This guy made a wrist cam from a broken 35mm film camera

Iranian photographer Alireza Rostami has a limited budget, but unlimited imagination. We’ve featured some of his awesome DIY projects, and he just shared another one with us. He gave a new life to a broken 35mm camera and turned it into a wrist cam. It doesn’t only take photos, but it looks pretty good, too!

Alireza is the proof that ideas can come from everywhere when you’re creative. He tells DIYP that he was researching Jewish prayers, and tefillin sparked the inspiration for his new DIY project. The wristband he made is similar to tefillin, but its purpose is much different – it was made to hold a small camera.

Alireza disassembled a broken HIMPEX AF-21D camera for his project. The film travels between two leather straps from one film container to the other, and the shutter from the old camera is put to work. Basically, Alireza made some kind of a rudimentary Apple Watch. He tested it with two 35mm film: Ilford FP4 Plus 125, and Fortepan asa 100 expired in 1980.

The little metalhead in me also loves the design of the wristband. In fact, I even wear similar ones today, although mine don’t come with a camera. “This is just a prototype,” Alireza tells DIYP. “I hope the big camera companies will see my invention and offer me to make more of it.”

Unfortunately, Alireza doesn’t have big budget for his DIY projects of fancy gear. But I love the ideas he comes up with and how he makes them a reality. “I always recycle,” the photographer tells us. “I try to turn waste into an art tool.” He points out that we should repurpose, reause and recycle, and teach our children to produce less waste. “Earth and nature are in danger of extinction. We must be careful and take care of nature,” Alireza warns. I couldn’t agree more. Other than saving money by repurposing old and broken stuff, we also reduce the waste we make, so it’s a win for both us and the planet we live on.

“If you do not have the money to buy an Apple Watch, do not worry,” Alireza jokingly concludes. “You can make a camera for yourself like me. And shoot with it!” Although it’s not exactly an Apple watch, I’d actually rather wear something like this. Maybe add a few metal studs, too.

“Maybe some young people and teenagers will be encouraged to see this invention and they will also seek to invent and explore science,” Alireza hopes. And I sure hope that we can all be inspired by creative people like this and come up with similar ideas for repurposing old and broken items. It’s useful, fun, and it gives you a quite unique piece of gear.

Take a look at some more photos below, and make sure to check out Alireza’s work on Instagram.