The "Open Source" Camera - 120 film, 3D Printing & Some Electronics

[dcsang]

I found this quite interesting. I don't know if anyone here has ever done any 3D printing (I certainly have not) but this emerging technology is totally turning manufacturing on it's head. Just the other night I saw a story on 3D printing prosthetic "joints" for leg amputees (not the actual leg per se but the the part that attaches the person's existing leg to the prosethic). Truly incredible.

Now you can build a camera for yourself:
http://kekado.zapto.org/kevin/open.html

Story found on DPReview..
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2014/01/17/lux-camera-open-source-diy-project

Cheers,
Dave

 

[Rodchenko]

It's an expensive box with cheap components. Excuse me if I don't get overexcited.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

3D printing, in my opinion, is just one aspect of the next major revolution. At the rate micro-manufacturing is progressing, it may be less than thirty years before we see home fabrication units that, like the fictional Startrek replicator, can make useful items on demand from a palette of basic materials.

Consider how far the microcomputer has come since 1980. I can imagine that the fabricator will have an even bigger impact on our lives. Just think: one day you'll just select "Leica M4" from the menu and a day or two later, it'll appear in the output tray!

😀

 

[Rodchenko]

And all those parts with their different material properties and functions, produced by casting, forging, extrruding, injection moulding, and tempering, will be replaced with sintered (or, more accurately, laminated) plastic.

 

[Lauffray]

And all those parts with their different material properties and functions, produced by casting, forging, extrruding, injection moulding, and tempering, will be replaced with sintered (or, more accurately, laminated) plastic.

And I believe that's fine for most things out there, I wouldn't dismiss 3D printing so quickly, I think this could be exciting

 

[Rodchenko]

There are uses for it, but, really, materials science exists for a reason.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

(or, more accurately, laminated) plastic.

It's always difficult to guess the path of future development but I doubt that future fabricators will use just one material. I'm guessing, based on the current state of commercial fabricator development, that the next generation will be machines that can handle mixtures of sintered, layered and electrically shaped materials. None of these technologies are new; they've been used in critical components for many years. In fact, I worked with a company that sculpted jet fan blades from alloy blocks, using electro-cutting, back in the 'eighties. If you've flown, there's a good chance that their fan blades kept you in the air.

The breakthrough will be putting the technologies into some kind of building block that can be assembled by a home user or equivalent, to make a given item. I suspect it will be more than thirty years before you can make a complete camera with such a device but then, how many non-specialists in 1980 would have expected smart phones or tablets?

 

[filmtwit]

A little off topic - 3d printing used used pretty extensively on Henry Selick's last two features (Coraline) as well as Paranorman I think Pirates.
The technology has really changed a lot in last 8 years.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/17/how-3d-printing-changed-the-face-of-paranorman/

 

[Rodchenko]

Oddly enough, my father was Head of Laboratories for a major turbine manufacturer. Our mantelpiece at home boasted single crystal turbine blades, ceramic components and a jar of powdered metal.

I acknowledge that 3D printing can create shapes that processes like injection moulding cannot achieve, but there are limitations to the way in which consructed materials like this can be used (and abused). Making a box seems within the capability.

 

[jsrockit]

I've been saying to my friends that are into grips for their cameras, that they need to get a 3d printer and go to town... 😉

 

[Rodchenko]

Ah, now that's an excellent application!

Along with custom lens hoods, external battery packs etc etc

 

[jsrockit]

Along with custom lens hoods, external battery packs etc etc

CNNY on this site has made some custom lens hoods for, I believe, his Canon 35mm f/2. They are pretty nice for what they are. Maybe he'll chime in.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

I acknowledge that 3D printing can create shapes that processes like injection moulding cannot achieve, but there are limitations to the way in which consructed materials like this can be used (and abused). Making a box seems within the capability.

You're quite right but the boundaries are always being pushed. EOS in Germany have a powder sintering process that they claim can be used with almost any grade of structural metal. The Chinese claim to be making Titanium structural members for the J-20 and J-31 fighters. They also seem to be making very large components in the same material for the forthcoming C919 transport.

The trouble with the future is that someone is always changing it. 😀