Photographer built a medium-format rangefinder

[sebastianlay]

The level of integration of little electronics (like the LiDAR and the OLED screen) into a print is amazing! I am thinking about an electronic light meter that is coupled to the shutter and saves the current reading to an SD card, so that you could later sync the EXIF data to the scans.

Shameless plug: I have made a website that lists a lot of 3D printable film cameras (including the links to the print files). Feel free to have a look if you are thinking about printing your own camera. Some are really cheap and easy to print.

https://printed.analogcamera.space

[ulnarkressty]

The biggest issue with these diy builds is that they need the mechanics to be inside the lens - which is not necessarily a bad thing, however it severely limits the lens choice for the system, and introduces additional cost (you basically need to buy a shutter with every lens). The scene has definitely improved over the years, there are a number of very interesting x-pan-like builds which have been made possible by advancements in 3d printing.

I'm looking forward to the day someone figures out how to modify a full frame shutter assembly (plenty and cheap on ebay) to work with medium format film.

[frompdx]

For what it's worth virtually every medium format rangefinder uses a leaf shutter integrated in the lens. Many are simply fixed lens cameras (Fujifilm). Even kits with interchangeable lenses like the Bronica RF645 and Mamiya 6/7 integrated leaf shutters in the lenses.

To get a sense for what is required to have a focal-plane shutter on a medium format camera look at the Pentax 67. It's huge and heavy. Even with the mirror locked up there is a significant amount of inertia from the shutter transferred to the user requiring the use of a tripod in many settings.

[buildbot]

A full frame focal plane shutter _cannot_ work for medium format sadly. It's be definition too small. I don't think you can use them partially in front of the focal plane, but I could be wrong.

Medium format focal plane shutters do exist, copal made them for Mamiya/Phase One for their AF, AFD, DF, DF+, and XF cameras. Some of which work for medium format film.

[ginko]

I think the most straightforward way to make a DIY focal plane shutter would be a cloth shutter actuated by electric motors. That'd get rid of most of the mechanical complexity and all the needed materials are readily available.

https://japanhobbytool.com/collections/camera-repair-materia...

[kjkjadksj]

You don’t go out and buy a shutter separate. You can just buy a TLR lens that has the leaf shutter already integrated.

[galago]

This is a viewfinder camera with scale focus. Rangefinders have a complex mechanism to measure distance which would be beyond the scope of this project. In early Leica cameras, the rangefinder and view finder were separate mechanisms on the same camera, and were combined in the Leica M series in the 1950s.

[galago]

Oops! Correction: It is a rangefinder but uses lidar to measure the distance rather than parallax.

[derwiki]

If you’re interested but don’t want to make your own, a Fuji GSW690 is a great entry point. I shoot slide film exclusively, and instead of prints, put the 6x9 in an acrylic frame on a sunny windowsill.

I’m also a sucker for 35mm in medium format so you can see photo content around the glorious sprocket holes.

[shagie]

> I’m also a sucker for 35mm in medium format so you can see photo content around the glorious sprocket holes.

Have you seen Ted Orland's holga photos? https://www.anseladams.com/products/tree-in-snowstorm-yosemi... and https://www.anseladams.com/products/dawn-at-mono-lake-in-win...

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I personally like 4x6 (a 5x7 is a bit more awkward and 8x10 is right out). One of my favorite things was when Polaroid peel apart film was available - I'd do a transfer to a watercolor post card in the field and put a stamp on it and send it. One of a kind photograph - while you could take another photograph there, you could never make the same print of it since it was a destructive process.

(Also neat being in the field and letting a young child do it from being under the hood to pulling out the film and transferring it to a post card or having the print as it is properly developed)

[gyomu]

> put the 6x9 in an acrylic frame on a sunny windowsill.

you likely know this already, but just in case - or for anyone reading this and getting ideas - fading over time due to sun exposure will be a real issue, so make sure to have scans of your favorite images…

[anta40]

Fuji GM670/GL690 are also nice if you prefer interchangebale lens GM670 in general is reasonably priced compared to Mamiya 7/GF670

[bichiliad]

I just bought my first medium format camera recently. I know others have mentioned Lomography's beautiful new 35mm point-and-shoot, and I so wish for a 6x7 rangefinder that's cheap and attainable, easy to calibrate and repair, and portable. This sort of project is exciting to me, but man would I kill for a fully-featured medium-format camera with good support. The Mamiya 6 and 7 are both such incredible cameras, but they're so coveted and so boutique to repair that investing in one feels like not worth the commitment.

For context, the camera I got is a Mamiya RZ67. It's obviously also not straightforward to repair, and it's a beast in size, but I love that it's a fraction of the cost, modular, and readily available.

[phony-account]

This is a great product, and without meaning to underestimate the value of a ‘makers’ project I really wish it could be manufactured at scale with a metal body and a mount that could take a wider range of lenses.

