eleskin
Well-known
Hi everyone,
This is my first thread on Rangefinder Forum, and I am proud and excited to participate. For some time , I have considered using 4x5 again, but being a Leica street shooter, what was available in this format was not good for portability or speed of use. My Graflex is rather bulky, and all of the Polaroid 110b's out there are getting too expensive due to demand and people that like to convert them, rip people off for $2000, and then complain about patents!!!! (there is a RECESSION!!, people should shut up and let others be inventive and save $$$$).
At any rate, My dad had an old Polaroid 350 he gave me years ago, and I became recently excited about the Zeiss rangefinder on this camera. I have to tell all of you that it comes very close to Leica quality, and is better than my Fuji GSW 690 in terms of brightness and how well the framelines are defined (like a Leica M3!!!).
Hacking the camera is VERY easy. The back comes off with a slight pry from my screwdriver. The front where the lens is comes off easy with 3 screws. The only hard part is drilling out the lens hole, but if you have a grinding bit from Dremel, it goes by quickly.
I held up an old Graflock back to what I have so far, and the total weight if this is similar to my Leica M8 (I love FILM AND DIGITAL). I have a Rodenstock Ysarex 127mm on it now, and it focuses just fine when you space the back correctly.
Now here is the really sweet part, and the idea came to me just this afternoon, so pay attention! If you mount a wide angle lens, lets say a 90mm Wollensack, all you have to do is bring out the bellows out a little bit, and use a small c-clamp to hold the front of the camera in place. You then focus on the ground glass by loostening or tightening the c-clamp!!!! Because the bellows is spring loaded, it moves back and forth automatically!!! WOW!! COOL AINT IT!!
I have to thank Greyhoundman for his wonderful picks of his project that inspired me greatly on my project.
Hope this helps everyone!!
This is my first thread on Rangefinder Forum, and I am proud and excited to participate. For some time , I have considered using 4x5 again, but being a Leica street shooter, what was available in this format was not good for portability or speed of use. My Graflex is rather bulky, and all of the Polaroid 110b's out there are getting too expensive due to demand and people that like to convert them, rip people off for $2000, and then complain about patents!!!! (there is a RECESSION!!, people should shut up and let others be inventive and save $$$$).
At any rate, My dad had an old Polaroid 350 he gave me years ago, and I became recently excited about the Zeiss rangefinder on this camera. I have to tell all of you that it comes very close to Leica quality, and is better than my Fuji GSW 690 in terms of brightness and how well the framelines are defined (like a Leica M3!!!).
Hacking the camera is VERY easy. The back comes off with a slight pry from my screwdriver. The front where the lens is comes off easy with 3 screws. The only hard part is drilling out the lens hole, but if you have a grinding bit from Dremel, it goes by quickly.
I held up an old Graflock back to what I have so far, and the total weight if this is similar to my Leica M8 (I love FILM AND DIGITAL). I have a Rodenstock Ysarex 127mm on it now, and it focuses just fine when you space the back correctly.
Now here is the really sweet part, and the idea came to me just this afternoon, so pay attention! If you mount a wide angle lens, lets say a 90mm Wollensack, all you have to do is bring out the bellows out a little bit, and use a small c-clamp to hold the front of the camera in place. You then focus on the ground glass by loostening or tightening the c-clamp!!!! Because the bellows is spring loaded, it moves back and forth automatically!!! WOW!! COOL AINT IT!!
I have to thank Greyhoundman for his wonderful picks of his project that inspired me greatly on my project.
Hope this helps everyone!!
