First Light!

The 4x5 KAP box camera has seen first light! The spring back is complete, minus the springs, and the remote shutter still isn't finished. But I was able to load film, point it at something roughly 300' away (trees), balance it on the tip of one finger (simulated kite string) and trip the shutter with a normal cable release (pretend I'm a servo.) The first shot was done at f/11 1/250, and the second at f/16 1/125 on Kodak TMax 100.

Using the camera is a little strange. I've grown used to the idea that a 4x5 shot takes time. Time to haul the gear in, time to assemble the camera, time to compose the shot, focus, arrange tilts and shifts, re-focus, etc. I rarely do a 4x5 shot in less than an hour. These two test shots took only a few seconds apiece. No focusing, no movements, nothing to assemble. Pull the dark slide, point, click, put the dark slide back in. Done!

There's still a fair bit to do aside from the springs for the spring back and the shutter release. The tradewinds were blowing again this morning, so I held it up on the tip of one finger to see how it moved around. It moved around! A lot! Henry suggested adding some sort of stabilizer like the one designed by Christian Becot or Mike Jones, and also said that George Lawrence used some pretty substantial pendulum weights on his camera when he photographed San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.

No matter what, I still have quite a bit of experimentation and testing to do before the camera takes to the air. Tonight I hope to add the springs to the spring back and run a length of kite string between two of the trees in my yard so I can start testing stabilizers.

So how did the pictures come out? No clue! I'll have to wait until tonight to develop them. But I have high hopes that they will come out. With any luck they'll even come out without significant motion blur.

Tom