How To Have A Medium Format Camera Without Breaking The Bank

For most people, experimentation with film photography comes in the form of the 35 mm format. Its ubiquity in snapshot photography means cameras are readily available at all levels, and the film offers a decent compromise between resolution and number of shots per dollar spent.

For those who wish to take their film photography further there’s the so-called medium format 120 roll film, but here opting for a higher-end camera can become expensive. Fortunately [Javier Doroteo] is here with a 3D printed medium format camera designed to use lenses intended for the Mamiya Press cameras, and from where we’re sitting it looks very nicely designed indeed.

All the files can be found on Printables along with a list of the other parts required. It’s made simple by the Mamiya lenses incorporating the shutter, but there’s still a lot of attention that has been paid to the back of the camera. This is the third version of the design and it shows, details such as the film holder and light proofing are well thought out.

Photography is so often a world in which collecting the latest kit is seen as more important than the photographs themselves, so we like and encourage camera hackers as a reaction to all that. If you’d like to see another medium format camera, this certainly isn’t the first we’ve brought you.

2 thoughts on “How To Have A Medium Format Camera Without Breaking The Bank

  1. This is much more compelling than the other 3D printed medium-format cameras I’ve seen over the years.

    Most of the others require you to supply the lens, lens mount, and camera back from an actual camera. For those unfamiliar with the design of medium-format cameras, this is just about every interesting part of the camera. “Using nothing but some 3D printed parts, some machine screws, and a medium-format camera, our clever hero builds a medium-format camera!”

Leave a Reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.