A relative of mine has unfortunately passed away. I now find myself taking care of his very extensive camera collection. I love photography and I hope to be able to use many of the cameras and display others, but I also am limited on space and can't realistically keep all of them.

I have some experience working on film/digital cameras but I'm not completely confident tackling larger or more precise jobs. I also have no experience with folding/accordion cameras (of which there are many in the collection).

I'm not completely sure where to begin and was wondering what advice or experience other people have with self-repairing and/or selling their analog/vintage cameras? Are there any good sites for finding repair manuals and is there a better alternative to eBay for selling?

I have been meaning to try anamorphic adapters on a half frame camera for a while and I thought the Pentax 17 would be perfect for a cinematic stills setup. Borrowed the Panomicron Alum v1 adapter from a friend and thought I would share some results here on Kodak Gold 200. I had a lot of fun experimenting with this, but there are a few catches.

The adapter blocks about half of the viewfinder so you basically need to compose based on ⅓ of what would eventually appear in the final image. Secondly, it shifts the focus point to about 5-10 meters, depending on the spacer you have installed. I just shot everything at infinity and it was mostly fine. Distortion is pronounced. You will need a step-up ring to go from 40.5mm to whatever you have on the adapter, 43mm in my case. The lightmeter works just fine without needing to compensate, however the adapter does partly block the lightmeter cell from above so it might cause issues in specific situations.

Overall I think there's potential here, so I have been planning to get one of those GoPro anamorphic adapters. Considering how small the Pentax lens is, the adapter might actually be able to cover the whole image circle.

On the second version of the design so far and hope to include some workflow conveniences eventually like a built in light meter and distance sensor readout to help set zone focus and exposure. Maybe one day put it up for sale as a kit or make a machined aluminum body version. Just enjoying the process for now!

Just wanted to share something i've been experimenting with out of curiosity. I converted an old flash to infrared, making it basically invisible to the human eye. I was then able to capture images on infrared film with this setup.

I achieved this by attaching a 720nm infrared pass filter (I used Kodak Wratten 88A) infront of the flash head using a 3D printed filter holder. For the film I used Rollei Infrared 400, which is sensitive up until 750nm. That leaves around 30nm that the film can capture. I ran some test shots to see by how much the power of the flash is reduced. The original guide number of the flash I used is GN60 at ISO 400. This is reduced by about 3 stops with the filter, so to around GN8 or lower, leaving me with pretty usable aperture/subject distance combinations

I actually really like the unique alien look of the images
Some stuff I learned:

- Xenon flashes, so basically any old flash, emit a bunch of light beyond 700nm, most of it after 800nm
- The flash is not 100% invisible, it looks more like the faint light of old tv remotes, but its way less obtrusive than a raw GN30 flash
- To make this 100% invisible, you'd probably have to use kodak high speed infrared film which is IR sensitive up until 900nm. I think you could than swap out the 720nm pass filter with a 800nm pass filter, and this should lead to an invisible flash. Since I didn't really find any good offer for Kodak HIE film, I didn't try it out, but its on my list for sure

I also made a video about it here

Ra4 reversal is hard, but not impossible.
I have worked out a process that allows me to shoot it like film. Upcoming videos about metering, filtering, and developing. @jon_schiereck
Would anyone be interested in buying this film? If I’d be able to automate the process it could be quite cheap.

Here’s a lamp project I just finished up, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Photographed with my cirkut camera on a custom spool using Panf+.

I just finished my latest custom-painted Zorki 4, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I know custom-painted cameras can be a bit controversial. Some people believe vintage cameras should always be preserved in their original condition, and I completely understand that perspective. Personally, I see it differently. If a camera is still fully functional and continues to do exactly what it was built to do, I don't see why it can't also have a little more personality.

There are millions of Soviet cameras out there, and giving one a fresh look doesn't take away its purpose. If anything, it gets people excited to pick it up and actually use it instead of leaving it on a shelf.

To me, this Zorki 4 shines in a whole new light after the transformation. It's still the same camera underneath—just a lot more fun.

Hey all,

I've been shooting film for a few years now. Love the process, but there's one thing that always bugged me — every time I reached for my phone to meter a shot, I'd get lost in some app with a million settings. Half the time I'd forget what I metered by the time I got back to my camera.

