So You Want To Build An 8x10 Camera ?

When I first entertained the idea to make an 8x10 camera I  turned to the local library and promptly found very little information. I did come across the Ansel Adams books " The Camera, The Negative, The Print". With these books I learned just what a view camera is and the wonderful things one can do with it.  At this point I knew that I must have a large format camera to go along with my medium format equipment. 

Turning to the internet I quickly found that new large format cameras were insanely expensive, considering that you also must buy a lens. Armed with this knowledge it became clear in my mind that I must make a camera. 

What Is A Large Format Camera ?

To put it quite simply, it is a box with a lens on one end and a piece of film on the other end. The stuff that makes up a LF camera can be as simple or complicated as you want. When you hear how precise a professionally built camera is, just remember that the only critical thing with a large format camera is when you lock everything down it MUST NOT MOVE! Don't get me wrong, an expensive large format camera is a beautiful thing to behold. A large format camera has rise and fall of the front and sometimes back. Shift (sideways movement of front and sometimes the back standard) is very important and tilt of the front and back. Please see Ansel Adams book " The Camera " for a complete discussion on the movements of a large format camera.

Coming Up With A Plan !

Now that you know a little about the large format camera, where do you start?  Lets first look at the most important part of the whole camera, the thing that holds the film, called a film holder. Get a used film holder and with this you have all the information that one needs to make the camera back and the ground glass holder. 

For example, you now know how just where the ground glass has to be in order to focus the camera. Keep in mind that after you focus the camera and pull the ground glass back and insert the film holder, the film must now be in the exact same spot that the ground glass was. You can only be off a few thousands of an inch before your focus will be affected.

Another thing you now know is the measurements needed to hold the film holder and the size of the groove needed to keep light away from the film. (see photo). 

As we have clearly learned there are a few areas of making a camera that are simply a given. Other parts of the camera are only limited by your imagination. The camera back can be as simple or complicated as you want. The springs that hold the ground glass and the film holder to the back can be anything from rubber bands to exotic tension devices. Keep in mind that they merely hold the ground glass and the film holder firmly against the camera back. They can not be so tight that the camera back moves when you pull it back to insert the film holder. 

Monorail, Flatbed or Folding?

One of the first questions one needs to ask is, what am I going to do with this camera? If you are only going to go short distances from your car, then almost any kind of camera will serve your purpose. On the other hand if you plan to take long hikes with your view camera, size and weight become a critical factor in your design. For those just entering the large format world, I highly recommend one make a simple camera and use it. Each shot you take with a large format camera teaches the user things about LF photography that simply can't be learned any other way. This alone is a good reason to keep it your camera design simple at first. 

If you are a first time large format camera builder, I can not stress enough to keep your design simple. What this means is that you will be making a monorail design of camera. One of the main advantages of the monorail design is the sheer simplicity of its design and construction. The "rail" can be a piece of wood like my design or a length of aluminum square tube, which will keep the weight of the camera down. Making clamps for the monorail is a fairly straight forward process that can be done with simple woodworking tools. 

As with my camera a little thought before the construction paid off greatly later on. My first design centered around making the camera of a modular design so that things could be easily changed as my needs changed. The change to a flatbed design was very simple to make. Major components of the camera did not need to change. The flatbed design made the camera a little easier to transport and store. One major improvement is that the flatbed design is rock stable, there by improving the image quality since the camera is less prone to shake. The drawback is that the camera weights in a little heavier.

The folding camera design is by far the most complicated camera to make. I have not yet attempted to make one, but I very much want to tackle this one day.

Matching Your Skill Level To A Design

Every one has a much better imagination than ability to transform them into reality. Take a realistic look at your woodworking skills, have you ever built anything before? I have made a fair amount of cabinets and various wood projects, so the making of a camera was not that tough. Another thing to consider is what kind of shop tools do you have. Do you have a table saw and router? If the answer is no, then you will want to stay with wood that is already cut to a standard size.  In the USA we have Home Depot and Lowe's that sell cut to size woods such as oak, poplar and pine to the hobbyist crowd. A lot of my camera is made from this kind of wood sold at these stores. 

Do you have a lot of patience or do you want results right now? If you design a very complicated camera out of reach for your skills, can you take the series of failures that will come until you have success. There are some plans for cameras on the internet that can help you come up with a design, but again I caution you to match the design to your skill level. 

