Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Shooting the interior of a brick-built scene can be very challenging for a LEGO photographer because most models restrict camera angles and limit lighting opportunities.
When I shoot official LEGO sets, I have to really work around what the designer of the set has created, with displayability and playability as their priorities. It’s a lot easier to shoot a MOC (My Own Creation) because I have designed it with different priorities: camera angles and lighting.
There isn’t much of a shortage of LEGO cameras. We’ve covered a bunch on here before that either look like real cameras, such as Nikon, Olympus, Leica, Hasselblad and Polaroid and we’ve covered a few functional LEGO cameras, too, although most of those require some… non-standard (LEGO standard) components. This one, though, looks just like a real camera and works just like a real camera, too.
The LEGO ZH1 is a fully functional pinhole camera by Zung92 made entirely of LEGO. It features an actual shutter button, film advance, film take-up reel, a wind lever with a wind release, customisable lenses and you can even switch it up between half and full-frame mode.
We’ve seen our fair share of LEGO gear, both working and just for playing and decoration. But if you’re into instant cameras, you’ll absolutely love this one!
LEGO enthusiast Minibrick has built a super-realistic Polaroid OneStep SX-70 out of everyone’s favorite bricks. He paid so much attention to detail that the camera even has a viewfinder and a functional film tray.
We’ve seen a few LEGO Leica cameras so far, whether just ideas or actual kits. But have you ever seen a review of one? Well, Wizard of Bricks filmed it. He did it as if he was reviewing a real camera, and it’s absolutely hilarious.
Other than real cameras, many photographers also like camera-shaped kick-knacks. And if you’re keeping your inner child alive and well, I’m sure you also love LEGO. In that case, you’re going to love this Leica IIIf set that contains not only the camera, but also a, box, a lens, a finder, and lens and body caps. What’s more, you can help it to get to the shelves! [Read More…]
We’ve seen all sorts of interesting Lego cameras: from miniature replicas to working DIY cameras. And if you’re a fan of vintage gear – you’re going to love this one! The 1914 Ur-Leica, or the “original Leica,” could soon become a Lego kit. But, it needs your help to get from an idea to reality.
There’s an unlimited number of things you can make from Lego. So far, we’ve seen working cameras, lenses, and camera sliders, and you can even build a microscope. That’s exactly what a group of researchers in Germany did. They turned an iPhone 5 camera module and some Lego bricks into an affordable microscope and ended up with some impressive results.
If you’ve ever helplessly looked at a pile of random Lego bricks and thought “what on Earth do I make from this,” your problem has been solved. Brickit has made a really cool AI-powered app that helps you make something out of that messy pile of Legos. All you need to do is point the camera at the bricks. The app will scan them and give you suggestions of what you can make.
There are a lot of options out there for scanning film these days, but there’s just something about building a device yourself. This one from Benjamin Bezine does so using Lego and a Raspberry Pi. What makes this solution a little special, though, is that it uses machine learning and vision AI in order to determine the edges of frames, so you don’t need to sit and operate it manually or worry about the number of turns changing as roll thickens and thins out or counting sprockets.
It’s called RoboScan, and Benjamin’s been working on it for a while now (it’s his “lockdown project”) but he’s not finished yet! It’s an open-source project and he’s been uploading the code to GitHub. Only 80 images were used to “train” the Raspberry Pi so that it knows what to look for, but it seems that it’s very effective with just that limited set.
If you’re just starting out with photography, the concept of depth of field is one of the first ones to learn. And in this video, you’ll see it explained in the comprehensive, but also the most fun possible way – with Lego figures. Four Bricks Tall helps you grasp the concept of depth of field in only three minutes so you can improve your storytelling in toy photography or any other genre.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!