Please help me MAKE a 35mm view camera out of my 35mm SLR

Hi Folks
I'd like to make a 35mm View Camera:

1. take a 35mm SLR
2. leave the back open so I can always see the lens
3. lock the shutter OPEN

4. put a view screen behind the lens where the film would usually be
exposed
5. invert the image so it's no longer upside down
6. make the brightest, most evenly illuminated image

I know how to do steps 1-3.
I'm more clueless about steps 4-6, especially what material to use for
the screen. I've tried a ground glass but It's neither bright nor
even. I also tried the focusing screen from a dead 35mm SLR. Better
but still not great.

 

4. Use glue

5. Can't due that one without using some mirrors or other optical tricks,
which are not likely to fit in the camera.

6. It's not going to be bright. That is why view cameras have hoods. The
best bet for material is the special glass made for use for view cameras.
You idea of using the viewing screen from the viewfinder was good.

Maybe if you told us what this was all about, we might be able to make
some better suggestions.

 

Ordinary 35mm SLRs already do 5, 4 and 6.

Avogadro

 

I suspect we have a troll. The questions, as you noted don't make any
sense in the normal world. Trolls don't live in a normal world, they can't
cope with reality.

 

The picture is inverted on a view camera - that is the purpose of the
pentaprism. You could always stand on the ceiling.
I can't really figure out what you hope to gain with this approach since
the SLR already has all teh features you want just by looking through the
viewfinder.

 

Yes....I suspected troll....But I don't have enough information yet to issue
a, "troll alert". There is no advantage to building such a thing...The whole
advantage of a view camera is the larger cut-film size.....And all view
cameras invert the image....To try to put the image upright would be near
impossible......

 

No, you don't have a troll. And the questions can make sense in the
"normal" world. Why has usenet gotten so abusive? It's really quite
sad.

Anyway, I'm attempting to make a poor-man's version of the Mini35 -
see www.mini35.com. This is a $7000 gadget that gives a DV camera the
depth-of-field one gets with a 35mm camera.

Quite clever really. And it even makes sense in the normal world.

 

The web page was too obnoxious to spend time with, but if
this is what I think it is, you also need a way to prevent the imaging
of the ground-glass texture in the video picture. I think this is done
by eccentrically spinning the focus surface - not an easy thing to
do while keeping good alignments for accurate focus. $7000
could buy you a good used video camera with a much larger CCD,
giving some of the same limited DOF effect with better results...

 

was gonna say "whats wrong with a plate camera?"

 

Not at all. You can buy focusing hoods for view cameras that put the image
right side up.
They have been available for years.

 

Interesting....I never saw one, and my father used view cameras all the
time...they must be bulky things....Especially for the larger
formats.........My dad just looked at the upside-down image on the glound
glass under a black cloth.....Of course, this was back in the late 40's.....

 

Large format SLRs and TLRs have been made. Some are still being used.

If you want bulky

http://www.petergowland.com/camera/

Scroll down to the 8x10 TLR.

Nick