I bought an older ULF studio camera at an auction about a year ago, but I haven’t really had the time or motivation to bring it into shooting condition.
The original lens board was so brittle that it isn’t safe to use. I also needed a way to use lenses that were already mounted on their own lens boards, so I made adapters from birch plywood for Sinar and Chamonix lens boards.
#vintagecamera #ulf #studio #diy #lensboard

Trying something different. While the birch plywood is super stiff, I found it's not at all lightproof and needed a few coats of paint before I was satisfied. They're still an option but I want to see if I can find a reasonable combo for making them easy to paint in ways that block light without adding a lot of steps.

I had some padaulk and purpleheart woods around from other projects (my BitByBit Synths cases) and thought why not try these out. Unpainted they pass basic lightproof tests which means they work "out of the box" though it would still be wise to perhaps weather seal these and a thin coat of paint along the back might still be wise.

They aren't quite as strong as the birch ply but look a hellofalot nicer and are still pretty stiff. Of course they're also more expensive to make given the more exotic woods and given they were what I already had, I'll be looking at options for other hardwoods that might be more plentiful and thus cheaper.

Of note these are 3mm (1/8") thick. It seems like going thinner would have some tradeoffs such that for most of the boards I make, FDM 3D printing is still the preferred choice. At least for now. Maybe if/once I have a CNC router I can start doing some crazier things...

#WoodenLensBoard #LaserCut #Intrepid8x10 #Prototype #LensBoard #LargeFormat

Sinar boards now available on my direct storefront (bitbybitphoto.com) with eBay and Etsy to follow a bit later on. These were made and tested on my own Sinar F2. They should work on others but officially have only confirmed fit for the F2.

I'm excited about these, not only because I finally have actual Sinar boards but also because these are made using carbon fiber infused PETG. This has a few advantages and I will likely be updating the other boards over to CF-PETG soon.

Available in Copal 0, 1, 3 but I can also generally do custom sizes as well.

#LensBoard #3DPrinting #Sinar #FilmPhotography