Project Log: 35mm Panoramic Film Camera

[mattthegamer463]

I think some people here enjoyed my last camera project so I'll post this new one too.

I started working on this on Friday and managed to get a lot done over the weekend.

The design is a 24x96mm frame size on 35mm film, using a Schneider Super Angulon 47mm f5.6 lens. This lens doesn't cover 4x5 as it only projects a 123mm image circle, but at 105 degree field of view. I'm using most of that in this design, something around 98 degrees FOV diagonal.

Got a lot of the main parts going this weekend. The top and bottom from maple, the wraparound front from 1/16" aluminum, and the film plane, as well as the takeup spool. The design uses a salvaged sprocket roller from a trashed Soviet camera, and a couple plastic gears to serve as a simple frame spacer. No frame counting. There's a clutch bearing on the top of the takeup spool to keep the film tight. The viewfinder is a 21mm-equivalent view size from eBay. It will be a little small, I think, but it will give a good idea for the image position vertically. Horizontal framing will be a little bit more of an estimate.

[mattthegamer463]

The rest of the photos;

[BCRider]

Neat.....

Do think you'ever try a scanning swinging lens panoramic?

[mattthegamer463]

Neat.....

Do think you'ever try a scanning swinging lens panoramic?

I did design something most of the way, but didn't start trying to build it. It's a moving camera design, where the film takeup stays put and the camera advances around it. This lets you do a continuous panorama until you run out of film. It's a neat idea but I don't know if I want to pursue it to conclusion as I'm not sure I'll find the images as interesting as making the camera might be. I'm trying to focus on making more stuff that is both interesting to make as well as interesting to use.

[nickel-city-fab]

This is so cool, I never would have imagined somebody making their own camera! That is why I like this site so much, you never know what somebody will come up with. I thought that optics had to be super-precise????

[mattthegamer463]

This is so cool, I never would have imagined somebody making their own camera! That is why I like this site so much, you never know what somebody will come up with. I thought that optics had to be super-precise????

The lens and film need to be on parallel planes, yes. On a smaller lens it would need to be quite precise, the larger the lens coverage the more flexibility you have. I've left sufficient space behind the film plane to let me shim it to the correct position.


Last night I got the sprocket roller done. It has a 16t gear on top that will engage a 44t gear recessed into the top of the camera, giving me a reasonably good way to count frames. Started squaring up the stock for the back door so I can work on the hinge next.

[aostling]

... The design is a 24x96mm frame size on 35mm film, using a Schneider Super Angulon 47mm f5.6 lens.

That is a really wide panoramic, far in excess of the Hasselblad Xpan which is 24-65mm. I calculate that you will get about fourteen shots on a 36-exposure roll.

You have chosen a legendary lens. I do have one reservation about the design, one which I would not have thought of if I had not experienced what the dry desert heat of Arizona can do to wood projects which were assembled in non-desert climates. The glued joints on the maple workbench I inherited from my father (who lived all his life in Seattle) suffered from warping after a year or two in Phoenix. It is still a very usable workbench, but you won't want to have any warping of the film plane of your beautiful camera.

No worries, just don't take it to Phoenix!

Allan

[mattthegamer463]

That is a really wide panoramic, far in excess of the Hasselblad Xpan which is 24-65mm. I calculate that you will get about fourteen shots on a 36-exposure roll.

You have chosen a legendary lens. I do have one reservation about the design, one which I would not have thought of if I had not experienced what the dry desert heat of Arizona can do to wood projects which were assembled in non-desert climates. The glued joints on the maple workbench I inherited from my father (who lived all his life in Seattle) suffered from warping after a year or two in Phoenix. It is still a very usable workbench, but you won't want to have any warping of the film plane of your beautiful camera.

No worries, just don't take it to Phoenix!

Allan

It's super wide, but more can always be less. Cropping, that is.

There aren't really any glued joints in here, the wood is just two pieces and everything is screwed together. Also the inside will be painted and the outside stained and coated in linseed oil, so that should reduce the drying/shrinking rate.


Lots more work. Probably getting to 75% done.

[mattthegamer463]

More pics

[loose nut]

What is this "film" stuff, is it going to be the next big thing that will replace digital????

[nickel-city-fab]

More pics

Literally.

[mattthegamer463]

What is this "film" stuff, is it going to be the next big thing that will replace digital????

I hope so.


I bought a 21mm shoe-mount viewfinder from eBay, to see how it performed against my typical 1" diameter door peephole I've used in the past. It's much nicer to use, and for the ~$40 I paid, I'm happy with it. I machined a friction fit aluminum cover for it which gives me a good approximation of the view I can expect through the camera. If anything it's probably a little under the true camera view, but that's alright.

[jcfx]

Nice build, when I saw the title of your thread I thought you were building Widelux or Cirkut syle camera.

[mattthegamer463]

Nice build, when I saw the title of your thread I thought you were building Widelux or Cirkut syle camera.

Those are neat but they're a pretty serious and complicated undertaking

[J Tiers]

Why wood?

Seems like the same or better function would be available with, say, aluminum, which would no have any issues with weather conditions. But, of course, less basic coolness factor.