Nick, Ethan & Graham talk about building and modifying cameras. New episodes on the 7th and 21st of each month.
This week Nick and Ethan have the pleasure of talking to Sandeha Lynch. Master Camera Builder and sculptor, Sandeha has some excellent work on his website at http://www.sandehalynch.com/ and is a pretty big fixture on the facebook analog photo community groups. Check out his website, and follow along with the show!
http://instagram.com/sandehalynch
We start our discussion with potential destinations for a dream photographic trip anywhere in the world.
Dave and Simon, the DangerBoyz, made a documentary film about shooting a photograph in a huge disused World War II oil storage tank in Scotland. Not only did they shoot the image in the tank, but they also set up a darkroom and developed the film and made a large format print of the tank. They talk about the film, how they met, and why they wanted to tackle this improbable task.
The discussion ranges from rock climbing to trash bag cameras, paper negatives in the dark and bickering with the world’s longest echo.
No interview with Si and Dave would be complete without a discussion about their documentary film, One Shot: Inchindown (https://inchindown.com/) and what it took to make a very large print from a negative they exposed in the super huge oil storage tanks in Scotland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchindown_oil_tanks).
Dave and Simon talk about what project they are currently working on (is Simon a bat?). Could lava tubes be in the future? Glass plates in a fjord?
We talk about what we've all been doing lately: Graham has been printing copies of his 6X12 camera that has now been renamed the Kraken and has an official release date (April 16, 2020). Ethan calls dibs on the use of the name Chupacabra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra), Graham challenges Ethan for reserving the name, loses the argument but wins in the end.
Nick’s been in Tuscon this week, away from the dark skies of the Northwestern winter. He arrived with a broken medium format camera so he stopped at Monument Photo (https://www.google.com/maps/place/15+E+Fort+Lowell+Rd,+Tucson,+AZ+85705/@32.2650815,-110.9734827,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x86d67161ca413fd7:0x533e55b0f04641b0!8m2!3d32.2650815!4d-110.971294) and bought a 90-year-old Zeiss Ikonta that works wonderfully.
Ethan made a 3D-printed toilet tank flap holder. He loves to flush now.
Dave has been doing some photo mash-ups with swirl-spirals, triptychs and wax paper.
Simon Hanging off ropes upside down in the tanks. There’s a lot going on down there.
We move on to shoutouts.
Graham points out the Instagram feed of Thomas Berg (@ThomasBergPhoto).
Earlier in the episode, Ethan mentions Nikki Glaser (https://nikkiglaser.com/). He also gives shouts to Simon, Perry, Johnny from the Classic Lenses Podcast (https://www.classiclensespodcast.com/)
Nick mentions Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams (https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/cave-of-forgotten-dreams)
Dave mentions Mikey Sturgess and his Holga posts. (https://michaelsturgess.com/) and Valde-North (https://twitter.com/jeremynorth?lang=en).
You can get in touch with us thusly:
Ethan (Ethan@cameradactyl.com)
Nick (Nick@homemadecamera.com)
Graham (Graham@homemadecamera.com)
Dave (DavidSAllen.com)
Simon (You'll know it if you run into him)
The show's not over once the music ends. (Cryptic hint of the day)
We start off by talking about Ethan’s successful Kickstarter, the Brancopan. It’s been made real by you, the listeners along with others.
This week our guest is Jeff Perry from 20th Century Camera (https://20thcenturycamera.com/) We learn about Jeff’s real age (he’s nine, folks) and how he got started in photography and then built an automatic Jello Shot machine.
We find out that while Jeff likes modifying old cameras, part of his design ethic is to make any modifications reversible so the cameras can be restored to their original operation.
Jeff’s not only a camera modifier but also is a designer of full cameras, shutter systems, and the like.
Jeff makes a line of developing “reels” in sizes from 2 by 3 to 8 by 10 for sheet film (listen to the show for the full list or visit https://20thcenturycamera.com/). We get the story of the development (pun!) of these devices.