Anyone currently interested in this breadth of formats would need to spend maybe 20 thousand dollars to buy cameras like the Hasselblad Xpan, the Plaubel Makina 67, and one of the Fujica 690 bodies.

Putting all this into one body is almost miraculous.

Lomo have recently released a nicely featured 35mm film camera[1]. I wish something like the MRF2 could also be produced in this way.

[1] https://shop.lomography.com/us/lomo-mc-a-35-mm-film-camera-b...

[JKCalhoun]

I also am a huge supporter of DIY projects. Also a huge fan of medium-format, film photography.

To that end, if I can help others try medium format film, I want to add that there are plenty of inexpensive used medium-format cameras on eBay. I have purchased perhaps a dozen over the years—none of which even approached US $1000. In case you are not DIY inclined…

(Sadly, Japan has been the best place to order used camera gear but that has become cost prohibitive now for this American.)

Searching just now on eBay for "Yaschica TLR Mint" shows a number of cameras around $300 that are probably excellent (surprise, most are from Japan).

Can't afford a Hasselblad? Try "Bronica Mint" on eBay. Looks like $500 will get you in the game.

Mamiya cameras are built like tanks (and weigh as much). You could do a lot worse: "Mamiya Mint" is going to get you a few great models around $400 or so.

All of these were (are) considered damn fine film cameras.

(Mamiya tend to have interchangeable lenses, as does the Bronica. There are some Wide/Tele adapters for the Yashica, but generally you use them as-is. Most of these cameras are completely manual in operation—the more sought after Yashica though have some light-metering capabilities.)

(The Yashica and some of the Mamiya are TLR, twin-lens reflex—more or less equivalent to a rangefinder? The Bronica and some Mamiya you view through the lens 'TTL'.)

[lizknope]

> one of the Fujica 690 bodies

I see Fuji GW690 bodies with a 90mm lens on various sites like keh in the $1200 range.

I have a Hasselblad 500 series camera from the 1980's that my father bought at a pawn shop near a military base. In the early 2000's professionals were dumping tons of medium format gear as they switched to digital cameras so he got a wide and telephoto lens. The problem is I never use them. They are big, heavy, klunky, and slow to operate. I've never liked print film. I used to be able to get 2 hour development of E-6 slide film but now I have to mail it off and wait over a week so I don't bother. I look at digital backs but most of them are for studio setups.

[frompdx]

You absolutely do not need to pay $20k for a medium format rangefinder. You can buy a Plaubel Makina for $2k-$3k right now and that's one of the more expensive options.

[pastage]

Making China imports expensive and cumbersome makes these builds difficult in my opinion. It is most certainly not really $300 if you have good connections, second the admin and tolls can make you spend enormous amount of time and money.

    Electronics (MCU, sensors, displays, cables, LiPo, switches): ~$125 / ~£100
    PCB share (DIY assembly; amortized per build): ~$10 / ~£6 [full 5× PCB batch ~ $35 / £28]
    Hardware/fasteners/mech bits: ~$25 / ~£20
    Optics (lenses + beam splitter): ~$115 / ~£90
    Printed parts material: ~$25 / ~£20
    Rough per-build total: ~$300 / ~£235 (add shipping/taxes and any PCB batch overhead you keep)

[ginko]

That's still very cheap for an interchangeable lens MF rangefinder. A Mamiya 7 will cost you around $2000 just for the body.

There's the Mamiya Press which you can get for cheap but those are very large and heavy.

[jacquesm]

What a great job he did. It looks very professional, even though the numbers produced must be fairly low. I wonder how the shutter mechanism works, on most medium format cameras that's a work of art and a project in its own right.

[iNerdier]

It uses mamiya press lenses, the focusing helicoid and shutter are in the lens.

[moralestapia]

See "Camera Specifics" on [1], for a casual but accurate explanation.

Photography is an amazing hobby, highly recommend diving into it ^^!

1: https://photothinking.com/2021-07-03-mamiya-press-super-23-f...

[dllu]

Really awesome design! It would be wise to replace some of those 3D printed parts with CNC parts, especially for places where a lot of strength is required (eyelets for those Peak Design anchors) or precision is required (lens mount). I myself have 3D printed some parts for my line scan camera too, so I can totally understand.

[1] https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/2024-08-31-customizing-my-li...

[ginko]

Very very cool. I've been thinking about doing something like that before, but didn't really have the time or skills. Awesome someone went through with it.

[nashashmi]

On the topic of LiDAR, there is an interesting thing called UNITR. https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.07732#:~:text=In%20this%20paper%2...

[kaiuhl]

I don’t see it mentioned here yet in recommendations: Pentax 6x7 is an outstanding camera, especially paired with the 105mm f/2.4 lens. Some of my favorite photos ever have come from that pair.

[frompdx]

I'll offer a counterpoint. I have a 6x7 and it's heavy and cumbersome. I never use it.

[fudged71]

I've watched maybe 10 DIY projects of this nature with 3D printing and this is by far the best image quality for the small size of the body. Incredible work

[barrenko]

"When we must, we can."