Blaine sent me this link. We've talked about designing and building a view camera but when I can buy a view camera of the quality and capability of my Toyo View D45M for $150, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to try to make my own given that I probably couldn't buy the materials to make one for what I bought the Toyo for, not to mention the time in designing and building. I do have to admire someone who does do it. This is an interesting one.

The Medium Format Camera Project

"I first got the idea when I was surfing the web for some camera information I needed, exactly what I canīt recall. But I found this german company called Sinar which manufactures various kinds cameras, mainly for medium format applications. I thought the design of these cameras was really cool and I started researching how they worked, only to discover that they were essentially just simple view cameras. Only in a more sophisticated and fancy package than the old wooden box versions. One particular model called P3 really got my attention with itīs extremly analouge appearance and huge knobs. My second thought were something like: wouldnīt it be possible to build a camera like this with Lego technic parts around a really cheap lens and a bellow? Well at that point i just knew i had to try!

"Thus the goal of this project is pretty simple, to build a fully functional camera from scratch that in the end can be used with either full format or medium format (probably medium format) negative film, and offer about the same functionality as the "real" equivalents do. I do not plan on obtaining flawless image quality but rather just understand all the physics and produce some at least decent pictures."

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