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Convert your vintage photography lenses into DIY cine lenses with these 3D printed housings

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The popularity of classic photography lenses for video has seen a massive increase in the last few years. And it’s no surprise. Some of those old lenses have a fantastic look about them and produce footage that would be difficult or impossible to shoot with modern glass without a lot of post-processing effects to simulate it. And even then, it wouldn’t look 100% the same.

But vintage photography lenses aren’t exactly built for video use. They’re designed to be operated by hand, twisting the focus and aperture rings manually, not with a follow focus unit or a gimbal motor. But Fusion 360 wizard, Edward Park has created a bunch of 3D printable housings to convert them and made them freely available to download.

We 3D printed a giant lithophane photo of the Mandalorian

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It’s not really a secret that we’re big fans of 3D printing here at DIYP. Whether it’s printing out handy gear that we’ll use all the time, functional workhorse tools, or making the cameras themselves, 3D printing is just a lot of fun and it’s worked the way into the lives of the DIYP team in a big way. And speaking of big, big’s where we’re going this time.

We’ve covered how to 3D print lithophanes on here before. They’re a way of creating a form that produces an image when you shine light through the back of it. The thinner parts are brighter and the thicker parts are darker, producing the contrast you need to see the image. Well, when Tronxy reached out to see if we’d like to try their Tronxy XY-3 SE 3D printer, a giant lithophane was what we knew we had to do.

This guy designed and 3D printed a mount to use Canon EF lenses on his Gameboy Camera and the results are awesome

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Well, we’ve seen a few experiments with the Gameboy camera over the years, but this one is pretty wild. YouTuber, car nut and 3D printing fanatic Conorsev has developed and printed an adapter that lets him mount Canon EF mount lenses to his Nintendo Gameboy Camera and it produces images far greater than the Gameboy ever deserved. While it might be a pretty crazy idea, it makes for some particularly intriguing and very unique photographs.

Save some money by 3D printing your own camera gear

Individuals often find it annoying to pay for extra gear after already spending a huge amount on the camera itself. Thankfully, 3D printing can help those on a tight budget. Not only is it cost-saving, but can offer users huge flexibility in terms of design and uniqueness. To be candid, there is no limit to the possibilities, given the advances happening around additive manufacturing technology.

Whether you are an independent filmmaker or a professional, a 3D printer is there for your rescue. You can create accessories such as organizational tools, mounts, lens caps, shoulder rigs and whatnot. Most importantly, you do not have to look through tons of marketplaces to find the exact match for your needs. Just modify the existing design to create unique gears and accessories.

Breathing new life into an old vintage slide projector lens with 3D printing

Browsing through an antiques shop, I stumbled upon a Kodak slide projector with a very peculiar attachment: a large lens. This particular lens caught my eye as it was an absolute behemoth. It was heavy and had “ISCO GERMANY” engraved into it.

After seeing the price of only $10, I had no choice but to bring it home with me. My intentions were realized but not well thought out; remove the lens and convert it to fit on my DSLR. After poking and prodding the projector, I assumed the lens was removable and went at it with a screwdriver. Thankfully this assumption was right, and it was removed easily.

How to make a simple 3D-printed grid snoot for your strobe

A grid snoot is a great light shaper for photographers who want to throw a little light into a tight spot or highlight a select part of a scene, or cast a beam across a surface.

It is a favourite of DIYers and can be hacked together using card, tape and a bundle of drinking straws. In the past I have made snoots using off-cuts of Nomex.

Protect your lenses with your own custom 3D printed rugged lens caps

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There are a lot of 3D printed accessories out there for photography and filmmaking. One of the more popular items that people print are lens caps. There are quite a lot of different lens cap designs out there, but most of them have one big problem. They’re entirely 3D printed, including any spring mechanism to lock them onto your lens.

Depending on the material you print with, such as ABS, PETG or perhaps Nylon, this might never be a problem. But if you print with the usual PLA, this can become very weak over time as it’s used. YouTube channel DSLR CNC DIY has a solution, though, with a rugged lens cap design that uses a binder clip arm as a spring for maximum longevity.

These 3D printed variable extension tubes let you shoot macro with EF lenses on Sony E cameras

Macro is always a popular photography subject. Even if it’s not something you shoot all the time, it’s something that pretty much all of us will have a go at given the chance. But macro lenses are expensive, so it’s not something that a lot of people will try, even if they want to. There are less expensive options out there, though, especially if you own a 3D printer.

We’ve featured photographer Nick Sherlock and his 3D printed extension tubes and macro accessories before, but this pair of extension tubes is particularly interesting. They’re variable extension tubes with ranges of 0-35mm and 50-150mm, designed to let you adjust their length to whatever you need using Canon EF mount lenses on Sony E mount bodies.

Check out this 3D Printed seamless background stand for photographing small products

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Shooting small products can be a lot of fun. It can also be quite challenging, too. In the case of Clayton Parker of 3D printing YouTube channel Uncle Jessy, he wanted to photograph the models he’d been creating on his resin printers. He essentially wanted to build a studio for them, in miniature. He decided to go for what is essentially a seamless backdrop.

It is exactly the sort of thing you see in human-sized studios for shooting portraits. Only smaller. Clayton tried some not-so-great solutions in the past and just learned to deal with them before finally stumbling across this locking Photographic Sweet Stand by HPaul over on Thingiverse. And, well, judging by the video, it seems to do the job pretty well.

How I made a 3D-printed wigglegram lens from three disposable cameras

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I gotta admit that half of the reason I bought a film camera was to post cool-looking pictures on Instagram, so when I saw these things called “wigglegrams” on IG I immediately wanted to make my own. I found out that they are typically made with a Nishika camera which has 4 lenses to capture 4 separate images, which can be animated into a 3D-looking video.

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