum Extension (depends on bellows)
  • Weight (approx. ii,5–3 kg or 6 lbs, depending on materials)
  • Repositional Dorsum (Vert/Horiz)
  • Size of camera proper, with optical bench removed (approx 25 x 25 ten
    x cm or 10″ ten ten″ x iv″)

Jon Grepstad Large format cameraMy camera in the field.

LF camera backThe camera folded is about 25 x 25 x x cm.

LF camera backMy latest design of a ground drinking glass frame.

LF camera back Two designs of a basis drinking glass frame. The version to the correct was my original design (used in the beginning edition of my manual). The version to the left is a more than sophisticated design (included in the second edition of my manual).

LF camera back My latest design of the camera back and a footing glass frame (film holder inserted).

LF camera backMy kickoff design of the camera back and basis glass frame.

optical bench 2The optical bench consists of an aluminum rails,
two sliders and a tripod block. The optical bench in my book
is based on friction focusing.

optical bench 1The optical bench – bottom view.

LF camera backClose-up of the camera dorsum.