6X17 Camera

thingiverse

After watching Nick Carver and lusting over his photos and camera, a lot, and seeing other 6X17 photos, I decided I really need a 6X17 camera. The Fuji, Linhof and the Shen Hao are way out of my price range so this is what I came up with. This is a re-mix of the 6X12 camera by Gevoo. After much trial and error, I was able to stretch the 6X12 to 6X17. It is not perfect. I printed this out on my Ender 3 Pro with Overture matte black PLA from Amazon with a .2 layer height and 100% infill. I purchase from Amazon a 2 pack of Cold shoe mounts. Brand was Anwenk for the cold shoe mounts. I found loading this beast to be difficult at best. What I did to overcome this issue was to get a piece of laser printer transparency and cut it to about 200mm long by 80mm or so tall. When loading the camera, take the transparency you cut and slip it in the film slot, take your film and start winding the paper leader on a spare 120 spool. When it has a wrap or two and feels secure, unwind the film from spool with film on it until it is the width of the film spool holes in the top of the camera body. Now, slide the paper between the transparency and the back of the slot. The transparency keeps the paper from getting hung up at the bottom of the film slot. Once its started behind the transparency, you can just push the spools down into the holes and secure the top plate. Once it looks loaded, remove the piece of transparency. I found that you need to wind the film starting at 2, then 5, 8 and lastly 11. For the winder I use one I repurposed off of a Voigtlander baby Bessa. One issue I haven't figured out yet, the film is not wrapping up as tight as I would like it to. I am concerned that it is susceptible to light leaks so, I removed the film in a changing bag to be safe. The lens cone is designed for a Graflex Optar 135mm lens. This camera is fixed focus. I figured out, using the iPhone app Photopills, what distance to subject would give me the most depth of field. I ended up with 50' and 8f gets you from 25' to infinity. I used some adhesive backed foam to deal with light leaks when I mounted the cone to the body. For the viewfinder, I use an iPhone app called Mark II Artist's Viewfinder mounted in a iPhone tripod adapter with a coldshoe to tripod adapter screwed into the base of the iPhone tripod adapter.