A home-made special

[DH73]

My local camera shop, www.skearsphoto.com, asked me if I fancied running a few films through this camera, which I think was originally made by one of their customers. It's rather like a king-sized Mamiya 6, but with a 100mm lens from a Mamiya Press camera. The quality of workmanship is superb, and the camera is actually nice to use. I'm not sure if the bodyshell is from something else, modified for it's present role. From the photos, you can see that the pressure plate lifts off for loading, then the back just slides on, with the tripod bush doubling as the lock for the back. It has a proper frame counter, and the film advance is released by the smaller silver knurled wheel on the top plate.
The RF is very clear, and is coupled to the lens in the same way a Mamiya Press is.

 

[Timmyjoe]

That's pretty cool.

How'd the pictures turn out?

Best,
-Tim

 

[DH73]

That's pretty cool.

How'd the pictures turn out?

Best,
-Tim

Don't know yet, hope to finish the first roll tomorrow, and a couple more over the weekend. It's a bank holiday weekend here in England, so won't get the results until next week some time.
Will share them here once scanned,
David

 

[DH73]

I am an idiot😱. I failed to notice that this is a 6x7, not 6x6 camera. How did I not notice the size of the focal plane?
Well, I've always wanted to shoot a 6x7 camera, but can't afford a Mamiya 7, or RB67. The good news is that I am keeping the camera for a few more weeks. I should get the first couple of rolls from it back on Tuesday.

 

[oftheherd]

That is different! I wonder if the person who made it took the idea of a removable pressure plate came from the Mamiya Six? It should keep the film taunter, so more flat.

Will be interesting to see the photos.

 

[DH73]

I have now put three rolls through this lovely camera. The first two were XP2, given to me by Skears to use with the camera, the third was a roll of Fomapan 100, a film I had never used before.

1) Hardwater Mill, Northamptonshire. Ilford XP2 super.

Hardwater Mill 6x7 by David Henderson, on Flickr

2) St.Peter & St.Paul Church, Northampton. Ilford XP2 super:

St.Peter & St.Paul Church 6x7 by David Henderson, on Flickr

3) Top dogs, Foxton Locks, Leicestershire. Fomapan 100/ ID-11:

Top dogs by David Henderson, on Flickr

 

[oftheherd]

Great photos. How did the camera handle?

 

[johannielscom]

Awesome! 6x7 is my favorite medium format, it's so closely related to 4x5 in dimensions. I sure would love to shoot that self-built camera, it looks excellent. That would be such a nice addition to my Horseman Convertible 642, which has a 62mm lens and a 6x7 back.

 

[rfaspen]

Impressive. So the RF was accurate too?

From the photos of the camera, it kind of looked like the "film gate" was a little askance. I'm guessing that's just a function of the photo itself (perspective).

So, what does this camera shop want to charge for the beast?

 

[Steve M.]

Very interesting looking camera. I never got on w/ 6x7. My mind keeps looking at the shots and thinking.....what was cropped off the top (thinking it's 6x6), or why is the photo so tall (thinking it's 35mm 1.5 to 1)?

For what it's worth, the image quality on the link on the left is much nicer than when you click on the flickr link on the right. Are they down rezzing the images?