This camera is made from a dead Mamiya press super 23 camera.
The mamiya press system is a heavy rangefinder camera with changeable lenses and backs. In this project I used the 6x7 film back and the film back aluminium monting plate.
In order to build the focus ramp I used the axis of one dead flatbed scanner as well as the bronze bearings. The axis has been cut in two and machined to be screwed on the Mamiya back mounting board (photo shows first aluminium axis replaced later by the flatbed scanner axis).
The front part has been made with wood and metal parts from the store (castorama). It allows to move the lensboard in upward shift and horizontal and vertical tilt. The focus is made by translating the front panel regarding the ramp.
The lens comes from a Polaroid CU-5 camera. It is composed of a 127mm f:4.7 Tominon lense and Copal shutter. This lens has a large image circle allowing tilt and shift movements.
The bellows will close the gap between the film back and lensboard. It is home made with a thick black paper. In addition I taped some 120 film paper on the corners to avoid pinholes and lightleaks.
The inside of the dark room is covered with mat black paint.
The ground glass is a standard piece of 3mm thick glass that has been unpolished with 25 microns alumina cristals. It is placed on the film back mounting board.
Focusing is made by watching the upside down image on the ground glass, sliding the front panel and tilting the lens like in a large format view camera.
Then the film back is set in order to shoot a photo. 11 views with a 120 film.
A tripod is (really) needed
example images
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