Photographs. Sort of.

Kodak Aero-Ektar 305mm, f2.5

Kodak Aero-Ektar 305mm, f2.5. Made by Burk & James Inc., Chicago, Ill.
Kodak Aero-Ektar 305mm, f2.5.

A few years ago I was given this lens, an Eastman Kodak made Aero-Ektar 305mm, f2.5. It was an oddity that had arrived at the previous owner by gift as well, which after not finding a purpose for it, deeded it to me.

I guess that gift was like being told: you are the winner of the “most likely to build a camera out of the people who I know” contest. It happens that he was right.

It has taken me almost five years to get moving, and while I fully expect it to be slow going (camera building), after looking at the image this behemoth produces, I’m sold! sold! sold!

For now this article will consist of my (present) very first speculative steps in the direction of a camera, and as a repository for bits of information that I have found germane to the pursuit, thus far.

Camera Considerations

Since the first part of the camera that I’ve had is the lens, it has always been my assumption that I’m going to build a camera around it. In other words, I began with two known properties: first – this is the lens this camera body will be built to work with, second – the camera will employ analog media. That’s all I’ve known from day one.

Upon closer scrutiny of the lens, we learn that it is designed to cover a nine-inch square film plane, and that its focal length is 305mm, with a maximum aperture of f2.5.

Here the first wrinkles crop up – the lens has no shutter, and neither is there a leaf shutter that is large enough to accommodate it’s girth, 151mm across the forward element.  Furthermore, the lens itself weighs 12 pounds (5.44 kilos), and while the aperture diaphragm is present and intact, the lens is missing the lever or ring that was used to operate it (I will add a picture when possible of this detail).

Clearly, the lens itself presents some significant hurdles to be cleared – weight, how to manipulate the apertures … and then some of the intangibles that I’ve barely begun to deal with – what is the actual working minimal focusing distance from the back of the lens, what is the are the lens covers acceptably (acceptably meaning some combination of vignetting, soft focus, chromatic aberration  optical distortion,  and room for camera movements).

I’ve not begun to tangle with how to mount the lens permanently, and neither have I looked too deeply into what it will take to make the apertures operable. I’ve begun by trying to sort out what size of film plane the lens will cover acceptably. That is as far as I’ve gotten so far.

As far as a general camera body style, I’m going on the assumption that I’ll be using wood, and that building a flat-bed camera will be more efficient in terms of weight then trying to securely support the lens on a monorail system (I could still be wrong about that).

Camera Obscura

To find out how large an area the lens would cover, I reached for the materials I have at hand, figuring that I’d exceed the capacities of the lens and have found the “upper limits” of image size produced.

Having recently moved our home, I had on hand a cardboard box 24″long, 18″wide, 18″tall, and it was in this volume that I decided I’d start out with “proofing” the lens.  I installed the lens so that the length of the box stretched out behind it, and created a frame to fit the far end (18″x18″) over which I stretched a piece of wax paper. The materials needed were only tape, utility knives, large cardboard boxes, and a large piece of wax paper.

 

Relevant Links

About the Kodak Earo-Ektar

Bellows Construction

Camera Building

Glass Plate Carrier and Camera Back Design

Hardware Vendors

Photographic Community Sources

Collodion Stories

Manuals

… (more to be added as I need them, find them, and find them useful)

Nh

, ,