Don described it well - the one we've seen is slightly smaller than an
ordinary shoebox, made out of plywood (probably at least 3/8 inch thick)
with a lens on one side and the ground glass on the other. Placing the GG
such that when the film holder is inserted it is correctly oriented is
probably the hardest part of the whole thing.
> As it happens, I own an old wooden 8x10 (doesn't everybody?) which I have
> never used, including because it weighs as much as a small planet (though it
> makes a nice living-room still life). I gather this "lunatic" object is
> light enough to take "into the field"?
Not sure about this - I've seen wooden studio cameras that I wouldn't
consider carrying around all day and wooden field cameras that aren't
actually that bad.
> Is this (or a simplified version)
> something an ORDINARY lunatic could in fact make, or is it another one
> of your advanced ploys (like making a "simple" pinhole with laser &
> microscope)!?!?
The only thing this relies on is a good lens - I happen to have one or two
modern lenses that should (one does, the other might) cover 4x10 although
not 8x10 so this might be an interesting thing to explore. It's rapidly
becoming obvious to me that I'll end up with a camera that makes larger
negatives at some point - contact prints can be *so* nice.
Pete