what product should i (or someone) make?

[aizan]

i finally finished school this spring, and now i have the free time to do something i've wanted to do for years: make a piece of photographic equipment or accessory that someone really should make!

i've got my list of items, and i'm sure you have yours as well. before i set up a poll, i wanted to ask everyone if you've also had something on your wishlist for a long time. i'll add your ideas to the poll when i make it.

here's my list just to get the ball rolling. boring ideas, crazy ideas, it's all good.

1) film leader trimmer, both heavy and light duty
2) glass prisms for nikon f and olympus om
3) replacement bottom plate for hasselblad 500cm, arca-swiss compatible
4) rolleiflex mx-evs strap connectors
5) camera re-chroming service
6) inexpensive view cameras for contact prints (sheet film and plates): whole plate, 7x17, 11x14
7) 5x7 and 8x10 enlarger heads
8) plastic tub to put a kitchen immersion circulator in, compatible with roller bases, with frames to hold Jobo chemistry containers
9) modular camera system for instant film: manual exposure, manual focus, interchangeable motorized backs, etc.
10) a primitive "half frame" p&s camera with 2:3 aspect ratio
11) put the amano 66 into production (😉)

 

[Larry H-L]

Design a simple lock or connection device that securely holds an auxiliary optical finder onto the hot / cold shoe.

 

[mooge]

To make money or for personal satisfaction? I've thought about making and selling stuff but I figure it'd be hard to make actual money doing it. But then again I'm just a guy who likes to turn metal into scrap and I don't know anything about business or what other people buy and why.


Instax - I think there's an appetite out there for a manual (or at least advanced) instax camera. - but that would be a project and a half. I'd suggest making a 4x5 instax back but I think someone's already got one in the works on Kickstarter. Likewise, I don't see the point in making your own modular instax camera when you could just make an instax back for a Hasselblad, Mamiya universal press, or whatever.

Design a simple lock or connection device that securely holds an auxiliary optical finder onto the hot / cold shoe.

Duct tape the bottom of the aux finder foot. Works really well.

 

[back alley]

Better batteries...


.

 

[aizan]

To make money or for personal satisfaction?

personal satisfaction! i have a design and manufacturing itch. it's really bad — i think i like cameras more than actual photos. it's not that photography isn't great, but you know what i mean.

and imagine a camera system designed from the ground up just for instant film. it would shoot polaroid as well as instax.

 

[michaelwj]

As a bulk loader, the biggest pain the you know what is trimming the leader. I always seem to cut through a sprocket hole or mess it up somehow. A simple curve scissor type instrument (or hole punch like press) would be awesome. If I could load film into a cassette, cut it from the roll, and then in one simple motion snip the leader accurately, it'd be great. I'd buy one. Can I pre-order one?

All the other projects you list look like they'll take a bit more time and or funding and mostly limit the market to a particular camera user.

FWIW, I made a replacement focus tab for the 35 summilux pre-asph out of brass. In the past 4 months I've sold about 10 of them, and I make enough to buy a roll of film here and there. But for no advertising and a very small market, I think it is a lot.

 

[Jockos]

I think a Hassy/Arca plate could be made very nicely and low profile. Looking forward to your results!

 

[Rayt]

i want a handheld 6x4.5 RF camera fixed lens or otherwise in landscape format.

 

[cz23]

Everyone now cobbles their own camera scanning system together. How about a complete, reasonably priced kit solution? The buyer supplies camera and lens, but the rest is supplied.

John

 

[Arbitrarium]

If it's for personal satisfaction, make whichever one interests you most! By the sounds of it, the instant system camera.

Your faux Jobo developing kit gave me an idea; I should get a metal wine rack to hold my chemical bottles upright in the sink so they don't fall over...

 

[zuiko85]

Okay, I'll play. "The Compact Travelling Darkroom"
A fixed magnification enlarger for 35mm in the shape of a box. It will enlarge a 24X36mm negative to 6X9 in. onto 8X10 paper. The lens mount will have a limited movement for fine focus touch up. Compact with LED light it will include in the kit a battery powered LED safelight with hooks to hang on a shower curtain rod. The kit will also include 3 trays, tongs and other bits and pieces all contained in a salesman's sample case style luggage.
For chemicals I'd like to see concentrated paper developer in sealed plastic packs such as used for mustard and ketchup at fast food joints. Each pack will mix with water to make 1 quart of working solution. there are packs for both developer and rapid fixer.
(Hey Ilford, are you listening?)

