Homemade Camera Podcast

Graham has a hammer and everything is looking like a nail and he tells us why (14:00). Nick tries to talk him down from his issue with materials by suggesting a variety of solutions for different usages. Sometimes it’s better to think of a design as a series of elements that gets built up into a whole instead of a single element that is constructed for the single purpose (25:45). Ethan Moses has come out with a new 4X5 hand camera, the Cameradactyl OG (cameradactyl.com) and Graham and Nick each have one from the first batch and they talk about its structure and materials (28:15) as well as how to extend its usefulness and functionality. Graham comes up with the absolute worst idea for making an optical lens (31:15) while Nick talks about more difficult methods that might actually work.  One of the battles we have to fight as designers of cameras is keeping the film flat against the film gate. To help with that, Graham proposes reducing the area of the image size (49:00). Nick brings up the concept of mak

Nick and Graham tackle aesthetics in this episode, including a discussion at the start about the reactions of the subjects when using non-standard camera designs for portraiture. They discuss Steampunk design styles, retro, futuristic, craftsman and others along the way. Graham mentions 3hands_studio (https://www.instagram.com/3hands_studio/), the Instagram feed of a Korean watchmaker, camera maker and tool maker (28:00). Nick hurts Graham’s brain stem by introducing the concept of “haptics” whereby an electronic device creates a vibration or motion based on user interaction. A bit like Sensurround for your pocket (42:45). We get a lesson on the meaning of Mary Shelly’s classic book Frankenstein (53:45) and how it is a metaphor for the great potential for good and evil of technology. What that means for Graham’s Frankencameras and whether they will eat his young is not concluded, sadly. The discussion shifts to methods of creating different aesthetics with homemade cameras and modified cameras (1:01:45).

The show starts off by explaining why downloading the Homemade Camera Podcast will help your love life (9:15) but then move almost directly into 3D Printing and the technologies available to the camera builder. The Korean watchmaker 3 Hands Studio (https://www.instagram.com/3hands_studio/) is mentioned (42:00) and while it is not mentioned on the podcast, his exposed clockwork cameras are very worthy of appreciation (https://www.instagram.com/p/BqeKNXdBvMT/). Ethan talks about his new camera design that is a follow up to the Cameradactyl that was so hugely popular on Kickstarter (45:45). They next discuss metal cutting methods in the goal of developing a 6X12 roll film back for a 4X5 camera (1:04:40) and why laser or water jet cutting might be too expensive for a small batch camera.  In the process, Nick tells us about a Flatter or Top Tool and why you need a big hammer in the tool bag if you want to make a camera. Nick asks Ethan about where the Butter camera that goes with the Buttergrips is (1:19:00) a