A 3D Printer for the Photographer

It's been awhile since my last post, life's been busy what can I say. Over the holidays I picked myself up a 3D printer (Merry Christmas to ME!) and have been having a blast with it. I've always been a tinkerer, always doing DIY stuff and fabricating dodads and thingamagigs I needed here and there. Now that I have a 3D printer this has opened up a whole world of possibilities that I never would have imagined. After much research I settled on the Printrbot Simple Metal and I opted for the kit version that I had to assemble myself. The kit version is a bit cheaper ($539 USD at the time) but I didn't choose it purely for the discount, from what I read online it's great to build it yourself so that if or when it breaks you know how to fix it.

My latest creation is the "PLAyPin" which is a 3D printed medium format pinhole camera, the name is a bad pun I'll admit, the PLA is short for Poly Lactic Acid which is the type of plastic filament most 3D printers use. I wanted to design my own partly just because I can :) and partly because the other designs out there (notably the P6x6 and the TerraPin) require very long print times. That's not to say their designs weren't fantastic, I think they're incredible. For my design I wanted to use the least amount of plastic as I could and I wanted to keep the design modular so that I could print the camera in steps, the longest of which takes 3.5hours and that is for the main body of the camera.

I've shared my design on thingiverse which if you have a 3D printer you'll already know of, it is a site where people post their designs so that other people can download and print them. Depending on the creative commons license you can often remix the design by making improvements or customizations as you see fit.

The great thing about 3d printing is a fast cycle between concept and a physical object, once I had my first print in hand I was able to see some areas of improvement and quickly implement them. Each part on this camera was thought out and has a function.

One thingiverse user posted these great adapters for shooting 35mm film in 120 cameras so for my test roll I shot 35mm since it's a lot cheaper :)





I scanned the roll using the Lomo Digitaliza which enabled my to preserve the sprocket holes. I was really happy with the results, probably some of my best pinhole shots to date as far as clarity goes. The pinhole I was using was actually a 300micron aperture for an electron scanning microscope, I purchased a bunch of these for $1 each from a guy on Flickr. The only tricky part is the apertures are in tiny copper discs that are only 3mm across so mounting them can be difficult. I should probably make a separate post at some point describing my process.

The PLAyPin is meant to shoot 120 film so it required a viewing window on the back to allow you to see the film numbers on the paper back. To accomplish this I picked up a sample pack of Lee filter gels and used the #26 red. While I did incorporate a nifty hinged window cover I still put black gaffers tape over the window when shooting 35mm just to be safe.

I have a few other photography related 3D printed items I've been working on and I'll try and post them soon.

Cheers

Do you Lomo?

Me and work buddies having a beer after work - Shot with the Lomo 360 Spinner

Back around 2005 I discovered the Holga and have been a fan of the "Lomo" movement ever since. It seems that now the term Lomo isn't just about cameras made by Lomo but is more about the idea that photography should be fun. "Lomography" should have an element of mystery via not knowing if you're going to have light leaks, it has vignetting, and somewhere along the lines even a certain type of colour treatment has been associated with Lomo.

While at a local camera store my girlfriend noticed that they had a whole display dedicated to Lomo and that nearly everything on it was on sale. She decided it was time to snap up her first Holga, I decided to pick up a Lomokino. This was the start of a slippery slope :) I then picked up a Sprocket Rocket and later a 360 spinner.

First off I'll talk about the Lomokino, it's a 35mm video camera! It takes and slices a regular 35mm frame into 8 strips and you crank the camera by hand. You only get around 30 sec using a standard 24 exposure roll depending on how fast you crank. It takes some work afterwards to make it a video, you have to scan the prints or negatives then crop each frame and finally use a video editing program to put it altogether, but that just makes it all the more fun :) Quick tip: I found a quick and dirty way is to name the files sequentially as you crop them (image 001 image002 etc) then open them as an image sequence in Photoshop. You can then choose how many frames per second you want the video to be. It's not as full featured as Premiere but if you're coming from a photography background it'll be easier to apply effects.

The lovely lady featured is Deanna, I've worked with her few times before and she is fantastic, she'll be in an upcoming post as well.

Example of a negative scan from a Lomokino roll

 Next up is the Sprocket Rocket, a relatively simple camera that takes extra wide photos and exposes the film right to the edge. Two aperture settings and a single shutter speed, much like a Holga in that regard.

