ished outside dimensions of the camera are roughly 4 x 4 x 2.25 inches. The lens hole was cut by hand with coping saw, I drilled a small hole to slip the blade through and then attached the handle to cut out the hole. The recess cut for the lens mount ring was made with a router. If you made your box the correct depth, you would be able to avoid the recess cut altogether. I didn't get it right because I failed to take into consideration that I was going to recess the film into the rear panel, so I had to make up the distance by recessing the lens the same amount. I will explain this at length later, but the short version is the lens has to be an exact distance from the film plan so that three things will happen, the lens will be able to focus close up, the lens will be able to focus to infinity, and the distance meter on the lens will be accurate.
Image 4: The rear panel, which also serves as the film plane. If you look close you can see that the thin plastic sheet, which protects the unexposed film and creates a 35mm window frame, is flush with the wood. I did this just to make sure the shutter wouldn't run into it and get hung up. I used a router to make this cut but I suppose you could do it with a sharp chisel. There is another cut behind the plastic that is very shallow that creates a track for the film to slide behind the plastic sheet. See the next image for a close up.
Image 5: Close up of the rear panel showing a piece of leader film sliding under the recessed piece of plastic.
Image 6: Shutter Curtain/View Finder, which is made from the same thin plastic used on the film plane. The thin piece of wood glued (epoxy) on at the bottom serves two purposes, most importantly it prevents me from pulling the shutter curtain right out of the camera when I take a shot, and it also stops the shutter in the open position as soon as the film window is uncovered to prevent any unnecessary travel. This is important because in some cases you'll want to open and close the shutter as fast as possible. I put a little paraffin wax in the grooves to help make the shutter slide smooth and operate without any binding, which helps avoid camera shake.
Step 3: Design Elements 2 of 2
Image 1: Top Panel, outside (top) view, the neoprene seal is approximately 1/4 inch thick and has a razor cut down the entire length except for the ends. I aligned the cut in the neoprene over the cut in the wood by having the shutter (thin piece of plastic) sticking up out of the cut, which allowed me to slip the seal over it and hold it in place while the glue set.
Image 2: Top Panel, inside (underneath) view, here you can see the cut that the shutter curtain slips through so you can grab the top of it to open and close the shutter curtain.
Image 3: Bottom Panel, outside view, here you can see the Tripod Mount.
Image 4: Bottom Panel, inside view, shutter curtain groove was cut with a fine tooth hand saw.
In the next step you'll see how the panels assemble, how the shutter curtain seals off the rear of the camera (film plane) in between shots. All the design elements will come together and make sense if they haven't already.
Step 4: Assembly
Image 1: The side panels are attached to the rear (film plane) panel and you can see the how the slots for the shutter curtain are right in front of the rear of the camera and film plane.
Image 2: Shutter test fit. You can already see how the shutter fully seals of the rear of the camera and film plane so you can safely advance the film after taking a shot.
Image 3: A different angle so you can see the shutter in the open position. Note how the window frame cutout only allows light to fall on a 35mm section of film, this protects the unexposed area of the film so there is very little waste between shots.
Image 4: With the bottom panel on and the shutter in the closed position, you can see how the shutter slips into the groove at the bottom, creating a light proof curtain so the film can be advanced and be ready for the next shot. Just to play it safe, I keep the lens cap on in between shots.
Image 5: With the top panel o