We roll on to our goals for 2020.
Graham has purchased but not yet received the book, Build Your Own View Camera!: An Easy and Inexpensive Passport to the Professional World of Photography for the Hobbyist by Bert West. He'll let everyone know what it's like when he gets it.
Jeff mentioned Peter Gowland (https://www.petergowland.com/) and Norman Dean (@analognmd on Instagram) who makes roll film backs for Polaroid Land cameras.
Graham mentions:
Ryan Wyss https://www.ryanwyss.com/cold-camera/2020/1/9/cold-cam-v2
Mina Saleeb asked if Graham was going to make a 6X15 or 6X17 version of the 6Twelve. The answer is not right now but maybe soon.
Michael Catalano mentioned that he is in the process of creating a 6X12 as well.
Get in touch with Jeff: Jeff@20thcentury.com Web 20thcenturycamera.com IG: @20thcenturycamera IG@Jeffery.Who FB 4JeffPerry, 20thCenturyCamera
HomemadeCamera.com/giveaway
The guys start off talking about the process of designing any project and then launch into a discussion about the panoramic aspect ratio and the ways to shoot them. Ethan’s Brancopan (back it now on Kickstarter [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/416154634/the-cameradactyl-brancopan]) and Graham’s 6Twelve are discussed.
They further discuss business models for getting designs out to the world.
Ethan needs a contact at Kodak, so if you know someone, drop him a line.
Nick talks a bit about methods of creating self-developing camera systems including a coffee cart that also is a camera.
Graham is giving away the alpha version of the 6Twelve and Holga masks. Go to homemadecamera.com/giveaway
Book: The Inventor and the Tycoon by Edward Ball (https://www.amazon.com/Inventor-Tycoon-Murderer-Muybridge-Entrepreneur/dp/0767929403)
Lori Brooks:https://www.instagram.com/fashionistalori/
Brendan Barry: https://brendanbarry.co.uk/
Dave Walker: https://www.instagram.com/davethewalker80/
In this Episode Graham and Ethan talk to a man who needs no introduction, Brendan Barry, superstar camera maker. Brendan makes cameras out of Fruit and vegetables, shipping containers, trailers (or caravans for those listeners in the UK), blocks of cheese, and even a skyscraper. He may make the worlds most whimsical cameras. He is an inspiration to us, and will be to you too.
Unless you still have a carphone in a briefcase, you've probably seen Brendan's work before, but just in case, here are some links to his most excellent and inspiring work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLINj68P16w
In this episode we talk to Daniel Keating about topics wide ranging from homemade cameras and films to bartering with the soviets over photochemistry. Daniel is an amazing resource of photographic and photochemical knowledge, and he gives a freight train of an interview that we suppose only scratches the surface of what he knows and has to share. This is a great one to listen to with a pad and paper, or google opened in your browser.
You can find Daniel on facebook, https://www.facebook.com/daniel.keating.tucson and if you're lucky, you can catch him on the homemade camera podcast facebook group!
This week we extend the afghan box camera and talk about developments towards that project. We talk about the RA-4 Color reversal process more in depth, and its potential inside an 'instant' camera. Ethan talks about involving Joe Van Cleave in the process.
Ethan talks about trying a Kickstarter to sell the plans for his next camera to a group of people and then giving them away free to the world.
Links:
Johnny and Perry’s discussion on presentation of images. (https://www.classiclensespodcast.com/e/93-listeners-emails-eventually/) Whole roll concept
We're a little all over the place in this episode.
We start off talking about the Sagrada Familia and the forms and techniques
Ethan gives an update on the printed zine and then launches into a travelogue of his trip to Spain.
Nico's Photo News: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkcuvqBAZPgTJ9evx9wkzvA
Joaquin runs Opensx70.com
Ethan talks about what it was like to shoot the Homunculus and the Panorama every day.
