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Personalise your camera with spray paint and sandpaper

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A few years ago, I remember there was a craze of people buying brand-new guitars and immediately attacking them with sandpaper to make them look “vintage”. If this video from Caleb at DSLR Video Shooter has any say, it looks like that trend is coming to cameras, too. And not only is he making his camera gear look old and worn with sandpaper, but he’s also attacking cameras with spray paint.

You might be seeing Ryan Reynolds in your head right now, asking, “But why?” I was also thinking that while watching this video. But customising your kit isn’t a new idea. Even completely painting your camera isn’t a new idea, either. Although, Caleb does it much better than Kai did back in 2010. Caleb didn’t even have to take his camera apart to do it, either.

This weird camera uses AI to recreate the scene before it

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This is one of the oddest and most curious cameras I’ve ever seen. It has a lens and a sensor and can actually record the real scene in front of you, but it doesn’t do that. Instead, it detects what’s in your scene using AI and turns it into a text description. This text description is then fed into an image-generating AI whereby it makes an image based on that description. And that’s the “photo” you end up with.

As I said, it’s a curious camera and a very interesting concept. The camera itself is very unassuming. Essentially it’s a twin-lens camera, much like a twin-lens reflex (without the reflex bit), in a big black box. It has a waist-level viewfinder on top and the actual camera lens below, along with a big red shutter button on the front. Shortly after you hit that button, it spits out an Instax print of the AI-generated scene.

Level up your photography and video with these three $10 DIY camera rigs

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Getting your camera low or in a small space unlocks new shooting opportunities, but it can be challenging. Jay P. Morgan has some great DIY camera rigs that will raise your photo and video game to a new level.

In this video, Jay P. shows you how to build these three simple and cheap rigs from scratch. You don’t need fancy tools, lots of bits and pieces, or too much time. Plus, you only need around $10 to make each of them, if not less – since you may already have some of these items at home.

Build your own DIY Loupedeck for Lightroom

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There have been a number of DIY console projects and custom keyboards out there for people to build already, but I quite liked the look of this one. It comes from photographer and high school STEM teacher, Adam Iannazzone, to make his life easier when using Lightroom. It’s a simple design based on an Arduino, and it’s one of the few I’ve seen that actually contains dials as well as buttons!

It’s called the Lightroom Macropad, and it does what many such DIY projects do. It uses the Arduino to simulate being a keyboard. When you press a button or spin a dial n the device, it sends one or several – if you programme your own macros into the code – keystrokes to make your computer perform whatever action you’ve set that button to. And you can configure it to do pretty much whatever you want.

The “Paperoid” is a DIY instant camera uses an e-paper display instead of film

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Polaroid cameras and photographs played a significant role in the development of photography. When they were first released, they were an instant hit because of the “instant” nature of the cameras themselves. You’d point it at your subject, and within minutes you’d have your fully finished print right there in your hands. It’s that same instant gratification that’s driven digital photography, too. But it’s not quite the same.

This is a pretty neat project by “Cameron” that kind of combines the two, allowing you to create a sort of temporary Polaroid of your scene. It uses an e-paper display – which retains its image when power is removed – to show your photograph. This display can be taken off the camera and attached to your fridge or wherever you want to display it without requiring a power source. Then when you want to shoot another picture, you just put it back on the camera.

How I created the ultimate camera mount for my DIY live streams

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As a model maker, I’ve recently started live-streaming my work to connect with my audience and share my creative process. However, capturing the right angle can be challenging, especially when using a full-fledged DSLR with a tele macro lens. There’s not a lot of room on a craft bench for a camera. Also, positions with a clear line of sight to the actual work are tricky to find.

In this post, I’ll describe how I made a low-profile stand for my camera. A stand that holds my camera stable and fits the standard module size of a HobbyZone craft workstation. If you are familiar with the Platypod system, this is somewhat of a similar concept.

Use these four tricks for cinematic dolly shots on the cheap

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Dolly shots are among the basics when it comes to cinematic camera movement. But if you’re just starting out, buying a proper camera dolly could be a bit of an overkill. So, why not turn to cheap, even free options, at least for a start? Caleb of Wondershare Filmora has a few ideas how to do it and still get those sweet, cinematic shots in your video.

The goal is not only to have your camera slide in different directions but also to minimize camera shake while doing so. Caleb proposes a few options that could do the trick, and you already have at least one of them at home.

Watch these 7 filmmaking hacks to get pro results for as little money as possible

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Who doesn’t love saving money? We sure do, and these seven filmmaking hacks from the team at Cinecom.net are going to help you do exactly that. In this video, we see a bunch of great filmmaking hacks to help you get consistent and reliable results while also saving you some money.

Sure, you might eventually want to replace some of these hacks with the proper gear, but when you’re just starting out, you don’t really want to invest a lot of money. You still want to get the best possible results that you can, though. So, why not give a few of these a try?

I got sick of carrying flash around, so I built them into a backpack

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The Rig, later named “The Revenant” is an idea that I had at Fanimecon 2019, where I was tired of carrying around a flashgun to get nice lighting. Instead, I wondered if through my backpack I used to carry my equipment around in, could I just use that and hold it static? So I ended up attaching two of my speedlights and small softboxes to the already set tripods and went that Friday to try it out. It worked remarkably well, so it stuck. The idea is not original to me, as I saw someone at Dragon Con years ago doing something similar (without softboxes).

How to replace light seals in old film cameras for less than $5 with stuff you can find at Walmart

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With the rise in popularity of film over the last few years, it’s no surprise that a lot of old (really old) cameras are making their way back into the used market. Some of these cameras can be 50+ years old and they’re wonderful cameras to go out and run some film through. The problem, though, is that when they get that old (and sometimes not even that old) the seals that prevent light from leaking into your camera can disintegrate and need replacing.

You can, of course, get your old camera cleaned and sealed at a local camera shop (assuming there’s one still left near you that knows what they’re doing) but you can also do it yourself. In this video, Jonathan Paragas of KingJvpes walks us through swapping out the light seals in one of his old Nikomat FTn cameras using nothing but stuff he found in the local craft aisle at his local Walmart.

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