Homemade 6x17 - and yes, it's a rangefinder

That's a nice rig he's built, and a clever use of bits and pieces. His sample photos are impressive, too. MacGyver would be proud.
 
That's cool.
I hadn't thought about using the bellows from an enlarger to rack the lens out!.
Most of the designs I've seen have 2 tubes or boxes sliding inside each other, or handmade bellows.
Now where's that 4x5" lens I bought?:rolleyes:
 
Nice, Cool, ingenious, but not for me. I have too much stuff already. I'd throw in $25 with ten others and we could pass it around.
 
Very cool. Josef Sudek made something similar (with one arm!) from an old Kodak box. He didn't use bellows though, I think he had something like a cone on the front. He used it to create the post-industrial panoramics of northern Bohemia, published in Sad Landscape, that so inspired Josef Koudelka.
 
Very cool. Josef Sudek made something similar (with one arm!) from an old Kodak box. He didn't use bellows though, I think he had something like a cone on the front. He used it to create the post-industrial panoramics of northern Bohemia, published in Sad Landscape, that so inspired Josef Koudelka.

Two of my favorite photographers.
 
I bid on this, but lost in the end by a few dollars. It seemed like an awfully inexpensive way into this format, which I love very much. However, it didn't really make sense for me:

http://kaiyen.com/blog/2008/12/15/camera-format-wars/

So it all works out. Still looking for a new 5x7 camera, though.

Nice blog. You're right, tough call. For me, the ability to use roll film and get 6x17 would be a factor, assuming I could afford either. Roll film being somewhat cheaper and not requiring (for me) development tanks, etc, that I don't have (I do have 120 stuff).
 
Good point. I am lucky that I have already been shooting 5x7 so I have all the development equipment and the techniques down. And I am comfortable with the "method," too - working slowly, one shot an hour or so, no problem. Very different experience.
 
I bid on this, but lost in the end by a few dollars. It seemed like an awfully inexpensive way into this format, which I love very much. However, it didn't really make sense for me:

http://kaiyen.com/blog/2008/12/15/camera-format-wars/

So it all works out. Still looking for a new 5x7 camera, though.
You can sometimes get a bargain on pnet:

http://photo.net/gc/domain-multi?sort_by=posted&category=Panoramic

I got a Fotoman 617 very cheap there earlier this year.
 
I think it was $750 with lens cone. The current model with just three rolls of film through it, so it was essentially new. :) I think the price at the time was $1700, don't know what it is now. A beautifully made body that is built like a tank.
 
Another DIY 6x17
http://www.stockholmviews.com/diyphotogear/diy_6x17_camera.html
diy_6x17_camera.jpg
 
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