If you are not a skilled woodworker, don't despair. Purchasing standard cut wood and a visit to the hardware store for metal angle brackets can solve your problem on how to make right angle joints. Keeping this in mind it is entirely possible to make a camera with just a handsaw and drill. 

By now you may be getting the idea that I want you to think a little bit. The reason for this is simple, if you design your camera with your abilities in mind, the chances of success are much greater. Keep in mind it is not how fancy your camera is that determines the quality of pictures that you take, but the person behind the camera. Take Ansel Adams for example, he used old wooden folding cameras and a homemade 8x10 enlarger to make some of the most famous photographs in the history of photography. Given this revelation I have come to realize more than ever that it is the eye behind the camera that makes the difference. By making your own camera you just my be able to afford to buy a good lens, which is the very heart and soul of the camera.

Bellows And The Lens

Bellows are a major stumbling block for a lot of us camera makers. What you decide concerning the bellows will determine to a great extent the design of your camera. The first thing to consider is how much money do you want to spend on the bellows. A custom made bellows for a large format 8x10 can get very expensive. Getting a bellows on the second hand market like Ebay can be a good alternative, except you will have to match your camera design to mate to the bellows.

Making the bellows yourself can be a very frustrating experience. It is a project that can be rewarding in both money savings and the chance to size them to your exact requirements. Making the bellows will be almost impossible if you are not blessed with a fair amount of patience. It is an exacting process, that must be adhered to if you want your bellows to look good. Every time I am out in public with my camera, people always zero in on the bellows. Most of the general public have never seen a camera this big and are fascinated by the bellows.

Your hardest part will be getting the desired process clear in your mind. There are a number of sites on the internet that discuss the making of bellows, see links page for addresses. Straight bellows are by far easier to make but they will get to big for a 8x10 camera. A tapered bellows is a lot more work to make and will look great on your camera. Buy yourself a roll of brown wrapping paper and make a bellows with the paper before you ever try it with the real materials. The material you make them with is another tough area. I got my inside liner for the bellows on my camera from Porters Camera in Iowa. They sell a blackout cloth that is completely light tight. The outside layer of my camera is made out of a cordura nylon material I got from a fabric shop. It is not completely light tight, but the internal liner is. The stiffeners I made out of file folders. My bellows required the greatest amount of time to make than any other part of the camera.

The overall length of your bellows will be determined by a couple of factors concerning type of lens on your camera. The normal focal length on an 8x10 is a 300mm or 12" lens. One confusing part of lens lingo is the two different measurements, inches and millimeters. In the old days lens in the United States were measured in inches to express there focal lengths. But now everything is now expressed in millimeters. Hence, a 300mm lens is about 12 inches. A 300mm lens is equal to a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera. This 300mm lens will focus at infinity at 300mm (12") from the center of the lens to the film. This same lens will produce a 1:1 close up at a length of 600mm or 24". Given this information you can now plan the length of your bellows. A wide angle lens about 210mm would require a shorter bellows, likewise a longer lens such as a 400mm lens would require a longer bellows. One question you have to ask is, will I be doing very much close up work. If on the other hand you want to do much work with wide angle lenses, the compressed length of the bellows is a factor. The large format camera is a wonderful close up camera that does not require any special close up lens. If you make a long bellows to do close up work then the collapsed  length will limit the shortest lens you can use and still have movement. If you make a modular design then one could use a bag bellows for the short lens.

The bottom line is the same as before, the hardest part of designing your camera is the thinking part. The shortest lens that I can use and still have movement is about a 10" lens. When I set up my camera in the monorail design with a 3 foot monorail I can do better than a 1:1 image. I have found that this covers about 90 percent of the photography that I want to do with my camera. 

On my next camera, which will be a folding camera, the bellows will be much shorter in order to fold up. Also I will do mostly landscape work with it so a long bellows draw will not be needed. Besides I still have the monorail to do close up work.

I would recommend that you make or buy your bellows very early in your construction process since this will greatly impact your design.

Final Thoughts

No mater kind of camera style you decide to build, simple or complicated, have fun making it and use it. Like I have said many times, as you use the camera things will come to mind that you want to improve on. The second version of my camera will not be my last. I am already researching my next camera, which will be a folding field camera. 

Keep in mind that when you do take your camera out in public,  many people will come up to you and ask various questions about you and the camera. I have found that an 8x10 camera is a giant people magnet. Remember that most people have never seen a large format camera. Keeping this in mind, try to make your camera look good. The kind comments you get from people will inspire you to create an even better camera. 

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This site updated on August 29, 2005