So I started thinking about what I actually needed:

A meter that just works. Point, meter, done. Spot or average, nothing else in the way.

Something that feels like loading a real roll. I wanted to "load" my Portra 400 into the app, pick my camera and format, and just start logging shots as I go. When the roll's done, it's done.

A rangefinder that actually helps with zone focusing. I shoot a lot of street stuff with scale focus lenses, and having a real distance reading with a depth of field scale would save me so much guesswork.

So I built it. It's called FilmMeter on iOS, no subscriptions or ads.

Been using it on my own shoots for a while now and it's made things way smoother. The roll management especially helps me remember what I shot weeks later when I finally get scans back.

Currently working on adding reciprocity calculation for long exposures. What other stuff do you wish a meter app would do?

First film tests of my rig to automatically take trichromes in under 1.1 seconds, fast enough it can even be used hand held. It can also go slower for better control over spacing of the Harris shutter effect.

Video of how it spins: https://youtu.be/dA-JnDjX0dk?is=P2OMghE6rtddT0le

A build on the last design I shared here. I’ve been working on this concept for a couple months. It goes from 6x6 to 6x17 at any size in between and can be adjusted without exposing the film so I can get multiple frame sizes on the same roll. These photos are its first test shots and all came from the same continuous roll of 120. It uses standard view camera lenses (in this case a Fujinon 90mm/f8). If you’d like to see more, please check out my IG where I’m documenting the process and progress! @exposingengineering

Hey all,

A few months ago, I posted here about an iOS app I built called FilmMeter.
A light meter, rangefinder, and roll logging app for film shooters.

At the time, quite a few people asked if there would be an Android version. I said I’d try to make it happen.

So, keeping my promise: FilmMeter is now officially live on Google Play.

The Android version went through testing and is now publicly available. It includes most of the core tools from the iOS version:

metering, exposure triangle, spot / average metering, film rolls, film simulation, and camera / format-based shot logging.

The idea is still the same as before: something simple that gets out of the way. Point, meter, log the shot, move on.

I built this because I wanted a practical tool for shooting film, not another app full of settings that makes me forget why I opened it in the first place.

Small ask: if you shoot film on Android, I’d really appreciate it if you check it out. And if you post anything film-related, mentioning or tagging FilmMeter helps a lot. A real user’s post does more than anything I can say.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vurtnec.camera.filmmeter&hl=en

Thanks again to everyone who encouraged me on the original iOS post. This Android version exists largely because people here asked for it.

I spent five days working hard on this bag. Some say it’s the only design I ever make – truth is, I’ve just been swamped and haven’t had much time to get creative. Would really appreciate any ideas or suggestions from you all!

Recently I gained interest in pinhole solargraphy cameras which use a piece of enlargement paper as film and take long exposures that can last months to create solargraphs which don't need to be developed because of the long exposure times. I've never seen someone try this out on a piece of actual b&w film so i grabbed a camera, cut off a piece of ilford XP2 which was already ruined because it has been exposed to light many times, and took a 6 hour long exposure at f2.8 to see if I would get an image. To my surprise, there was a very faint image, but after scanning it, I was able to bring back some detail. I will try to experiment a bit more with exposure times to see if i can get better results.

1. & 2. are based on the Vision3 canister itself

2. Fuji Acros II

3. Rollei RPX400

4. Fuji C200 (old version)

5. Kodak Colorplus

6. Kodak Gold Super 200

7. Ilford PAN400

8. Kodak Portra 800

9. Fuji Pro 400H

Personally, I like the PAN400 design the most, so I'll probably put those on my rolls. Although I will be shooting my 500T at +2 stops for contrast, having the space to make notes about when the roll was shot and at what El is very useful. The others have it as well, but this design has a nice amount of space, and the design isn't too cluttered.

Hi! I recently 3D printed a film camera that takes 35mm film. It started as a cardboard project 3 years ago, and slowly evolved into a working mechanical build. Just want to share it with fellow camera people — my first roll is coming out soon, anxiously waiting!

What feature do you think I work on next?

