The first piece of the puzzle - a Polaroid 250 Automatic Land camera, $0.99 on eBay
The film for this camera is long since discontinued, but I have other uses in mind
It's too bad it's in such nice shape, because the only thing I need is the nice Zeiss rangefinder
Closeup of Zeiss rangefinder
View through rangefinder (note dual images of picture frame, for focusing)
Size comparison, with 35mm film included for scale
Still much smaller than a view camera
Sadly, 40-year-old Polaroid film doesn't work very well
Time to remove the rangefinder from the 250
Rangefinder removal
Rangefidner is free!
Cardboard prototype for 4x5 back adapter
Marking out the lines for the real one
Drilling the starting hole for the jigsaw blade
I don't play the jigsaw very well yet
But that's rectangular enough for me
The final shape cut out
Light traps cut out, everything cleaned up and sanded
Approximation of assembly
The elegantly retro-looking Polaroid 110A arrives
With its nice mechanical shutter and classic-looking integrated lens cap
Alas, this camera will only be donating its lens and shutter
Top view, lens folded out
Rear view. I'm not sure what that red switch does.
Aside from its size and weight, this is another reason the 110A is not ideal for this project. Separate rangefinder and viewfinder
There's a lot of metal in this camera, and it's surprisingly heavy
It doesn't look much bigger than the 250, but it feels huge in your hand
The second attempt goes better. Control comes with practice
Cleaner, straighter cuts this time around
There, that looks better
Removing the lens from the 110A
Unscrewed
Lens is free
Rodenstock Ysarex 127mm f/4.7 in a Prontor shutter
The 320 arrives in a case
With flash and instruction manuals
The 320 looks like the 250 but is made primarily of plastic, so it's much lighter
But it has a crappy rangefinder, which will be replaced with the one from the 250
Ready to remove the front lens from the 320
Lens cover removed, revealing auto-exposure electronics