 Sprocket Rocket

 

To take advantage of the sprocket holes though you need to be able to scan right to the edge of the negative, not an easy task with a normal home scanner. I've yet to come across a lab that will do it either. Luckily there is the Digitaliza negative holder, this was also on sale at the same camera shop but they had to order it in from another store for me. I must say it works like a dream, I was able to use it with my Canon Canoscan 8400F without any issues.

 

Digitaliza Negative Holder 

 

Here are a few shots I got with the Sprocket Rocket:

Sprocket Rocket - Fuji Colour ISO400

Sprocket Rocket - Fuji Colour ISO400 - Converted to BW in post

Last but not least is one of the most unique and fun cameras I've ever shot, the 360 Spinner!

You simply hold your arm out, pull the string, and the camera spins completely around and actually a little past. It's odd in that there is no shutter, there is only a small narrow slit in the camera which is constantly open, you need to slide the switch into a wind position to close it. This has cost me a few exposures because it still behaves normally and spins but it doesn't expose anything, just thought I'd point this out so hopefully others don't waste precious film :) Speaking of precious film, you only get about 4-5 shots per standard 24exp roll if I remember correctly. When taking it in for development make sure you specify DO NOT CUT NEGATIVES! Same goes for the Sprocket Rocket.

You get a lot of weird looks from people using this camera too :) All in all though it makes for some of the coolest group photos ever as you can see in the first shot of this post.

Deanna takes a 360 Selfie while out on a modeling shoot with me.

The Delta Bessborough as seen by a tilted Lomo 360

If you tilt the camera so that it's not spinning parallel to the ground you can get some interesting effects, this reminds me of the movie Inception!

All in all I think it's amazing that there are new 35mm cameras coming out still and ones that are as inventive as the Lomokino or the 360 Spinner, film isn't dead quite yet, hopefully the hipsters keep it alive a bit longer.

Vive la film!

Double exposure on a "Starlite" aka "Halina A1" on expired Kodak Portra 160

The pinhole camera thing got me excited about film again and my girlfriend started to get into it too. I have quite a collection of old TLR cameras going as well as some unique 35mm cameras. While I love digital there is still some things you just can't quite do, double exposures for starters, sure some claim to offer it as a feature but it just isn't quite right.

One cool trick I stumbled upon was "redscale" where you take and respool your film backwards on the roll so that you're shooting through the plastic instead of directly onto the emulsion. This makes the brown plastic film act like a filter, depending on how you expose the effect can range from very dramatic and almost monochrome to a subtle colour shift.

~1955 Olympus Wide Kodak 400 Colour Film Redscaled

~1955 Olympus Wide Kodak 400 Colour Film Redscaled

With my film interest fully piqued I remembered a few years back a woman had been commissioned to sell off a camera collection of a gentleman who had passed away. Incidentally the first shot in the post is from one of the cameras I had picked up a few years ago. I decided to look her up again and see if she was still selling any of those cameras, as luck would have it she was and happened to have a sweet little 35mm rangefinder up on her Etsy site. I quickly snapped it up :)

Samoca Super 35mm Rangefinder

I forgot just how fun rangefinders could be, the next day I took it out on my lunch break and got some random shots around Broadway.

Samoca Super 35mm, Kodak 400 - Processed in Photoshop

Samoca Super 35mm, Kodak 400 - Processed in Photoshop

I then decided to dig out one of my half frame camera's that I had purchased years before, also from this same woman, but had never had a chance to test out. This was an Olympus Pen D which had a built in lightmeter but alas no rangefinding abilities so it was all focusing by the numbers. In case you don't know what a half frame camera is I'll explain, instead of taking one image within the frame it only uses half the frame and the orientation is portrait instead of landscape, this allows you to take twice the number of photos on a roll of film. When you get your photos printed you get two prints on each 4x6 and this can lead to some interesting diptychs.

Olympus Pen D - Half Frame Camera - Kodak Gold 400

Olympus Pen D - Half Frame Camera - Kodak Gold 400

This camera actually turned out to work pretty well, the light meter was actually pretty accurate all in all, my only issue with the camera is it seems to take forever to finish a roll :)

I'm going to leave with a few more of the shots I took with the Starlite twin lens reflex (TLR), I got this camera in basically mint condition, I doubt more than a few rolls were ever shot with it. Despite it being a cheaper model the shots turned out nice and sharp.





