Student and enthusiastic photographer Kevin Kadooka has been interested in DIY cameras, generally comprising of parts of other cameras. However for his latest effort, Kevin has completely scratch-built a medium format camera based around Arduino-compatible electronics, parts available from retail and some home-made ones as well. Kevin's goal is:
... to design and produce a fully-fledged camera, using easily purchased off-the-shelf components, without having to rely on anything pulled from a potentially valuable piece of equipment. A secondary goal is also to make this camera completely open source through rapid-prototyping techniques such as laser cutting and 3D printing, and the Arduino physical computing platform.
His "Open Camera" uses 120 Roll film, with a 65mm f/5.6 Single Element lens - and frankly is a work of art in itself:
Furthermore Kevin has supplied all the design files, electronic details and the required code so you can recreate your own. For all the information, check out Kevin's fascinating website. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
Need a tiny Arduino-compatible for more compact projects? Then check out outLeoStick. It's the Arduino Leonardo-compatible board that's cheaper and smaller than the original:
Apart from being one of the smallest Arduino-compatibles on the market with USB, it also has an onboard RGB LED and piezo which can be used a knock sensor and various tune and sound effects. Plus you can add extra circuitry with the matching protostick! For more information and to order, click here.
