This is a tutorial for making a DIY camera scan back for a 4X5 camera. I made this to work with a Graflex Series B camera which at one point was one of the top-of-the-line cameras. It long ago belonged to my Great Great Uncle Nat who was a commercial photographer for JCPenney in the 1930s.
My reason for making this scan back was because the camera was broken when I received it, and it could no longer be used to take film photos. The shutter cloth in the back had rotted, and the cost of sourcing a new one and repairing it was more than buying a working antique Graflex camera to begin with.
Nevertheless, I told the family member who gave me the camera that I was going to somehow get it working again. I began to explore options for taking photos without a working shutter. One of my ideas involved putting a sheet of ground glass in the back, and scanning it. That is when I stumbled upon camera scan backs.
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