International 4x5 film adapter for 9x12cm folding cameras by giannidalmas

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

I love my 9x12 folding cameras (Voigtländer Avus and ICA Maximar): lightweight, compact, perfect conversation starters.
The joy of using them was ruined by the metal cassettes (hard to find with their film sheaths) and the ground glass being dim and not perfectly positioned on the film plane, causing mis-focused images.
When I discovered Edgar Kech adapter (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3449588) for using international sheet film holders for 9x12cm negatives, I decided to take the chance and make it suitable for 4x5 film.
Parts:

1x Adapter plate that connects the camera with the cassette holder (as it slides into the metal rails on the camera's back, be sure that your specific camera model has the rails of the "Normalfalz" type. I'd print this part first and try it on the camera before printing the other parts).


1x Cassette holder (2.5cm deep with internal cone to expose the wider 4x5 inch film - This will move the infinity focus point of your camera, so you'll need to compensate for it on the focusing scale - I printed a new one for when I use the adapter and the original one when using the original 9x12 cassettes)


1x Cassette holder top (attached by 2 rubber rings, it's optional but highly recommended in order to quickly swap the ground glass with the film cassette during the shooting process)


1x Ground glass frame (modified with the ground glass holders positioned on top and bottom to allow the wider glass for 4x5)

2x Ground glass holders (I decided to use a fresnel lens on top of a normal ground glass, so the holders are positioned to set firmly both items. If you plan to use just one ground glass, please reduce the space between the glass and the holders).
Non printed parts:
1x 4x5 ground glass
1x 4x5 fresnel lens
4x 3x12mm screws
2x rubber rings
Special thanks to @geryduarteurena and @hubmakerspace for let me make this thing real!