HELP! Panoramic camera

So I finally got my big order... Parts for my home made 6x17 medium format panoramic camera.

I'm very excited and slightly disapointed at the same time... And I still have lots of work before I can take photos with this sucker...

First, BSF is just painted WSF??? I had no clue... Makes sense for production ease, but I would have liked to know...

Second, tolerances are really not what I expected... I guess the black paint is mostly to blame. It's not so bad that it can't be fixed by some sanding, but I expected tighter precision...

Last, the 10 day window was missed, by not that much but missed... just a bummer since the test parts tool much less time to arrive, but at least it's here now...

I started integrating some external parts for the film winding mechanism, taping holes, etc, but it will definitely take longer than I thought...

I'll keep posting on progress...


parts ordered


with the other things that need to be somehow attached together

Hi there,
An ambitious first project!

The BSF is dyed as per the materials page, maybe we need to call it dyed strong flexible: Black in the ordering options?

https://www.shapeways.com/materials/white_strong_flexible

Please do keep sharing your progress along with any issues you have so that we can learn from them..

Best of luck

Yes, please do that...
I missed it too and was very disappointed with my last order.

Ok,

We will try and make this clearer.

Thanks again for the feedback

Thanks, Duann.

Yes, it would help.
I'm not sure how I missed that but it would be helpful to have it more clearly stated at the ordering stage.
I just needed the inside of the parts black (to stop light from bouncing around in the camera) so I could have painted them and saved myself about USD70...

Oh well, next time I'll read more thoroughly :blush:

It is indeed an ambitious first project but oh so gratifying

Marc

Hey guys, good to hear the feedback on BSF.

@mgrynberg Definitely keep us up to date, I'm excited to see the progress!

update...

With a few hours of work I mounted the lens to the cone and the cone to the body without too many issues... Took a while because I had to drill the aluminium lens plate and open up the holes on the printed parts a bit more to fit the threaded inserts.

Did some focus testing, looks good... Will test infinity focus tomorrow morning. That's the critical part...

The planned viewfinder looks like it's gonna work out, so I need to place the order for the custom bracket I modeled...

Minor issue with the advance mechanism, the knob that I had modeled a while back doesn't fit, but I'll figure something out...

Still many small details to figure out, but if it all goes well tomorrow I'll be able to take it for a few test shots on Sunday...

More to come...

Whoooaaa

Very exciting. Looking forward to seeing how those test shots went.

I think it went well... everything was functionning very smoothly... Now it seems it's all up to me and my photographic abilities

I'm getting the film back today so I should be able to post tonight...

Now the last piece (just ordered) is the bracket for the viewfinder, I'll post a photo of the full system when I receive it...

Marc

Oooh one other thing that I forgot about BSF...
So in the picture above it looks dark grey more than black... But in daylight, it actually looks deep blue-purple grey... Not black at all... I was surprised... Not sure what the issue is, bad dye batch maybe?

Not a real problem for me since this is a functional object, not art, but an artist designing something that would be expected black might have an issue if the print turns out with a purple hue...

Marc

Uuuugh... the test roll is a total fail... not sure what happened... most likely I mishandled the film. Or the camera has huge light leaks. Or the lab totally messed up... No way of knowing, the whole roll is basically blank... And I won't be able to try again before next weekend so I won't know what the issue is for another week... :cry:

Anyhow I'll post as soon as I have something tangible...

Wow,

what an adventure, looks pretty impressive now it is assembled, good luck with the photos, and please do share as soon as they work.

Cheers

I just figured out the problem... the material is not light proof...
I had assumed that BSF was solid black. But since it's dyed WSF, it is translucent... I can see light from a flashlight trough even the thickest parts of the body (5mm+ thick).

Now what? How can I fix this? I'm a bit lost guys... Any idea besides wrapping the whole thing in gaffers tape?

Cover all with metal plates or glued foil (inside? outside? space and uglyness will tell...), to be sure no light ray can pass, then paint (or even flock then paint) it matte black to be sure if it passes, it doesn't bounce much.

Thanks for the reply stannum.
I was thinking about foil, but using it inside would create more problems than anything... I found a flocked light trapping material for telescopes, but I'm not sure I have the space inside...
I may just end up layering foil on the outside and maybe spray paint over it...

Any other ideas?

What about a thick coat of a black epoxy paint on the outside?

Thanks Youknowwho4eva.
I know nothing about paints, etc, would it make the thing light proof?
Define thick coat... how easy/hard is epoxy paint to apply? does it come in spray form?

hi @mgrynberg,

Just wondering if you ended up painting the camera, and if this worked stopping the light leaks, as I'm looking to do something similar.

Cheers

Hey Will,

I didn't have a chance to get this done yet.

Right now I'm looking at Krylon Fusion paint which is specifically made to bond with plastics, but I'm not sure if it will make the camera light proof or how many coats I would need...
I'll post any progress when I get around to doing it...

Also let me know if you figure anything out...
What's your project?

Marc

Good to know that the BSF is not light proof ... I have been thinking about revitalizing my old cameras.

You could always go along to a car spray painters - they could do a nice finish that would be quite thick.

Can't wait to see how your finished camera ends up looking like!