[HN Gopher] A database of analog cameras that can be 3D printed
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A database of analog cameras that can be 3D printed
Author : thomasjb
Score : 155 points
Date : 2026-04-03 09:02 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (printed.analogcamera.space)
(TXT) w3m dump (printed.analogcamera.space)
| CarVac wrote:
| I have an abomination that I printed years ago that adapts an
| Instax SQ1 to Hasselblad lenses (and has an RB67 focusing screen
| on a viewfinder next to the Instax for composing and focusing).
|
| It's sooooo impractical but the results are so fun.
|
| The process is to compose, focus, put ND filter on, swap from
| finder to film body, half-fire the shutter, pull out the dark
| slide, fully fire the shutter, push in the dark slide, eject the
| film, rewind the shutter, and go back to the finder.
| hilsdev wrote:
| I've been wanting to build one of these for awhile. Did you
| follow a plan/blog or design your own? I already have donor
| instax and Polaroid bodies not sure what to put it as a back on
| zimpenfish wrote:
| Watching Kyle McDougall[0] take his medium format photos is a
| soothing experience (but I know full well I would not have the
| patience for medium format.)
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/@KyleMcDougall/videos
| skyberrys wrote:
| I had no ideas this was a thing and now I can almost endlessly
| scroll through possibilities. Another reason for a 3d printer.
| zx8080 wrote:
| Film cameras should require metal parts and high precision
| shutter mechanism. How about those? I doubt it can be printed.
| hilsdev wrote:
| Pinhole cameras can be nothing but a soda can and a hole in it.
| Large format and some medium format folding camera shutter lens
| units just need a round hole to slip into and all the controls
| are external and built in
| razorbeamz wrote:
| Ever heard of a Holga? The only metal parts in one of those are
| a single spring and some clips to hold it together.
| kennywinker wrote:
| > should require
|
| Thats just like, your opinion, man.
| armadsen wrote:
| Many of the film cameras that people 3D print essentially
| outsource that stuff to off-the-shelf focusing helicoids which
| are readily available, along with medium or large format lenses
| which are traditionally mounted in a leaf shutter anyway. So
| the hard parts (lens, aperture, focusing mechanism, shutter)
| are not part of the 3D print itself. You're right that 3D
| printing a serious shutter mechanism for anything other than a
| pinhole camera isn't really feasible (yet?). It's the light
| tight box and the film transport that are completely reasonable
| to print.
| prmoustache wrote:
| Only if you want a fairly compact camera supporting various
| shutter speed including some very fast ones, high speed films
| and lenses, and the kind of subjects that you want to take
| picture of. Once you are going much slower things can be less
| precise.
|
| You can make a camera out of a cardboard box really. That won't
| do for a wildlife or olympic games professional photographer
| obviously.
| dgxyz wrote:
| Ignoring the other comments, if you want to make a film camera
| that isn't a pain in the ass, yes. Otherwise you can get away
| with quite a bit.
|
| You're not going to get 1/1000+ shutters and all that though.
| alistairSH wrote:
| RTFA. It clearly shows typical camera lenses in use on most of
| the cameras. The lens from a large format "press camera" (1) is
| often used because they'er available for reasonable money and
| usually have full manual controls, including the shutter
| release.
|
| 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_camera
| GJim wrote:
| "analog" cameras?
|
| One brings to mind the common misconception of the young that all
| physical media (including dad's CDs) is analogue, and that
| 'digital' refers only to 'computer' data.
| nom wrote:
| Yes, these are all analog cameras, are they not?
| afandian wrote:
| I learned the word 'analogue' as meaning something like
| 'there is a change in the medium in proportion to the signal
| being recorded'. And digital as 'the signal being recorded is
| transformed into a numerical value which is stored on the
| medium'. The consequence being that changes to the medium in
| the analogue domain (tape wear, attenuation etc) directly
| affects the signal, whereas in the digital domain the signal
| can potentially be re-created with no loss of fidelity.
|
| I think chemical film process fits with that description.
| jagged-chisel wrote:
| What's at the focal point? Film? Analog camera. CCD? Digital
| camera.
| GJim wrote:
| No. They are film cameras.
| afandian wrote:
| I don't know if "the youth" are doing this, but if they are,
| the generation before probably bears a lot of the blame!
|
| Digital Tax! Digital camera! Digital marketing! Digital
| distribution! Digital radio! Digital TV! Digital download!
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/Digital
|
| All of these had previously had a digital component to them. It
| was just the proximal user-facing part being digitised (or the
| introduction of a computer) that gave the marketing department
| license to use the word 'digital'. Maybe it was over-cooked a
| bit.
| gonzalohm wrote:
| Analog in the sense that they are mechanical objects. I have
| never heard of analog CDs. Analog would be vinyl
| jagged-chisel wrote:
| What about a reflex camera with a CCD? It's mechanical in
| that it moves the mirror out of the way to expose the digital
| censor. I'd call that a digital camera because the output is
| digital.
|
| ETA: AAMOF, we called them Digital Cameras when they first
| arrived.
| gonzalohm wrote:
| The sensor is not mechanical. That's why it is digital
| GJim wrote:
| Your comment has just proven my point!
| gonzalohm wrote:
| But what's analog then? I don't think it's a misconception.
| If it's not digital (and film photography isn't) then it's
| analog.
|
| CDs are digital because data is encoded as bits (square
| wave) that are read digitally. 0 and 1
| hilsdev wrote:
| No, analog in that they shoot in film, an analog chemical
| reaction - not digital
| alistairSH wrote:
| Have any of you printed/used an Infidex or other 35mm panoramic
| camera? How was final assembly? Were you able to lock in the
| focus mechanism correctly? I shoot a fair bit of 35mm and a few
| rolls of 120 every year, but so far, it's all on vintage mid-
| range cameras (Super Ikonta IV, assorted 1960s-70s fixed lens
| rangefinders).
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(page generated 2026-04-08 23:02 UTC)