The level of integration of little electronics (like the LiDAR and the OLED screen) into a print is amazing! I am thinking about an electronic light meter that is coupled to the shutter and saves the current reading to an SD card, so that you could later sync the EXIF data to the scans.
Shameless plug: I have made a website that lists a lot of 3D printable film cameras (including the links to the print files). Feel free to have a look if you are thinking about printing your own camera. Some are really cheap and easy to print.
I just bought my first medium format camera recently. I know others have mentioned Lomography's beautiful new 35mm point-and-shoot, and I so wish for a 6x7 rangefinder that's cheap and attainable, easy to calibrate and repair, and portable. This sort of project is exciting to me, but man would I kill for a fully-featured medium-format camera with good support. The Mamiya 6 and 7 are both such incredible cameras, but they're so coveted and so boutique to repair that investing in one feels like not worth the commitment.
For context, the camera I got is a Mamiya RZ67. It's obviously also not straightforward to repair, and it's a beast in size, but I love that it's a fraction of the cost, modular, and readily available.
derwiki
If you’re interested but don’t want to make your own, a Fuji GSW690 is a great entry point. I shoot slide film exclusively, and instead of prints, put the 6x9 in an acrylic frame on a sunny windowsill.
I’m also a sucker for 35mm in medium format so you can see photo content around the glorious sprocket holes.
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dllu
Really awesome design! It would be wise to replace some of those 3D printed parts with CNC parts, especially for places where a lot of strength is required (eyelets for those Peak Design anchors) or precision is required (lens mount). I myself have 3D printed some parts for my line scan camera too, so I can totally understand.
The biggest issue with these diy builds is that they need the mechanics to be inside the lens - which is not necessarily a bad thing, however it severely limits the lens choice for the system, and introduces additional cost (you basically need to buy a shutter with every lens). The scene has definitely improved over the years, there are a number of very interesting x-pan-like builds which have been made possible by advancements in 3d printing.
I'm looking forward to the day someone figures out how to modify a full frame shutter assembly (plenty and cheap on ebay) to work with medium format film.
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phony-account
This is a great product, and without meaning to underestimate the value of a ‘makers’ project I really wish it could be manufactured at scale with a metal body and a mount that could take a wider range of lenses.
Anyone currently interested in this breadth of formats would need to spend maybe 20 thousand dollars to buy cameras like the Hasselblad Xpan, the Plaubel Makina 67, and one of the Fujica 690 bodies.
Putting all this into one body is almost miraculous.
Lomo have recently released a nicely featured 35mm film camera[1]. I wish something like the MRF2 could also be produced in this way.
This is a viewfinder camera with scale focus. Rangefinders have a complex mechanism to measure distance which would be beyond the scope of this project. In early Leica cameras, the rangefinder and view finder were separate mechanisms on the same camera, and were combined in the Leica M series in the 1950s.
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pastage
Making China imports expensive and cumbersome makes these builds difficult in my opinion. It is most certainly not really $300 if you have good connections, second the admin and tolls can make you spend enormous amount of time and money.
I've watched maybe 10 DIY projects of this nature with 3D printing and this is by far the best image quality for the small size of the body. Incredible work
jacquesm
What a great job he did. It looks very professional, even though the numbers produced must be fairly low. I wonder how the shutter mechanism works, on most medium format cameras that's a work of art and a project in its own right.
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kaiuhl
I don’t see it mentioned here yet in recommendations: Pentax 6x7 is an outstanding camera, especially paired with the 105mm f/2.4 lens. Some of my favorite photos ever have come from that pair.
ginko
Very very cool. I've been thinking about doing something like that before, but didn't really have the time or skills. Awesome someone went through with it.
The level of integration of little electronics (like the LiDAR and the OLED screen) into a print is amazing! I am thinking about an electronic light meter that is coupled to the shutter and saves the current reading to an SD card, so that you could later sync the EXIF data to the scans.
Shameless plug: I have made a website that lists a lot of 3D printable film cameras (including the links to the print files). Feel free to have a look if you are thinking about printing your own camera. Some are really cheap and easy to print.
https://printed.analogcamera.space
I just bought my first medium format camera recently. I know others have mentioned Lomography's beautiful new 35mm point-and-shoot, and I so wish for a 6x7 rangefinder that's cheap and attainable, easy to calibrate and repair, and portable. This sort of project is exciting to me, but man would I kill for a fully-featured medium-format camera with good support. The Mamiya 6 and 7 are both such incredible cameras, but they're so coveted and so boutique to repair that investing in one feels like not worth the commitment.
For context, the camera I got is a Mamiya RZ67. It's obviously also not straightforward to repair, and it's a beast in size, but I love that it's a fraction of the cost, modular, and readily available.
If you’re interested but don’t want to make your own, a Fuji GSW690 is a great entry point. I shoot slide film exclusively, and instead of prints, put the 6x9 in an acrylic frame on a sunny windowsill.
I’m also a sucker for 35mm in medium format so you can see photo content around the glorious sprocket holes.
Really awesome design! It would be wise to replace some of those 3D printed parts with CNC parts, especially for places where a lot of strength is required (eyelets for those Peak Design anchors) or precision is required (lens mount). I myself have 3D printed some parts for my line scan camera too, so I can totally understand.
[1] https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2024-08-31-customizing-my-li...
The biggest issue with these diy builds is that they need the mechanics to be inside the lens - which is not necessarily a bad thing, however it severely limits the lens choice for the system, and introduces additional cost (you basically need to buy a shutter with every lens). The scene has definitely improved over the years, there are a number of very interesting x-pan-like builds which have been made possible by advancements in 3d printing.
I'm looking forward to the day someone figures out how to modify a full frame shutter assembly (plenty and cheap on ebay) to work with medium format film.
This is a great product, and without meaning to underestimate the value of a ‘makers’ project I really wish it could be manufactured at scale with a metal body and a mount that could take a wider range of lenses.
Anyone currently interested in this breadth of formats would need to spend maybe 20 thousand dollars to buy cameras like the Hasselblad Xpan, the Plaubel Makina 67, and one of the Fujica 690 bodies.
Putting all this into one body is almost miraculous.
Lomo have recently released a nicely featured 35mm film camera[1]. I wish something like the MRF2 could also be produced in this way.
[1] https://shop.lomography.com/us/lomo-mc-a-35-mm-film-camera-b...
This is a viewfinder camera with scale focus. Rangefinders have a complex mechanism to measure distance which would be beyond the scope of this project. In early Leica cameras, the rangefinder and view finder were separate mechanisms on the same camera, and were combined in the Leica M series in the 1950s.
Making China imports expensive and cumbersome makes these builds difficult in my opinion. It is most certainly not really $300 if you have good connections, second the admin and tolls can make you spend enormous amount of time and money.
I've watched maybe 10 DIY projects of this nature with 3D printing and this is by far the best image quality for the small size of the body. Incredible work
What a great job he did. It looks very professional, even though the numbers produced must be fairly low. I wonder how the shutter mechanism works, on most medium format cameras that's a work of art and a project in its own right.
I don’t see it mentioned here yet in recommendations: Pentax 6x7 is an outstanding camera, especially paired with the 105mm f/2.4 lens. Some of my favorite photos ever have come from that pair.
Very very cool. I've been thinking about doing something like that before, but didn't really have the time or skills. Awesome someone went through with it.
"When we must, we can."