I was putting in a furnace two nights ago and thinking about photography. I probably should concentrate more on the furnace as there are gas lines and electricity involved, but I was thinking photography. Anyway, as I was cutting some wood for a base for the furnace, I got this bright idea that I should make a camera. So I just kept cutting and came up with this in about an hour.


The one box sits inside the other and holds the paper or negative down. I lined the edge with 1/4" foam so that light is sealed out and painted it flat black. I drilled a hole with a 5/8" bit and mounted a piece of tin with a hole in it for the "lens" After a test shot, the hole needs to be a bit larger. The camera is six inches deep which, according to my not so scientific calculations, should yield a slightly wide angle view. I loaded up a piece of paper around midnight last night and exposed it for 5 minutes. Nothing came of it. Apparently, paper requires loooooong exposures. I then put a 4x6 piece of paper in and a long strip 35 mm negative and exposed for 6 minutes just to try and determine exposure times. The paper fell over part of the negative, and did not get nearly enough exposure, but the negative turned out pretty good. I will tape anything under 8x10 in for the next go around as everything got a bit out of kilter.

Shot at midnight last night as a test shot. The flowers are about six feet away. I am headed out with "The Vulture" ( so named because it is made entirely of scavanged materials and The Turkey Buzzard didn't sound quite as goog to my ears) this afternoon. It is loaded with paper not negative materials.