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This compact mini matte box is 3D printable at home and holds 4×5.65″ cinema filters

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There are so many mini matte boxes out there on the market these days that it can be difficult to decide which to get. I mean SmallRig alone makes five different models now. But if you own a 3D printer and have some filament lying around doing nothing, then you can have a go at making this one.

It’s made by Edward Park at Mountain Breeze Studio, the same guy that does those cool retro lens cinema housings. This isn’t the first matte box Edward’s made, but it’s a complete redesign over his original and looks super slick. It also holds both 4×4″ (100x100mm) and 4×5.65″ (100x150mm) square filters – which is more than can be said for some commercial options.

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The Pikon is a 3D printed interchangeable lens Raspberry Pi camera with a mirrorless camera form factor

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You know, it’s funny. I just want from saying how there are hardly any Pi 3 portable cameras out there that make use of the Pi High Quality Camera to offer interchangeable lenses and then a bunch pop up all at the same time. This one comes from Kevin McAleer, and it’s a bit like the Paparazzo, except in a much more convenient and useful form factor while still sporting a large touchscreen interface.

As it’s using the Pi HQ Camera module, it has a C-mount on the front to provide interchangeable lens options. You can even get C-mount adapters to let you use Nikon, Canon, M42 and other lenses on there, so you’re not just limited to C-mount lenses. It’s powered by a NanoWave 5000mAh USB battery pack and while the software still needs a little work, the hardware all comes together pretty well.

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The “Pi Cam” is a 12-megapixel, 3D printed, Raspberry Pi-powered camera you can control from anywhere

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I knew we’d see a smaller interchangeable lens Raspberry Pi-powered camera than the Paparazzo at some point. This one’s a little different, though. Instead of walking around and shooting pictures like a regular camera, this one requires a little external tech to access it. But you can access it from anywhere in the world, whether it be right next to you on your desk or literally on the opposite side of the planet – as long as it’s connected to the Internet.

Designed by Mukesh Sankhlaa, the Pi Cam is a “Remote Raspberry Pi Desktop/Camera/Server”. It’s sort of like an IP camera, except it runs Linux and opens up the door for all kinds of potential uses from simple remote access to automated features like timelapse. And all of the STL files and code are available for you to download. The build requires a handful of off-the-shelf components as well as some 3D-printed parts. But once you’ve got all the parts printed and gathered, assembly is pretty quick.

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This 3D printed 163mm f/2.5 lens with built-in aperture and focus adjustments can be made for less than $15

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When it comes to 3D printed lenses, they usually suffer from some limitations that manufactured lenses do not. Two of those limitations specifically are the lack of a variable aperture that can be stopped down and focus adjustment. Some 3D printed lenses get around the focus issue by using a commercially available helicoid lens adapter. And to solve the aperture problem, they may have swappable inserts.

Well, this 163mm f/2.5 3D printed telephoto lens from Felix Steel at Pixels and Prisms features both a fully adjustable 12-blade diaphragm aperture (a first for full-frame 3D printed lenses) as well as a manual focusing mechanism that can lock in the fully extended or fully retracted positions. Aside from the glass, it’s 100% 3D printed and can be built for less than $15. It’s also open source.

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This $30 DIY Shure SM7B alternative sounds almost as good as the real thing

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So, that title deserves some qualifiers. It doesn’t sound as good as the Shure SM7B, but almost as good? Yeah, sure, it’s pretty good, especially considering what it costs – and assuming you already own a 3D printer. It’s not a totally DIY project from scratch, more a modification of an existing microphone to put it into a new housing. A bit like modifying old film photography lenses with a new housing to turn them into cinema lenses – they’re not really cinema lenses, but they’re close.

The Shure SM7B is a staple amongst podcasters, vloggers and live streamers but at around $400, it’s not exactly an inexpensive microphone. In this video, Caleb Pike shows us how we can take an inexpensive $20 Behringer microphone and a couple of bits and turn it into something that gives a very similar sound to the vastly more expensive microphone.

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This 3D printed DIY teleprompter has a built-in screen and can be used anywhere

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Anybody who’s ever had to sit (or stand) and do a spoken piece to camera will know the struggle of trying to learn and memorise a script. Even if we think we’ve got it nailed down pretty well, we’ll often find ourselves doing two or three (or twelve) takes for some lines that just don’t seem to come out right, especially if they’re pretty long ones. This is where teleprompters step in and this one’s pretty awesome.

Designed by Modern Hobbyist (MH), this is the second iteration of his teleprompter design and features a built-in Raspberry Pi 3B+ and 3.5″ touchscreen so you don’t need to mess around trying to slot your phone into it each time you need it and thanks to running a Linux web server you get external button control thanks to an Arduino Pro Micro pretending to be a standard USB keyboard.

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Spice up your bathroom with this 3D printed Polaroid toilet roll holder

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The Polaroid camera remains a popular favourite since analogue photography started making its big comeback a few years ago. And what better way to pay homage to the format than to have one right next to you while seated on your throne? Oh yes, that’s right, this is a 3D printed Polaroid toilet roll holder, sure to add a bit of instant spark to any photographer’s bathroom.

It was designed by the user Christoferespinozat on Cults3D, where it’s available to download. It will cost you $2.12 (plus the cost of the filament) but that’s a pretty low price to pay to have this beauty in your bathroom.

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Shooting macro with a $20 microscope lens and a DIY 3D printed adapter

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Shooting macro is one of the most interesting photography topics one can attempt. Aside from seeing a whole new tiny perspective on the world, there are so many different ways you can do it. You can buy an actual macro lens, or you can use a regular lens with extension tubes or reversing rings. You can even mount two lenses back to back. Or, you can do what Micael Widell did and use a 3D printed adapter with a microscope objective.

The adapter comes courtesy of macro photographer and 3D printing enthusiast Nicholas Sherlock, who has posted the file to Thingiverse. The adapter is available in full-frame and APS-C versions for Nikon, Canon, Sony and even M42 (which can be adapted to pretty much everything). And the microscope lens used is a cheap 4x achromatic objective for just $19.99. We’ve actually featured it here on DIYP before.

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This DIY 3D printed adapter lets you use your speedlight softboxes on Bowens mount strobes and LEDs

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For a lot of photographers, when we started dabbling with flash, we used speedlights. And even if we didn’t, we might have bought a small strobe like the Godox AD200 and one of those 60cm square softbox kits with the S1 or S2 bracket. But as we upgrade to larger Bowens mount strobes or LED lights, those softboxes kind of just sit there on the shelf doing nothing.

Well, Farrukh Pitafi has solved that issue by designing a 3D printable adapter that mounts into your light’s Bowens mount socket and provides the ring around the outside to let you use those speedlight softboxes. And he’s made the files available to download so you can make your own.

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Fixing the Olympus OM-D E-M1 with 3D printing

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3D printing has evolved a lot over the last decade or so. We’ve gone from super basic and pretty brutal looking printers that you had to feed nylon weed whacker string into (because nobody was producing filament) to the pretty accurate and reliable printers we have available to us today. With that improved accuracy, better quality filaments and better software, we’re able to print some pretty cool things now.

Like, in the case of Witono at Witonosfreestyle, spare parts to repair his Olympus OM-D E-M1 Micro Four Thirds mirrorless camera. Electronically, his Olympus OM-D E-M1 worked just fine, but there were a few parts missing, like the accessory port cover, the eyepiece and somewhat importantly, the battery cover lever. He wasn’t happy about these missing parts, so, he designed and 3D printed his own.

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