Small Steps for a Big Camera

Rodenstock Apo-Ronar 650mm f:10

Some years ago I found a cheap big lens in rough enough shape that I could spring for it, but good enough shape that it would still focus a hazy image.

I suspected it would cast an image circle large enough to make a camera room out of — It does!

Still, it sat in my shelf waiting for the opportunity to build a camera large enough. The other day my friend Tom Morgan called me up asking if I’d like to make a big camera — Oh! What a treat! Let’s!

On the roof of an old school called De Helena, in The Hague, there is an artist space called EnergieKas. They gave us permission to use their grain silo and turn it into a camera. After visiting the space, we have drawn and plan and things are starting to take shape.

If you want to follow more of the project, you can visit mine and tom’s studio: photoverse.nl, but here I will leave more of the technical meandering and tinkering that is required to bring our vision to life.

First thing we needed to do was take dimensions and plan where and how the lens would be attached, and how big we could make the images. We figured we’d attach the lens from the inside to maximise how far back we could push the focusing screen, and we’d be able to make images as large as 100x80 cm when focusing at 1:1.

Next thing to tackle was a shutter, and mount.

That will be comprised of two parts.

• The attachment between the lens and the window of the silo. (This still has to be designed.)

• The attachement between the lens and a shutter. We’ll be using a Sinar DB shutter for the P and F systems, attached to the lens through a disassembled front standard. For that we needed to couple the lens to a lens board. So that’s what I did:

The lens threads to the front mount with a matching m90 thread, and that thread is screwed to the lens board with three recessed m3 screws.