Meet the Legomat

[Peter Jennings]

My son had an idea recently that piqued my interest. He wanted to build a lego camera. At first, I was skeptical it could be anything other than a toy, but after thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that it could work!

So, after rummaging through the many containers of Lego parts that he's accumulated over the years, we managed to put something together.

Meet, the Legomat!


Legomat by Peter Jennings, on Flickr

The lens/shutter came from a Mamiya-6 that I had gotten a long time ago for parts. It's fixed focus at about 7-8 feet. I might try to shim it to bring the focus in a bit closer, but perhaps not.

Here are the insides:


Legomat by Peter Jennings, on Flickr

The film transport was what we struggled with the most, but what we came up with works surprisingly well. The rubber tires add friction to the spools so that the film stays taut and flat.

The felt on the inside walls was added to help block-out light leaks. The first roll we shot didn't have it and most of the exposures were ruined.

Here's one of the pics from our second roll:


Untitled by Peter Jennings, on Flickr

My co-conspirator, David. Shot on Tri-X.

 

[Huss]

freaking awesome!!
Congrats on such a fun project!

 

[Peter Jennings]

Thanks, Huss! it was fun. But now I find myself thinking about a Legomat II...

 

[dourbalistar]

This is so cool, thanks for sharing! 😎

 

[robert blu]

Great! You and your son did something really special!
robert

 

[pauld111]

Wow, that is amazing. Please continue with legomat II.

 

[giulio stucchi]

Love this! Great job, congrats to you and your son.


Giulio

 

[Anthony Harvey]

Absolutely fantastic! Well done!

It must have been a real challenge to get the distances right since Lego pieces have fixed sizes. But for your success I would have thought it to be almost impossible for a Lego camera to take sharp pictures.

In fact, I was so surprised that I had to stop and think whether today’s date is 1 April!

I’m sending a link to my grandson who is just seven, and a keen member of his school Lego club.

 

[markbakovic]

freakin' awesome!
needs a full construction manual with the stereotypical isometric drawings etc 😉
In all seriousness though, I hope you both know that Lego Systems runs an idea submission portal...

 

[santino]

Make sure you create a lomo edition = pinhole lego camera.

 

[Peter Jennings]

It must have been a real challenge to get the distances right since Lego pieces have fixed sizes. But for your success I would have thought it to be almost impossible for a Lego camera to take sharp pictures.

This was my first concern, but the Lego dimensions luckily worked to our favor. Still, if it wasn’t ideal we could have shimmed the lens.

 

[Peter Jennings]

Thanks all for your kind comments! I think we will indeed work on a second version. I’d like to try to do one that is more lightproof.

 

[Timmyjoe]

Wow Peter, smart kid! That's really cool.

Best,
-Tim

 

[davidnewtonguitars]

Great job!
My son had a Lego kit so complicated, the parts of which, if you added in a few spare optics, a camera with a rangefinder could be constructed.

 

[David Hughes]

Wonderful.

 

[css9450]

Nice! All it needs now is a little square of black tape on the front to cover that red brick.