A few minor details have now been addressed, the final adjustments have all been tweaked, and the cosmetic finishing touches have all been applied.
Front view:
As it turns out, I
like having the lens mounted at a 22.5 degree offset. Because it makes it easier for me to read the lens markings when my tripod is at full height. Unfortunately, this means the OEM petal-style hood doesn't work anymore because the petals no longer align properly with the sensor. But this is okay, as I prefer to use a compendium hood and my next project is modifying a Mamiya G3 compendium hood I have on hand to mount on the 82 mm filter thread, as well as knock a few ounces off by replacing some aluminum bits with carbon fiber and adding a few speed holes and dimples.
Note how the camera and lens are neatly balanced over the mounting plate. This was intentional -- isn't math great?! -- although, of course, it will only remain true for lenses that weigh about the same as the P645 33-45/f4.5 zoom.
Rear view:
The little box in the hot shoe is the so-called "wireless" receiver for the remote shutter release. I ran the wire underneath the body and secured it with a screw and flat washer in the tripod mounting hole.
Side view:
By loosening the button-head screw in the center of the mount, I can rotate the camera from horizontal to vertical orientation. To insure the camera remains mounted securely, I used my drill press as a poor-man's mill (I know I shouldn't do this, but it was the only option I had) and made two short slots in the side of the reverse ring so the adjustment screw can lock into it when it's oriented correctly, which -- fingers crossed! -- will prevent the body from falling off. (By using slots instead of holes, there is a small amount of adjustment possible so I can level the camera body before I tighten the screw.)
The screw that's visible on the top of the camera is a physical guide I can use to determine by feel when the body is at the neutral position (i.e., zero rise / fall movement.) As you can see in the photo below, the neutral position is at the 15 mm mark on the scale, which is the midpoint of n the +/- 15 mm range of rear rise / fall movement that's available.
This is an important feature because I prefer to operate the camera by feel alone. After I finish taking a photo, I can reset the camera body to its neutral position by simply placing my finger on the screw and adjusting the rear rise / fall movement until I feel the top of the lens panel is level with it.
Grip clearance:
Although it appears there is plenty of clearance between the grip and the geared upright -- and at this point, there is! -- once the camera body moves down ~5 mm, the front command dial clears the upright by roughly .004", which is about the thickness of a typical sheet of copier paper. This is also the reason why I offset the camera body and lens by 1.4 mm, as this was necessary to move the deepest part of the grip slightly further to the side to gain some additional clearance. Clearly, for my purposes, the deep grips used on many modern camera bodies are not only unnecessary and useless, they're actually an obstacle that I have to overcome!
When I started this project, my preliminary measurements and calculations suggested that I'd have just enough clearance for the grip, but I ended up cutting it even closer than I originally thought would be the case. This was the reason I decided to use Pentax 645 lenses, because they have an FFD of 70.87 mm, whereas Mamiya 645 lenses have an FFD of 63.3 mm and my much-loved Contax 645 lenses have an FFD of 64 mm, both of which are too short to accommodate by adapting off-the-shelf parts. While it's not
impossible to accommodate these lenses, it will require having custom lens mounts machined, which are beyond what I can make with the resources I have available and the low budget I set for this project.
So that's it for now. I do have a few minor updates in mind when it comes time to create a Mk II version and I'm contemplating a related project that will let me to use my film-era, 35 mm lenses (Minolta MD, Contax/Yashica, Nikon Ai) with the 100S body in 35 mm mode, but there's no urgency at the moment to begin work on either one.