Ah, but too bad, so sad. My idea is about 20~30 years too late.

Another thought; I wonder if it is possible to formulate a B&W paper emulsion specifically for paper negatives, something that can be handled under safelight. I know that part of the response to the full spectrum of light will be lost due to it not being sensitive to red light. But I wonder if it is possible to solve some of the high contrast problems encountered with paper negatives. It would be nice if the white light sensitivity could be bumped a bit too, say to ISO 25?

Yeah, I know there are work around fixes but it would be nice to have these problems with paper negs at least partially solved right out of the box.
(Again, are you listening Ilford)

 

[zuiko85]

i finally finished school this spring, and now i have the free time to do something i've wanted to do for years: make a piece of photographic equipment or accessory that someone really should make!

i've got my list of items,
10) a primitive "half frame" p&s camera with 2:3 aspect ratio
(😉)

This is too easy. Just crop half frame 1mm per side in the 18mm side, presto, a 16mm X 24mm or 2:3 aspect ratio.
I've shot 35mm half frame since 1970. Believe me you can crop it as you like. Sure it's a small neg, but still holds up well in small prints up to about 8X enlargement for most B&W films.

Whats the big deal about 2:3 anyway, 3:4 works well, so does 1:1

 

[De_Corday]

my personal wish list:
- *INEXPENSIVE* digital back adaptors for medium format cameras. (say, Bronica ETR?)
- simple, classy wooden grip for M-bodies

 

[BillBingham2]

I'd love a 6x4.5 P&S camera. Something that you could re-use the lens mount and lens from an old Crown Graphic. Have pre-set focus points and in a perfect world an instant film option would Rock. Maybe a more robust body replacement for a baby Crown, something with a great handle as part of the part of the body and no bellows.

I'm big into reuse of existing stuff.

B2 (;->

 

[mooge]

personal satisfaction! i have a design and manufacturing itch. it's really bad — i think i like cameras more than actual photos. it's not that photography isn't great, but you know what i mean.

and imagine a camera system designed from the ground up just for instant film. it would shoot polaroid as well as instax.

Then do what you want, not what other people want.




Photography is great, but bodgineering is great too, and I wanted an M mount Canon 7 so I made one.



just do uh, stuff. do what you want to. I guess. or whatever.

 

[retinax]

i want a handheld 6x4.5 RF camera fixed lens or otherwise in landscape format.

Me too!

And some more characters..

 

[aizan]

As a bulk loader, the biggest pain the you know what is trimming the leader. I always seem to cut through a sprocket hole or mess it up somehow. A simple curve scissor type instrument (or hole punch like press) would be awesome. If I could load film into a cassette, cut it from the roll, and then in one simple motion snip the leader accurately, it'd be great. I'd buy one. Can I pre-order one?

for the heavy duty trimmer, i was imagining something like a big fingernail clipper, or a film splicer:

and for the light duty version, something like the leica ablon or even as simple as the fuji film leader trimmer that john sypal has:

All the other projects you list look like they'll take a bit more time and or funding and mostly limit the market to a particular camera user.

yeah, i think i'll have to split up the ideas into short-term and long-term goals.

FWIW, I made a replacement focus tab for the 35 summilux pre-asph out of brass. In the past 4 months I've sold about 10 of them, and I make enough to buy a roll of film here and there. But for no advertising and a very small market, I think it is a lot.

that is really cool! you could be the aki-asahi of lens tabs.

 

[aizan]

I think a Hassy/Arca plate could be made very nicely and low profile. Looking forward to your results!

i thought about petitioning rrs or kirk to make one. even easier would be to get markins to do another run of their replacement bottom plate.

 

[aizan]

i want a handheld 6x4.5 RF camera fixed lens or otherwise in landscape format.

that would be an interesting design problem. what would it look like? to make the film run vertically, what if it was shaped like the zeiss ikon kolibri and fuji instax mini cameras?

 

[aizan]

Everyone now cobbles their own camera scanning system together. How about a complete, reasonably priced kit solution? The buyer supplies camera and lens, but the rest is supplied.

John

good point. there are only so many slide duplicators out there.