Rob Masters

In Part 1, I went over some history, and the things you have to think about differently when working with in-camera cyanotype. In this part, I will provide a simple design and instructions on how to build it.  The design is based around the lens of a Google Cardboard VR headset. These are cheap and easy to obtain. There are two common versions - one is roughly f/1.5 and the other about f/1.2, and they also have differing diameters. As this also results in different focal lengths, there needs to be a couple of changes to support both versions. Further, the design is flexible enough that almost any lightweight lens can be used with some modifications to the dimensions.  Materials Black Gaffa Tape. Not duct tape, gaffa. It makes a difference. Clear packing tape or good-quality sellotape. 2 A4 sheets of dark (not black) 210-250gsm card 1 25mm diameter/38mm (f/1.5) or 37mm diameter/45mm (f/1.2) lens (or similar, see below) 1 small coin or metal washer An A7 piece of baking parchme...

Back in October last year, I picked up some "Solarprint" paper from an educational supply house that was having a sale. For some weeks I thought about what to do with it, and eventually decided that the usual path of making contact prints or photograms with it was a bit too dull, and that I would build a camera and take photos with it.  Now I am by no means the first person to do this - although the idea of producing cyanotype camera negatives is surprisingly recent. As far as I can tell, the first person to do it was photographer,  John Beaver, in 1999 - over 150 years after the development of the chemistry ! More recently, blogger Nag on the Lake published a how-to for cardboard cameras in 2019. Meanwhile, Ray Christopher has been experimenting with using cyanotype paper as a medium-format negative. The cyanotype process chemistry is rather unusual in that is not particularly sensitive to visible light. It is most sensitive to UVA down to the visible spectrum. One of the s...