DIY 4X9 wide angle camera made easy

RFH

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Well, well. I couldn't help myself. I was thinking about an easy compromise between fixed focus and the semi-hassle involved in modifying a helicoid. Lo and behold, there's an obvious solution:
Use a folder with sliding focus. That way you can set the focus anywhere you want.

I removed the lens/shutter from an ancient Zeiss Cocarette and mounted the Agulon 65 from my other DIY camera in a downsized lens board. I just used a random metal ring I had lying around to make the hole smaller. If the original retaining ring had not been so tightly stuck, this operation could have been done in minutes.
I'll shoot a roll and see what happens. It seems to focus down to 30 cm, so I'll do some extreme close-ups for ya one of these days.

Did I forget to mention that it folds? So this is basically the DIY-in-minutes-pocketable-lightweight-wide-angle-MF-camera. Not bad.

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Oops. You're right. I haven't use the Cocarette much, so I hadn't noticed how to load the film on the right side of the negative mask. Doh. It's actually 53x92 mm.
I'l recollimate tonight.
 
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Here's a shot. Out of focus because I loaded the film wrongly, I guess.
At least we know it works.
 
These old model cameras focus simply by pulling the front board back & forth. There is a distance scale for the original 120 mm lens, but I had to recalibrate the distances for the 65 mm Angulon. The back has a removable plate that allows you to check focus with some matt tape or a ground glass.
Framing is pure guesswork.
I managed to load the film correctly, and the film I just developed looks sharp.
Pics to follow.
 
The field of view is approximately equal to a 28mm lens on a 35mm camera.
If you have a 28mm finder you can mount it on the camera.
 
Yeah, a 28 mm finder would do the trick. Just too bad they're so expensive. Maybe I can make myself a suitable frame finder.
 
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coca4.jpg

Here are a couple of shots with the film loaded correctly. Focus seems okay now.
First one focused at about 1m, second one 50cm.
And I found out that the Fedka-style VF I had already made fits pretty well with 28mm.

Plus-x 125 in HC110 H, 14 mins. @ 20 degrees celcius, agitation 30s + 10s/min.
 
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