Next post will be about the wonderful world of Lomography and some of the coolest cameras I've ever used!

World Pinhole Day 2014

Another year and another excuse to dig out or build a new pinhole camera. This year I was even able to combine it a little with my job. The company I work for, Bamboo Shoots, creates video content centered around people and events within my province for one of our regional cable providers. One of the stories was focused around invention and we were able to slip in a DIY segment showing how to build a Dippold camera like the one I made a few years ago.

This year I finally ordered some very precise diopters which are normally used in electron microscopy, unfortunately they didn't arrive in time so I wound up using the same camera from my last build. If I don't somehow manage to lose the tiny diopters I'll try and build a new camera before the fall, if so I'll post the pics. If not there is always world pinhole day 2015 :)



I was really quite pleased with the sharpness of the shots I was able to get this year, I'm hoping with the new diopters they are even sharper.

I even managed to pull off a portrait, something that you usually can't do very well with a pinhole camera.



The borders that the camera produces were pretty cool too and it almost seems like in some there were some minimal light leaks.



My interest in film was sparked again, that anticipation of having to actually wait to see the photos instead of the instant gratification we're becoming so used to. I started digging out my old cameras and even acquired some new ones, more to film related posts to follow...

Break from digital : A vacation to film land

I don't think I've really mentioned it much (if at all) here on my photo blog but I collect old and unique cameras. Every once it awhile I'll put down my digital cameras and pick up one of these to head out for a little film fun.

The majority of the older cameras I have are medium format TLR's and the odd box camera, there are a few 35mm exceptions like my elegant Werra 3 and the low fi Smena 8M.

It is when I have these cameras in hand that I remember how exciting taking photos was when I was a kid. Each frame was precious because you only had a finite number, no erasing unwanted photos or memory cards that allow for thousands of photos. There was always that feeling of anticipation as you waited to get the photos back from the lab wondering "did they turn out?" Or in some cases "I have know idea what's even on this roll" lol. The kids growing up in the digital age missed out on this (I feel old saying that and I'm only 29), don't get me wrong I love what digital sensors have given us in photography but it's also taken something away.

Today reminded me of that era and gave me a glimpse of that old excitement when I saw this camera while surfing the web:

(Photo from www.japantrendshop.com)

It's the Superheadz Blackbird Fly, a new 35mm TLR that hails from Japan. Other than Seagull I don't think any other company is producing new TLR cameras, sure there was that digital Rollieflex a few years back but at 2MP it was more of a joke than a real camera. These little Blackbird Fly's (aka BBF) are a little pricey at a touch over $100 but are cheaper than the medium format Seagull TLR. I like the fact that they shoot the readily available 35mm film, it's a little easier on the pocketbook compared to spending over $1 per photo with 120 film not counting the film itself. If you're shooting MF because of the higher detail negatives you're most likely shooting on a MF SLR or a higher end TLR anyway so 35mm makes sense for those of us just looking for some fun.

If you are however interested in the medium format route you can get into it on a fairly low budget. The Holga 120N is a cult classic in the field of lomography and can be had for under $50 if you look hard, Diana's (the inspiration for the Holga) are also still available and fit a shoestring budget. Some vintage cameras can be found on ebay or in your local antique shops, the Lubitel II and 166B made from bakelite instead of metal can generally can be had quite cheaply. Lastly, and not to be overlooked, the archaic yet still fully functional Kodak box cameras often sell in antique shops for around $10. The only piece of advice I'd offer when looking for vintage medium format cameras, assuming you want to shoot with them, is to make sure they shoot 120 film and not 620. It is possible to respool 620 onto the fatter 120 spools but its not the easiest process.


Another interesting little camera that is made by the same company is the Superheadz Golden Half which is quite unique itself. This is a throwback to yet another popular genre from yesteryear, a 35mm camera that only uses half a frame per photo netting you twice the pictures! A few years back I was trying to find something similar on Ebay and the vintage versions were fetching prices that were outside of my range. At just over $50 these are still a tad on the pricey side all considering however they are unique and since they're new you don't have to worry about buying one and finding the lens is covered in fungus ;)

(Image from http://kualalumpurcity.olx.com.my)

I ended up ordering an orange Blackbird Fly and a "black mountain" Golden Half, once I get them and put a roll through each I'll make another post reviewing my findings. At one point I'll dig all of my vintage cameras out, take their portraits, and write up a post about all of them too but that'll be down the road.