Afghan Box Camera Project Update

[@MathieuBeaulieuAsperger]

Thank you very much.

[@ot505]

First of all, thank you for making these videos! My sister and I are tintype photographers here in Los Angeles. It is hard to get anyone to tell you their "tricks of the trade" so thank you. Sometimes we get asked to do events at night, and this could be another good option for us. I had a picture done in Tijuana almost 20 years ago, and it has always bugged me. I wish I had asked the guy more questions, but now I'm sure he was doing this process. I also bought a 1930's PDQ camera a couple of years ago, and was trying to figure it out, but I got stuck at trying to find the paper & formulas. I had a few thoughts on your setup, as we have had to figure out similar ways to dry our plates. What about using a hairdryer? I understand if you are not wanting to use any electricity, in that case, what about a blotters book? I just bought a cool lithium ion battery bank (inergy kodiak) it's basically silent and weighs about 20 lbs. I also have a generac generator, which is pretty quiet, but it runs on gasoline. I'm thinking, you could also put an LED light in your kit. It could be helpful in low-light or night conditions. Also, I love your idea of using the oval matte!

[@Socrates...]

Amazing video, love your photographic videos

[@Camerasnaps]

very interesting well done Joe

[@MichaelZieschang]

Great. Really. And according to your precision doing and buildign these cameras the results will be highly appreciated. But: Do you have an idea how much to charge from people you capture later in public ?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I'd first try a "suggested donation" strategy, during the period when I'm learning to do this. Then, as I gain proficiency, I'll charge a fee, but I haven't decided what. There's currently no competition in my town for this, so I'd own the market, so to speak. Probably in the range of $5-10.

[@jcmilleker5449]

Lovely camera, Joe! I love these cameras but have never managed to ever complete building one. Certainly requires skill to shoot and use.

[@cvm004]

Great video. Nice work. I have a question about how you shoot. Do you just remove the lens cap (like a afghan box) or use a photo shoot?

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I'm using a lens for a 4x5 large format camera; either a Kodak Ektar 127/4.7 or a Fujinon 135/5.6. They have mechanical shutters that include a bulb (B) or timed (T) setting. Typical exposure times are1/8-1/4 second in shaded daylight, using Arista grade 2 RC paper rated at ISO12.

[@mikesherman3997]

Hi Joe - I just restored a real Afghan box camera (I am in Kabul now) and I am using a Prominar lens from a 9x12 camera for a lens in a compur shutter. I'm shooting on Harman Direct Positive paper, but after watching all of your videos I'm still struggling to get an image. I guess it's trial and error for this but I'm going to try and keep as much of the process as constant as I can - one question - what sort of developing times did you find you got when shooting on this paper? I am rating at about 4 ISO and shooting in winter light, developing in Ilford MG 15:1 - still haven't got it yet. More testing tomorrow.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

I find in winter light you need to rate the paper at a lower ISO, due to reduced UV in the sky. I've had to go down as low as ISO 1 or so. And the temperature of the developer needs to be close to 20c, which can be a challenge in outdoor winter climate on the streets. Your project sounds fascinating, I hope to see some pictures or videos in the future. Good luck.

[@mikesherman3997]

@@Joe_VanCleave Thanks very much for the advice and the lightning fast reply. I will try again tomorrow with a low ISO. My developer might have been too cold too. I'll develop inside from now on.

[@mikesherman3997]

You have a lot of great information on your feed - plus I am also into typewriters, and used to have too many but have thinned the herd. I bet you would like to get an Olympia Elite - beautiful machines. Search 'schreibmaschine' on German ebay - ebay.de - the results for Gromas and other rarely seen typers are much greater and they've got a bigger selection - and cheaper. The shipping is high but it often ends up cheaper in the end, and the variety of machines is much greater. Polk used to run the typewriter museum and newsletter - if you don't know about him already - quite a collection.

[@Frisenette]

Why not just contact print? I know you need more light. But you need that already if you use photo paper. You could use the camera pointed unfocused at the sky to get good strong light.

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes, that is another option. I did some experiments a few years ago where I used an old Polaroid 800 camera with a piece of frosted lucite plastic over the lens and a thin sheet of glass at the film plane, where I would load the negative and print paper in the camera and use the sun to contact print, with the camera's shutter on bulb. This was using a two-sleeve darkroom box for loading and unloading the camera, along with a stand-alone Speed Graphic for making the paper negatives. The advantage of copying the negative is being able to change the size of the print; and not photographing through the paper media itself can be better, depending on the thickness of the paper negative. And with multigrade paper for the print, contrast filters over the lens can provide an easy way to alter contrast.

[@Frisenette]

Joe Van Cleave True. It’s after all essentially camera and enlarger in one.

[@heinzji4693]

可以做成拍摄彩色相纸的相机。RA4❤

[@Ra-dg4mz]

Joe, I like Your YT, but this time I have to tell you that the name Awgan box is not real. This is not the invention of Avanistan. It's a typical "Camera minutera", popular in many Spanish-speaking countries.

[@heinzji4693]

可以做成拍摄彩色相纸的相机。RA4❤

[@Joe_VanCleave]

Yes, great idea!