Open Source Camera Project

[mattmills]

@BJ: yes, actually, Huw Finney's work was part of the inspiration for my project. I have a feeling he sold his design, though, and is living the sweet life working for someone who pays better than open source.

@dmr: nope, sorry, not in my design. It's simply too complicated to to the mechanics of interchangeable systems for the film/sensor (right now, I'm not even worried about a shutter, all of the sensors I'm looking at have electronic ones) and the point of this exercise is to bring more of a digital imaging pipeline under the end user's control. If, however, you wanted to design those bits and build them yourself, you're more than welcome. That's the point of open design: you can take what I'm doing and run with it in another direction, however you see fit.

@bluesman: In the US, patents runs out after 17 years. No idea for other countries. But I think I'm relatively safe building a one-off prototype.

Sorry everyone, that I haven't gotten to doing any actual work, I've had a head cold for the last few days. It'll happen.

 

[mattmills]

block diagram and some other thoughts are up at the site, for anyone who wants to go look: www.opensourcecamera.org. Also, the design might change, I have a friend who is a supergenius who might come up with a simpler/better way to get data off the sensor than what I'd planned. we'll see.

edit: fixed the link.

 

[BJ Bignell]

Matt,

I checked the site and saw that you're looking for a shutter. The company that makes the shutters in the Bessa range (and many other cameras, of course) is Copal. Their website is: http://www.nidec-copal.com or in the USA http://www.nidec-copal-usa.com. I'm pretty sure that they make a range of mechanical and electronic shutters that would be appropriate. It might be a good idea to talk to them about getting a catalogue or at least some dimensions for various products.

I liked the maquette you made, but I think the grip is too big. You might want to try modelling clay as well.

About the block diagram: If you want to have the server-on-a-chip/wifi module, it should be either optional in the design or at least powered through a hard switch to reduce power consumption.

About the batteries: AAs are easy to get and very functional, but their size to power ratio is pretty high compared with some modern lithiums. It might be a good idea to pick a "typical" lithium battery and then leave space in the physical design to change the battery adaptor. This means that if a battery goes out of vogue, it could be easily replaced (relatively speaking) with another form factor that outputs a similar voltage.

Cheers,
BJ

 

[doitashimash1te]

"a ton of competitors to Leica that use their mount"

- yes, but we don´t know the deals that went down to make that possible. Or the amount of theft involved - some countries simply don´t (or didn´t) have copyright infringement laws.

In any case - good luck!

/Richard

"The M bayonet patent expired in November of 1998, opening the door of opportunity for M copies."

http://www.cameraquest.com/mguide.htm