Kamra-e-Faoree - Building an Afghan Box Camera in Hampshire.

Response to my showing images of the Kabul street photographers and the work of the Afghan Box Camera Project  (see the post on 03/02/2017)  was great: "This guy is a photography god!" was the verdict on Qalam Nabi as we watched the film of him at work.  To have our own Kamra-e-Faoree ("instant camera") at UCA would have lots of possibilities so I set about building one.

I started by making a design drawing before pulling out old bits of plywood from the back of the workshop.  The ABCP website has a set of building instructions as a free download but as all the cameras are different there are no fixed plans as such, just general dimensions and useful advice on how to make  things like light-proofed doors work. If you fancy building one I'll make my plans available.

I'm trying to keep to the spirit of the thing as much a possible, so no fine dovetailed joints or polished cherrywood panels; just simple, sturdy construction from whatever materials are to hand.

Here's the basic box carcass: reclaimed 6mm and 8mm plywood. Strips of wood around the top reinforce the edge and form part of the light-seal for the lid.

Old workshop truism:  You can never have too many clamps..

The biggest expense so far: 50p on a pair of black trousers from the RSPCA shop's sale rail. - Perfect access sleeve material.

still one leg spare...

The access sleeve goes into a hole in the side door. This hinges downwards for loading chemical trays etc.

One of the joys of the Kamra-e-faoree is the embellishment. Every one is an expression of its owner's ideas and tastes. Much of the fun in this project will be finding bits and pieces to add to the overall effect.  This rather fine brass sun shape came from a tea light holder. It will make a distinctive surround for the lens.

The rear door doubles as a red safelight window for the 'darkroom' end of the box. A scrap of red lighting gel and a bit of glass from a waste ambrotype glass plate, plus odd bits of wood framing. Note the strips around the inner edge of the hole and the outer edge of the door. These ensure a lightproof seal when closed.

There is also a drawer for odds and ends. The Afghan photographers work out on the streets so the camera is used as a carrying box for everything. This will take scissors, wrapping paper, negative prints etc. etc.

An important part is the tripod bush. The whole camera is quite heavy so a piece of thick steel plate was used, positioned at the point of balance so as to reduce the strain on fitting and tripod head. It has both 1/4" UNC and 3/8"UNC threads.

Tripod bush plate is screwed and glued into place with epoxy resin

Once the box was constructed, it was time for the clever bit: The sliding focusing plate. This moves back and forth on a pair of rods to adjust focus but also to be accessible. The photographer has to pull the plate back to load the paper negative, but return the plate the the focus point afterwards. This is done with the simplest of devices: a clip attached to the focussing pole:

The focus plate runs on two bits of copper plumbing pipe. the rod on the left is the focus pole..

The focus plate revolves on many models "to allow landscape or portrait formats". I can't see why this complex solution is better than simply using a larger square ground glass but I've made ours revolve in the authentic manner. The focus plate also takes a frame to hold the paper in place.

Lovely image of the workshop on the ground glass.  (I've inverted the picture here)

The cameras are made in every colour and finish imaginable. They are intended to be visible and attractive to potential portrait customers. Red and gold seemed nice and exotic. 

There's a spyhole on the top for viewing the process of development. This is made from a 35mm film canister as an eyepiece with a lightproof slide below.

The lens is an old 5inch Dallmeyer enlarging lens. Not too slow at f/4.5 and easily capable of making an image of 5"x4". Most of the images made with these cameras are passport size but many can make bigger prints if the customer wants them. This lens is probably around 100 years old and just the sort of thing an Afghan camera builder would use.

I thought that brass sun would look good...

Inside the box, the trays for developer and fixer are old ice cream boxes. I seem to be unable to use them without splashing chemistry around so they sit in another tray made of clear acrylic. It saves mopping out the box!  There's a simple cardboard box to hold the paper stock. It has to be opened and closed with one hand so it's held down with velcro to stop it moving about.

Inside the camera. from let to right: The back door with red window,  The dev and fix trays in their splash tray, the ground glass frame, the paper box and the contrast filter just behind the lens.

The copy stand is ingenious. It holds the negative in front of the lens at the right distance for re-photographing it the same size. It hinges out of the way for the first exposure and then is quickly flipped into position. A second hinge on the top side serves as a latch. Some are plain pieces of rough timber  but others are more fancy and decorative.  I had an old barometer carcass which I couldn't quite bear to throw away. This yielded a nice carved focus plate and a good thick support arm.

The Afghan photographers use the natural adhesion of the wet negative to fix it to the copy stand but over here we have to worry the health and safety implications of dripping water on the floor especially if we use it indoors. Therefore I've covered the neg stand in a piece of old biscuit tin with magnets to hold things in place.

The final embellishment might look silly but it's actually quite useful. I noticed a few of the cameras I researched had little 'washing lines' attached. If it's too windy to lay prints out to dry, hanging them on a line is the answer.  When you're working on the street, everything needs to be self-contained.

The finished camera. - blinking in the sunlight with test images attached.

I've done a few basic tests with the camera and it works, though there are still a few odd details to sort out. I'll post again when it's fully signed off and open for business.

Similar cameras are (or were) used in other parts of the world. The "Cuban Polaroid" works on the same principle but the internal arrangement is different. In Brazil the camera is known as a "Lambe-lambe" or "Camera Minutera" and there are variants in other counties too. Here's one in the Las Dallias Hippy Market in Ibiza:

Thanks to Lucy Jarvis for this picture, made in 2016 so the camera is still current. albeit for "retrato portrait" Note the flashgun!

Sadly the rise of digital and the 'selfie' have rendered them all but extinct. - Except for the seemingly dozens(!) being built by people like me who want to explore and pay tribute to a different photographic experience. As Joni Mitchell said "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone"...