The beginning of a journey…
I bought my first Polaroid, an SX-70 Land Camera, a few years ago.
I love retro shooting, and at first, I loved my "new" camera.
However, I was not pleased with some aspects. Film was expensive, really expensive, and you need to throw away many, many packs of film before getting some decent shots.
I wanted something instant, but with cheaper film and better results.
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| One of the photos taken with the Mark I |
So I started to think, what about building a completely new type of camera?
I first built a very simple camera that shoots on photographic paper, with a tray for the paper, and the shutter was nothing more than removing and putting back a cap on the lens. I experimented a lot with this very basic setup, and then moved the next stage.
I decided what I wanted to have: a servo shutter, lux metering, AF with sonar (like the old polaroid did), tripod mount, a touch control with lcd to see the camera settings, multi- and self- shoot, a microcontroller with upgradable firmware, multiple sheet tray, tripod mount, integrated red led safe lights for darkroom operations...
I also wanted a modular design, where parts like paper tray, lens mount, developing stage could be added or removed without a single screw; for the prototype uses a magnetic closure system. A felt panel between the magnets provided enough light shielding.
Another feature I added is a transparent frame that hold s the photo paper, it can have engraved patterns, a or just a square as in the current prototype, and when shooting, the shadows it projects will give a nice frame to the shoot. Interchangeable frames allow you to change the frame that will appear on the photo every time you want to.
Then I spent 2-3 months searching for the components, that I wanted to be commercially available, then started to draw all the parts on CAD.
I then started to draw all the parts on Inkscape for laser cutting, ordered the parts that had to be custom 3d printed, and assembled my first prototype.
It worked well; actually, it really works well, so well i started to think about sharing my project with everyone interested. And here we are...
What will happen next
The next stage, if this project will get some support, is to produce a full kit ready to be assembled with all the parts.
The Mark II camera will have many features that I am testing right now, including
- ability to shoot also on 35mm, 6x6 film or paper, just changing the media tray inside the camera;
- color shooting on BW paper. They told you it won't work. just have a look at my first test shot, and fall in love with these super retro colors...
- metal casted parts and black leather for the body, with a Roolleiflex - like look.
- Flash Leds
- Mirror lcd display, visible when on, it disappears when off.
- Last thing I will add is the possibility to have the date and settings appearing on the "label" part of the photo, with a low power lcd projecting the info on the paper during exposure.
- and most important, the integrated paper development in the camera. It will be a really instant camera, using ordinary materials like photo sensible paper and developing solution.
The final goal
Right now the camera output is a negative image, you will need to scan and invert with Photoshop, or the provided software. The Mark II will output a positive image.
The final goal is to build a complete modular instant camera, powered by Arduino, that uses just ordinary photo paper and developing solution. It will have many interchangeable parts that will allow you to personalize your camera to your needs, including the ability to shoot on film too.
