homemadecamera.com

The discussion starts off with a question about the features you would want on a single camera you might have on the desert island with a camera-supplies mini-mart.

This episode’s guest is Lucus Landers, a Brooklyn-based photographer and camera-maker. We learn about how gaffer’s tape bellows on a home-built 4X5 stem from growing up in the great state of Oklahoma. The gaffer’s tape is a recurring theme…

George Daniels writes books about watchmaking that helped Lucus understand the building of gears for a film transport mechanism:

https://www.amazon.com/Watchmaking-George-Daniels/dp/0856677043/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1FAN85T8NZNNY&keywords=george+daniels+watchmaking&qid=1568676150&s=gateway&sprefix=george+daniels+%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Watch-Escapement-George-Daniels/dp/085667687X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1FAN85T8NZNNY&keywords=george+daniels+watchmaking&qid=1568676150&s=gateway&sprefix=george+daniels+%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-2

Gear profiles are discussed (cycloidal gear profile and involute gear profile) as Graham’s brain starts to enter a state of bafflement.

Build quality vs. engineering quality is highlighted.

Lucus’s next project is revealed late in the show.

Lucus Landers’ work can be found at LucusLanders.com and on Instagram @cropped_camera

He mentions the instagram account The Daily Mini (@dailymini).

The YouTube channel that features the tear-down of Retinas (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBNcopU34d_pGsKTvRzHcsg)

Lucus mentions Penumbra Foundation and their work in the photographic world (https://www.penumbrafoundation.org/)

You can find Lucus at http://lucuslanders.com and on instagram @cropped_camera. His Youtube Videos can be found under cropped_camera.

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ZINE UPDATE :
The print version of the Homemade Camera Zine No. 1 is now available for preorder at https://www.cameradactyl.com/homemadecamerapodcast/homemade-camera-zine-no1 . Orders will end on Sept. 22nd, and Zines will ship by October 7th.  There’s a bit of trouble with Squarespace, where if you are in the US/Canada, order as normal, but for UK/EU customers, there’s a $0 where the entire price of the zine and shipping is rolled into the shipping cost ~$23 -$24.

SHOW NOTES:

We start off with a conversation about what size of image is the right size of image, given a lack of “standard” sizes that are available today.

We then introduce our guest, Heather Oelklaus, (http://www.camerakarma.com) and talk for a while about her Super-Duper-Uber-Ultra-Large Format Camera, Little Miss Sunshine (https://youtu.be/wsLPJjnq-XY).

Also, Heather builds lots of less-gigantic, but no less beautiful and amazing pinhole cameras, some of which can be seen here: 

http://camerakarma.com/#!/4/featured/Cameras_with_the_images_they_produce/188

During the rambling conversation, we hit on drawing and how it can make you a better photographer, drawing and how it can make you a better camera maker, the reaction of students to the process, how crazy ideas are the best ideas and other really cool stuff. You gotta listen. Seriously, listen.

Photography in a black hole is contemplated as a bit of a bonus.

We discuss the progress we have made or not made toward the self-developing camera challenge.

And we talk about police shields. Yes, seriously.

We got so caught up this time that we forgot to bring up Heather’s excellent anaglyphic work, which Graham and Ethan have special love for.  We’ll have to beg her to come on again to talk about it, but for now, you can see some of her amazing 3D pics at: http://camerakarma.com/#!/2/featured/Anaglyph/196

Heather’s shoutouts: PalominoPinhole.blogspot.com
Jean Steiner, the weaver.

Nick and Ethan do a small update on the self developing camera challenge, their plans, and some tests Ethan has been running to perfect a reversal process to be used in a number of self developing options that he is prototyping for the challenge.  Ethan gets way into the weeds about the reversal process and trials and tribulations with his experiments.

Here’s a pic that Heather Oelklaus (http://www.camerakarma.com/#!/HOME) sent us, without seeing Nicks sketch from last time

This week the gang talk about cameras that are their own dark rooms. They’re not quite instant cameras but they can produce a final positive image in about ten minutes. Some call them Afghan Street Cameras, Kamra E Faoree, Cuban Polaroids or any number of different names but they all amount to about the same thing: Pure fun for the homemakers of cameras. Hey, maybe we should use that as our new name. 

Here are some links to videos about the cameras: 

https://www.afghanboxcamera.com/

“Cuban Polaroid” is ultra-low-tech camera, darkroom all in one

They also talk a bit about direct positive reversal process:

Joe Van Cleave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PFQXaDdl60

Don Froula https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50YgsRDYjL0

Finally, they issued a challenge to the listeners to produce a camera that self-develops images (film or paper).

