Maker Léo Marius was not satisfied with the state of 3D printed cameras. Sure, we’ve see a few pinholes printed here and there, but never a full operational camera.
This is why he set out to build an entire home printable camera – The OpenReflex (kinda like Defense Distributed home-printable gun, only way more legal).
Here is the project description (I am really liking this guy now)
The OpenReflex is an Open-Source analog camera with a mirror Viewfinder and an awesome finger activated mechanic shutter (running ~ 1/60°s). What’s more, it’s compatible with any photographic lens.
All the pieces easily printable on an recent RepRap-like ABS 3D-printer without using support material ! Everything should print in less than 15h and anyone should be able to assemble it within 1h.
All parts are separate ( Film receiver, Shutter and Viewfinder ) to simplify builds and modifications.
The source files are available under the CreativeCommon By-Sa license, fell free to modify them if you want a new feature, and don’t forget to share your improvements on the web 😉
The camera is every bit of an SLR as you’d imagine featuring everything you need, including a mirrored viewfinder. Operation is still a bit cumbersome, but this will probably improve now that the camera is in the wild. Currently it works with a hand activated sliding window.
It can be printed in any reprap-like ABS 3D printer a some flatboard and some sugru. Here is the sum of parts you end up with:
And here are some of the steps in the way to completing the project:
The camera actually performs quite well, here are a few sample pictures:
[3D Printed Camera : OpenReflex | via Léo Marius]
