We always love to see what great things people are 3D printing, and we were definitely excited by Open Reflex– an open source analog camera!
The camera has a mirror viewfinder, a finger activated mechanical shutter (running 1/60 s), and its custom mount ring makes it compatible with any photographic lens. Once the parts are printed, the camera takes only about an hour to assemble!
For step by step instructions click here. If you just want to download the files get them here.
Note: We’re sorry to say that Shapeways black nylon isn’t light proof.
Cool project!
It would be interesting to see how this design could be optimized when printed with Black Strong and Flexible. With laser sintering, you should be able to dramatically reduce the number of different parts.
You’d have to paint it, though. As mentioned, BSF isn’t light proof …
A fantastic project to be sure. But one has to ask “why?” Apart from the obvious “Because I want to prove I can make it” answer, is this really practical? You need to buy a lens. For probably way less than you would spend on the material to print this you could buy a used film camera. And film is getting harder and harder to find. Don’t get me wrong, as a former photographer I can appreciate the amount of work that has gone into this, but again, I fall back on my original question…