Bonus! Here’s evidence of Nick’s clear insanity. A Wearable Amphibious Autonomous Photo Lab:

Ethan Moses of Cameradactyl and Butter Grips fame (http://www.cameradactyl.com) officially joins the team as our third wheel (3rd lens?). We get his history and interests and he entertains us with stories of crossing the country looking for Photographer’s Jeans and buying them wherever he can. 

They also talk about camera sizes (turns out smaller is better for Graham while bigger is better for Nick and Ethan likes anything smaller than 1.6 Kiev 60s). 

Future plans are discussed and Heather Oelklaus and her new work is brought up (http://www.camerakarma.com/#!/HOME). 

Graham reveals his pinhole camera-building spree. The Canamorph is the interesting one (https://www.instagram.com/p/B0L-piiHfJ7/).

Nick talks about a wheelbarrow and not going to his local county fair. 

Ethan brings up the possibilities of printing distortion-free singlets (how is that NOT a band name?) like this thing: (https://transferencia.tec.mx/en/2019/02/21/eureka-they-find-the-formula-to-solve-an-old-optical-problem/)

If you’re still with us at the end (which is THE recommended course of action), you can hear our theme music. Thanks Robbie!

In this episode, Nick and Graham welcome back Ethan Moses from Cameradactyl to talk about his new camera, the Homunculus (don’t worry, we talk about why it has that name). This camera actually got its start on a previous episode of the podcast where Nick pestered Ethan to develop a camera based on Mamiya Press lenses and a 2X3 Graflok back (same as the RB67 back). Well, this is the result.

Most of the show directly relates to that subject but they also talk a bit about travel photography (Graham is just back from a 2-week vacation in North Carolina), a new 135 panoramic camera Ethan is working on for a friend of his and traipsing through the New England winter on a motorcycle and sidecar. 

Graham talks about Ball Photo in Asheville (http://www.ballphotosupply.com/index.html  Seriously, they’re way better than their website). Go there. Make a pilgrimage. 

Also of note: We’re using a new system for recording shows. It is a bit rougher than what we were using before but it reduces a 4-5 hour editing job down to 1 hour. Bear with us, pleas

The boys talk about gum bichromate printing where a color image is created from three black photographs, each of which was taken using a different colored filter over the lens. There is an Instructables page on this process: (https://www.instructables.com/id/Tri-color-gum-bichromate-prints-from-digital-image/). B and H sell a kit from Photographer’s Formulary that supplies this process (https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/123480-REG/Photographers_Formulary_07_0100_Classical_Gum_Printing_Kit.html).

Graham can’t remember Brendan Berry Photo’s Instagram name. He’s the guy who created the large format photographs in the skyscraper in New York. It’s incredibly compelling work. (https://www.instagram.com/brendanbarryphoto/)

Ultrafine Online have a line of paper that is panchromatic. (http://www.ultrafineonline.com/ilpapaforpic.html)

If you are in the Victoria BC area, visit the Butchart Gardens. (https://www.butchartgardens.com/)

Since Nick is in the middle of his busiest week of the year, we will not be doing an episode for May 21, 2019, so I decided to record a quick reminder about the zine we will be producing later in the summer. If you would like to contribute to the zine, go to: 

Homemade Camera Zine Submission Form

We are looking for all kinds of homebrewed photographic fun. If you modified it, built it, or hacked it in any way, show us what you did!

Nick and Graham talk about the basics of making your own film, or other types of alternative photographic media. This can be done by coating a variety of surfaces, such as glass, paper, acetate, or regular film stock with ready-made emulsions, or with home-brew alternative light-sensitive solutions.

They talk a bit in a vague way about ways to make specialized film holders for plates. Making your own media means just about any format is possible, opening up the possibility of building cameras for novel, never-before-seen aspect ratios.

Speaking of alternative formats, they also discuss Ilford’s Ultra Large-Format special-order period, which is on now and runs through May 27, allowing people to put in requests for a large number of different odd and large format film sizes, available in 2 or 3 Ilford emulsions.

Graham recommends a movie on Netflix about Elsa Dorfman, who ran one of the giant polaroids for many years. http://bsidefilm.com/

Nick recommends looking at some of the many books on Alternative Processes that have been listed on past episodes, and points to the use of traditional photo re-touching oil glazes as a way to fine-tune colors on color prints, as well as to hand-color black and white photos.

The boys also mention J Lane and his dry plate side hustle that he sells through Pictographica (https://www.pictoriographica.com/about.html)