a 4x10 Panoramic camera

This camera was built to fulfill a specific need. One of the Federal Reserve Banks needed a panoramic shot of one of our ceremonial rooms for a museum display they were building. The final image was going to be 5x11 feet wide, with graphics inlaid atop my image. I started by shooting 4x5, but the cropped image was not good enough for reproduction.

I had a couple of old Calumet view camera carcasses, a B&J 8x10 camera back, several old Graflex 8x10 film holders, and lots of gaffers tape. I decided to build a camera that would do the job.

I started by cutting down the the extra long Calumet focusing rail to more closely match the focal length of the 190mm Kodak Wide Field Ektar lens, which was used to make the photograph. This lens was made to just barely cover 8x10, However since the image circle demanded by 4x10 is considerably smaller than that of an 8x10 image I had the necessary movements needed for my photograph.

The ground glass focusing pannel and spring back assembly came from an old Burke and James 8x10 reducing back for a graphic arts camera. I split the B&J back in two, trimed each half to size, as measured by using an actual 4x10 holder. I then rejoined the two halves together. This process was repeated with the frame that holds the ground glass and spring assembly. The back assembly was designed to use modern 4x10 holders such as those made by KB Canham and Lotus, which are a bit wider than old kodak 4x10 holders that come up on Ebay from time to time.

A camera box was then built around the back assembly. The camera box was made out of red oak from the local lumber yard and then trimmed with a teak veneer. This box was fastened to the rail by means of two Calumet back brackets each with one end cut off, then joined together and attached to the rail in the usual way. This method worked very well, but I sacrificed all of the back movements.

Rather than purchasing new custom made bellows or making the bellows myself to accomodate the increased size of the camera's back, I half split and re-configured the original 4x5 bellows to the 4x10 back using black cloth gaffers tape and cement.
This technique works well, and I believe that the current owner of this camera is still using those "temporary" bellows with no complaint.

I also need a film holder, which I made by stripping down an 8x10 Graflex holder, cutting it to size using the film as a guide. the split holder was then reassembled.

I made a jig out of a paper cutter to trim the 8x10 Ektachrome sheets to 4x10. The exposed film was processed in-house in a Wing-Lynch processor, using a special reel I I made from some plumbing bits and a pair of Patterson Reel spokes.

The camera features full front movements, however, there are no movements available on the rear standard.

SPECS:

Camera body = 2 late model series 400 Calumet View Cameras

Film Size = 4x10 (8x10 split in half)
Bellows Draw = approx. 12"
Bellows Compression = approx 3"
Rail Length = 16"
Lens Board = 4x4 Calumet or Equivalent