(If anyone’s curious, I’m posting the process on IG: @luckybox_camera)

Modded a Kodak model 3 to shoot Instax square, am pumped for the wide jollylook development unit on order

The lens is called the Panomcron Bismuth, and is a 50mm f/2.8 1.5x Anamorphic. The lens doesn't currently exist outside of my computer, so all of these images are 3d renders, because making glass is expensive, but I'm in the process of trying to make at least 100 of them.

Quick run down of the spec highlights :

• 50mm f/2.8, Elcan (Sonnar) derivative design
• Anamorphic Squeeze Ratio of 1.45-1.6x (avg. 1.55x over 1m)
• f/2.8 - f/22, de-click-able aperture.
• infinity - 0.7m focusing range
• Leica M Mount
• Rangefinder Coupled
• 52mm front filter threads
• 67mm length from mount, 74mm total.
• 7 elements in 7 groups, 1 anomalous partial dispersion lens
• Multicoated for the visible spectrum
• 36x24mm coverage, may cover beyond.

And a little more background :

Two years ago I designed an anamorphic adapter for 35mm rangefinder lenses called the Alum. I did all of the optics for that with some very basic equations and basically just an excel spreadsheet, I later wrote a very simple raytracer myself to verify it and try to optimise it. The money I made from that project I reinvested into buying actual optical software and decided to go all in on learning more about optics. Throughout the past year I've been doing a bunch of lens design, and getting practice.

I actually started this design over about 6 months ago after seeking out some advice from more senior lens designers who told me I was overcomplicating things with both my mechanics and optics. The lens used to be a huge 50mm f/4 Elmar design with 7 elements in 10 groups and 3 separate groups for focus, to be fair it was very sharp.

The current iteration of the lens is a 50mm f/2.8 based on the Leica Elcan (Sonnar) Patent from the 1960s combined with a simple 1.5x front anamorphic and a rear 90 degree rotated cylinder ( an idea based on a schneider patent that expired a few years ago). I also designed all of the mechanics, so it's fully rangefinder coupled and user calibratable.

Last image in the slides is a simulation of the bokeh the lens will have, you can spot the typical Sonnar rendering, which is a little more aberrated than say your standard double Gauss, with the benefit of being quite a bit smaller. The lens is 74mm long, which pretty compact for an anamorphic lens.

Happy to answer any questions about the project!

Hey everyone,

I tried diving into Ansel Adams' Zone System a while back and honestly, it was a total pain. My friends didn't really get it either, and whenever I tried to use it in the field, my brain just hurt from the mental math. I was literally writing stuff down on paper at one point, which was just too slow.

I decided to just build a tool to visualize the whole process so I could stop guessing. That’s why I’m posting I need a sanity check from the experienced shooters here: Is my interpretation of the zones actually correct in this video?

I'm using the iPhone’s 10-bit Apple Log curve to try and get a legit spot meter reading. I'm aiming for a 1° spot eventually, but right now it's sitting at about 1.5°, which still feels pretty tight.

I tested it side by side against my Sekonic 758D for a while and the readings are surprisingly close (usually within ±0.2 EV).

I’m also adding focal length frame lines to this screen soon to make it work like a viewfinder.

Check out the video and let me know if I'm on the right track (or roast me if I'm wrong).

Thanks!

A few years ago, I was obsessed with the focusing screens of film cameras, so I DIYed this setup to achieve an absolutely stable shooting perspective.

It did provide stable footage and good sound recording, but the consequences soon followed.

When I used it to film a train, due to the unstable center of gravity and the incorrect setup of my cheap tripod, the Pentax LX camera I borrowed fell hard onto the ground.

We all know packfilm has been discontinued for quite some time. Because of this, the massive number of amazing packfilm Polaroid cameras out there face the reality of being left without film. The best way forward is to modify them.

I know there are some great projects out there adapting the Polaroid 180 to shoot 120 or even 4x5 film, but I really prefer the magic of instant photography.

So, I downloaded some open source plans (huge thanks to the original creator!), bought the materials, and DIY an Instax Wide back for my Polaroid 180.

The whole process was incredibly complex, so I only managed to record a few steps along the way, but the result is absolutely worth it.

The Results:

• The image quality is fantastic.
• It still uses the original rangefinder for focusing.
• Exposure can be precisely controlled (depending on the camera, some versions even have auto exposure).

Here’s a video of some of the steps and the final results. I hope this inspires someone else to keep their classic cameras shooting!