Inspired by some conversations on the photo.net forums, I decided to try to hack together a handheld 4x5 large format camera using parts from various old Polaroid Land cameras from the 1960s. Polaroid long ago discontinued the film for these cameras, so they're available really cheap on eBay. To most people, they're pretty much worthless except as a collectors' item, but with a little fearless application of a Dremel tool, they should quickly find themselves back in useful service. The resulting camera will not be a beauty queen — the main ingredient will be glue — but it should result in something only slightly less portable than the Holga, but with much higher quality results, and for roughly the same total investment (about $20).

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When I got my view camera, I worried about feeling ridiculous to stand out there adjusting a camera that looked like it came out of a cartoon. In fact, toady when I got out of work I took the camera to the park across the street to try out the large format Polaroid film that arrived yesterday, and the only attention I got was when one pretty cute girl came over and asked, "Is that a camera? I saw you standing there concentrating so intently." I said yes and showed her the image on the ground glass. She asked if I was doing it for a class and I said no, just as a hobby. We talked briefly and then she headed off. That wasn't so bad. Somehow I just can't imagine my next encounter will be equally pleasant.

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Back around the beginning of January, I was at the local photo lab/camera store, and I asked if they had any used large format cameras. They actually had several, although most were in the $3-4000 range. One, however, was an old Graphlex Crown Graphic, which was closer to my price range. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for (this camera was designed for newspapermen back in the '40s, so it's oriented more towards being used quickly rather than creatively), but they only wanted $300 for it, whereas the one I really want, a Shen-Hao, would cost around $1000 to get started with. The Crown Graphic had a cracked ground glass (the viewing screen you use to focus the image), which costs about $50 to replace, but they said they'd include that in the price. Still, in the end I decided I wasn't ready to spend even $300, so I put it from my mind.

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