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One of my other insanities is photography. I love the whole idea of digital imagery. Now I do not want to start a dialogue over the differences between digital and analog(film) photography.
I was a working photographer for a number of years (1972-1995) in Washington. I did some studio work and was pretty good with a view camera. I miss the perspective and focus control.
I have tried the PC lens that Nikon has. They are very expensive and very limited. So when communicating with Paul McGowan and finding out he takes all of PS Audios product photography
and uses a converted Sony DSLR on a custom built view camera, I started a search on the net and found there are many out there doing just this.
Arca makes a camera that starts at $1.6k without lens that most are using, but there are makes out there rolling their own. I chose to go that way.
So I bought a 2X3 Cambo for $150 and a 150mm lens for $50 and an Nikon extension tube for $9 on ebay.
So my proof of concept is complete, enough to go forward.
The 150mm lens is not very sharp and is too long for product work in my small studio.
So I need:
90mm and a 65mm which is much more money. I will probably need a recessed lens board which I will fabricate.
Also a bag bellows ( I am going to make one first) They are a bit rare for the Cambo 2X3
(there is one for 99 pounds in England plus 20 pounds shipping)
Also a lens shade
The extension tube is also too long. Its 21mm and I need to find a 15mm which are available.
This is needed to give the Nikon body room to fit the Cambo 2X3 back

Amazing to see that folks are still using view cameras. It is the best way to do it but is becoming a lost art. When digital was first coming out, the MA company Leaf was adapting their digital back to the Hasselblad camera. That was before any of the major camera manufactures had a digital offering. The only other thing at that time was the Kodak DCS which was a modified Nikon camera with a side pack containing a power supply, HD recording system and a small LCD screen. It had about the same resolution as a 110 Instamatic camera but was a revolution.

I convinced the Leaf folks to adapt their back to a Cambo view camera which was a sister company of ours. Cambo did the mechanics and Leaf did the electronics and back. At the next Photokina show I showed it. The show lasted for 10 days and we were so busy I hardly got a pee break the whole time. The old timers said it was just a fad and would never replace the superior analog silver based film. Right!

Another interesting thing was that the digital back had a much more linear characteristic (H&D) curve. The range of output ("density" to relate it to film) from shadows to highlights was greater and more linear that most films. However, film had a change in density that at the extremes was much more gradual rather than linear. Therefore the entrance into the shadow and highlight ranges was much more gradual than digital. With digital you had this marvelous linear tonal range until you got to the extremes when things changed very abruptly. It drove photographers nuts because they were used to the gradual changes in film. Sound like tube vs solid state clipping? Leaf eventually had to tailor the curve of the digital output in the software that processed the photo to get a gentler more film like end point transition.

I used to teach courses in electronic imaging but a discussion of film vs digital is way too big for this forum. If anyone is interested I would be happy to hold a meeting where we can discuss it. Of importance is that the whole imaging process essentially has the same steps for both but the equipment and techniques can be either similar or very different depending on the step in the chain. The major steps if you are interested are:
1. Conceptualizing the image
2. Recording the image
3. Processing the image
4. Storing the image
5. Transporting the image
6. Displaying the image

Each step has many facets and is a major study in itself.

_________________
Walt

I feel my time using conventional film and darkroom techniques, has made me a far better digital photographer.
The power of the new software and computers, and the resolving power of the new cameras makes what I did in the 80's and 90's look like the dark ages, but I am a much better photographer because of the history, not for the technology.

_________________
Walt

Thanks but I do not another hobby, cant keep up with the ones I got

I dabble with photography for fun. Have had some nice gear (FF Cannon with L glass) but went with something smaller and easier to carry. Photography is pretty frustrating and difficult (even with digital PP) but every once in a while I get something I sort of like.

That's what it's all about, fun

Here is the diy result of my other hobby -

That is really neat. My neighbor is into gazing and does some DIY tells, but mostly tweaking commercial tels