Graham talks about his trip to North Carolina and why Bass is analogous to Saturation.
Nick talks about the Sunny 16 Podcast’s (sunny16podcast.com) Day Into Night challenge. Graham comes up with an idea of how to troll Graeme. Ethan talks about his Day Into Night camera.
They also talk about the challenge to produce self-developing cameras. Graham suggests our listeners give a listen to the The Lensless Podcast (https://anchor.fm/thelenslesspodcast) Episode 75 with Evil Chutney who talks about his self-developing camera.
Nick talks about his upcoming trip and the concept of what to take pictures of. He asks Ethan about what lenses are the best to use on the Homunculus.
Shoutouts Badru Jones and David Allen
Apologies to anyone who expected this show to be released on the 21st of October, our usual release date (not that any of you actually notice we release on the 7th and 21st of each month); it was delayed due to Graham updating his computer to MacOS 10.15 and Audacity (audio editing) not updating their software to work with MacOS 10.15. He had to scramble a bit to find a computer with the old operating system but find one he did and here's the result.
Ethan has gone off for a European Vacation so Nick and Graham, left to their own devices come up with a show about... 90 minutes in length. They open the show with a discussion of modified Holgas and how to determine the frame sizes on slit masks and then move on to a chat about the interaction between elements in a photograph is the foundation of an interesting image.
Then, to completely annoy Simon, Perry and Johnny of the Classic Lenses Podcast (https://www.classiclensespodcast.com/), they talk about using modern cheap manual focus lenses that have been designed to go on modern digital autofocus cameras for homemade film cameras. These lenses are excellent and cheap (did we mention cheap?) and, once a shutter system is devised, can create a competent camera build.
Nick bought a 100 year-old Kodak Panoram camera from an antique store and the design of its swing-lens opens up possibilities. If you don't know about the Panoram, here's Mike Ekman's page on it: (https://www.mikeeckman.com/2016/10/kodak-no-1-panoram-kodak-1900-1926/). The Nodal Point issue is also discussed and here's a reference on that: (http://www.hugha.co.uk/NodalPoint/Index.htm)
Graham thanks Neil Piper of the Soot and Whitewash podcast (https://anchor.fm/neil-piper) for reviewing the 24Squared which could be back on the market in a few weeks.
They start off talking about bokeh and bokeh balls and Downton Abbey.
Ethan gives a short zine update and then Nick talks about Field of View vs. Perspective.
Narrow terms for optics:
Perspective: The geometry of point of view.
Field of view: With a normal lens, we see about 42mm is the same as our eyes.
Wide-angle lens distorts image: The distortion is an effect of our brains. We can’t normally see it that way so our brains have trouble figuring it out.
Barrel distortion and pincushion distortion are optical effects of lenses that can be corrected in lenses.
They then move into an open discussion about things to think about when building a large format camera. Advantages, disadvantages, concerns, etc. are covered.
The conversation about field of view is continued.
Depth of Field/Equivalent calculator https://www.pointsinfocus.com/tools/depth-of-field-and-equivalent-lens-calculator/
Ethan talks about a new project he has been working on, an 8X10 3D printed camera and why his head smells like soup.
They all talk about what they’ve been doing lately. Nick is thinning stuff out (no, not his hair, though that may also be the case); Graham went to a Viking and Mead Festival where he shot portraits of people in costumes, he’s working with developing more Holga Masks, including a panoramic insert and a 645; Ethan is working on a Day-Into-Night camera. It's also worth noting that Nick and Ethan appeared on the Sunny 16 Podcast talking about this day-into-night (or night-into-day) photographic challenge the Sunnies are foisting off on the rest of the film photography world (https://sunny16.podbean.com/e/ep-171-made-for-the-job/)
@kouichihirawa was mentioned as Nick’s shoutout.
Graham’s shoutout was to All Through A Lens Podcast (https://allthroughalens.podbean.com/)
Ethan shouted at Al Gore and the Internet. He lost the argument.
