Gene F. Rhodes

Computer Backup, Health Projects.

Pinhole: When I decided to build a 35mm wide angle pinhole camera I used one of my Mercury II camera bodies and removed all interior components. I chose a curved film frame so it would have a constant focal distance of 30mm and a frame width of 79mm. I made dozens of pinholes before I selected an f-stop of 180. I found that anything smaller or larger would reduce sharpness. I tried several methods of reducing diffraction then gave up in frustration. The photos from this camera look a lot like those from my Horizon 202 camera, except out of focus. They can also be manually stitched like the Horizon. Sometimes building is much more fun than using. My last test shot was my last pinhole photo.

Hybrid: My passion for a wide images has made me build several 35 mm cameras. The one before my Hybrid was a Yashica-A TLR and had a frame width of 60 mm. Then I had the idea for this camera. I wanted to take wide frame photos up close and with flash so I created a hybrid wide frame 35mm twin lens reflex camera with an eye-level prism viewfinder. I notched the back of a Yashica-635 TLR and inserted a modifid Mercury II 35mm camera body. The Mercury has a long camera body and its frame can be enlarged to 71mm. The focusing rails protruded into the image area so had to be shortened and covered to eliminate leakage. The prism and its lens came from a Ricoh 35mm SLR and were epoxied directly to the ground glass. The viewer cover was raised 1/2 inch to accommodate the prism assembly. The normal 80mm lenses is telephoto for this camera, so works best with Yashica Wideangle aux lenses.
Then I found out about Schneider's Super Angulon 47 mm and this camera too went to the shelf. See the handmade 625eq camera with this magic lens.

The left image was scanned as a slide to show the negative with the orange dye. The second image is the left inverted. The third image was scanned as a negative.The fourth is the third inverted, and represents a true color negative.

Entertainment Center: My first setup included a JVC AV-32720 34" TV, JVC HR-S7800U VCR, Thechnics SA-GX710 stereo receiver and Bose surround sound speakers. I connected to Cox Cable for videos and high speed internet. Later added Humax T-820 TiVo video recorder, Sony DVP-NC85H 5-disc CD & DVD player, and Liteon LVW-5116 DVD recorder. Had to keep my LVW-5005 for CD recording. I needed the Sony to supply audio and video to several boxes, but it was limited to only one.. Then I was forced to buy a (1in, 4out) Boss BVAM5 video signal amplifier, and a Farenheit AB-1pa twin audio booster. The new amplifiers solved my problems and I'm proud of my system now. See a simple cable hookup chart or complex hookup wiring.