Bits and Pieces

The purchase of a 65mm Schneider Super Angulon prompted Steve Smith, who has access to a CNC drill/router used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, to build a do-it-yourself 6x12 cm panorama camera.

 

Damián Ortega's "Olympus, 2009," an artwork which consists of every piece of an old Olympus camera suspended in a real-life exploded view, prompts a short meditation by Sebastian Smee on boston.com.

And finally, TOP reader Clay Harmon got a new Nikon D7000—one of the first—but didn't find the bits and pieces in the box that he expected to find. (What's the book he tosses out at the beginning? Wasn't there supposed to be a new edition of that?)

(If you can't see the video here, here's the direct link.)

Mike
(Thanks to Philip Jelatis, Steve, and Clay)

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Paul W. Luscher: "Re Damien Ortega's piece: Atrocity! Butchery! Murder! Dissecting an Olympus OM like that (and a perfectly good one too, I'll bet). Isn't there a Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Cameras?"

Mike replies: Don't worry—the artist makes a big deal about including every single piece in his creations. To me, that says a good tech could always put the camera back together again. I'm just sayin'.

Comments

[Karl]

Yeah, I'd throw that book out too. What do these manufacturers think, they can pad the contents to make it seem like you're getting more value for your dollar? Us consumers are getting much too smart for that kind of foolery. Not sure about the second book, looks like it could be a keeper.

True story though - The Best Buy here was running a special trade-and-save where you would get $50.- off selected cameras by trading in ANY camera. Without a second of doubt, my Lomo Diana clone sacrificed itself for that $50.- Nice to see they put it back into circulation ;)

[Bernard Scharp]

On the subject of home-made cameras: How about a homemade SLR and homemade rangefinder (latter only in french, but the pictures say enough).

[Paul]

"Every part of this obsolescent 35mm Olympus camera has been pulled apart"
Obsolescent!!! It´s pretty obvious Sebastian Smee isn´t a TOP reader.
Paul

[Steve Smith]

Just when I was about to put the first film through the 6x12 camera, one of its shutter blades fell out. So I need to get the shutter repaired before I go any further.

Although I could set it to B and use a lenscap in low light for its first test.

[charlie]

Is it really DIY of it uses a CNC machine? ;-)

[Clyde]

This begs the question, *which* OM and Zuiko did he desecrate???!

[Daniel Fealko]

"What's the book he tosses out at the beginning?"

Not to worry, it looked like packing material. ;-)

This video is just too funny.

Film is still alive and well. I just took first place in a photo contest with my little $50 Mamiya NC1000s mentioned in my Daddy's Got a Brand New Toy article. Not my main camera, but a fun one, nonetheless.

[Mikko Kalavainen]

Holy Smokes, that book he threw away is worth it's weight in gold, it seems. Almost. Up to 129 pounds on amazon.co.uk...

[Ott Luuk]

For a really beautiful design around a similar 65/8 lens, see this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joseph-jb7/3813939499/
Totally awesome. I need to try and make one.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Incidentally, I love those precise wooden finger joints. I'm a lousy woodworker, and very much a power-tools woodworker, and my skills just don't go to that degree of precision. People used to cut that kind of thing by hand and make it come out nearly that good (at least looking that good), but it took quite a lot of practice to learn to do it.

I love the rather absurd idea of CNC machining wood.

[Gordon Lewis]

Jeez Mike, you gotta give us fair warning before you post videos like this. Thanks to you and Clay I now have to wipe copious amounts of coffee spray off my monitor. Plus, when my wife asked why I was laughing so hard I tried to explain, but all I got for the effort was one of her "You're-such-a-strange-little-man" expressions. Sigh. Maybe I do need to get a life...

[Player]

What a let down! I was looking forward to ogling a D7000. Damn you ;-).

[David W. Scott]

Best. Unboxing. Ever.

[Mike Johnston]

"Holy Smokes, that book he threw away is worth it's weight in gold, it seems. Almost. Up to 129 pounds on amazon.co.uk..."

Well, fer Pete's sakes, you can still buy it new for $25.96:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-empirical-photographer/142459

I'm not saying it's worth that. But still.

Mike

[Mike Johnston]

"What a let down! I was looking forward to ogling a D7000"

Well, look on the bright side. You just watched a video shot with one.

Mike

[charlie]

Ha Ha I only looked at the video because of the comments. Glad I did!

[Player]

"Well, look on the bright side. You just watched a video shot with one."

Yeah, but I hate video in cameras haha.

[James]

I love the 6x12 format. MF 612 cameras were (probably still are) ridiculously expensive, at least in the UK, so I never bought one. I don't have anything like the woodwork skills shown here to make one, but the article did get me remembering that at a basic level, a camera is simply a light-tight box, a lens held at an appropriate distance, and a shutter and film. Well done Steve Smith!

There are some mahogany pinhole 120-format cameras available in the UK for about £100, complete with a simple film winding mechanism. Add lens..... Thinks.... It's got to be cheaper than a Horseman or Linhof....

[Chuck Albertson]

Let me guess---yer man won the D7000 in an auction on EBay.

[Dennis Ng]

That video shoot by D7k seems okish. Anyone know how it compares with Canon 5D Mark II?

[Robert L.]

As i'm reading this while unclamping the first parts of my DIY 8x10, I'm impressed by that rollfilm back. I'm also discovering that after a few hours of this there's a sudden desire for someone else to DI, cause Y is tired....nice work Steve!

[James McDermott]

I hope that the Japanese lady or gentleman who painstakingly assembled that Olympus OM1 over a quarter of a century ago doesn't see this display. But if she/he does, I hope the sense of the futility of one's existence doesn't press too heavily.

I don't know much about art, but I know what I don't like.

[Mike O'Donoghue]

Loved the "artspeak" regarding the Oly deconstruction. All that BS in such a short article....impressive.

[Steve Smith]

I'm a lousy woodworker, and very much a power-tools woodworker

I am also a guitar player and I like having all of my fingers so I try not to use hand held power tools wherever possible. I would much prefer to use hand powered hand tools.

I love the rather absurd idea of CNC machining wood.

It actually does it rather well. It's not a big CNC mill as used for metal work but it is a fairly small machine originally used for drilling and routing printerd circuit boards. As a guide to scale, the standard cutter is 2.4mm diameter. We don't make PCBs any more but this machine gets a lot of use making laminating, assembly and test jigs.... and cameras!

[RobG]

Daniel Fealko - I love my NC1000s, all of them. (How many? Umm.. next question please). Small, light, excellent glass. I do get some funny looks though, as I have the straps from my D200s on the users - it makes people wonder, I guess.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

The only guy I know who actually lost a bit of finger to a power tool, it wasn't hand-held (it was a table saw). He was a guitarist, and had the doctors put the tip back on at the correct angle so he could still stop a string with it.

I don't have the skills to do much with hand-powered hand tools. Can't saw a straight line (or circle) that well, not any good with a plane for any sort of precision work (that Stanley rasp thing with a plane body is more my speed). I could drill by hand -- but better with power.

[Mike Johnston]

"(that Stanley rasp thing with a plane body is more my speed)."

David,
I *love* those. Extraordinarily useful tools.

"I could drill by hand -- but better with power."

I *finally* bought a high-quality cordless drill last year--a top-model DeWalt--and it is one of the best purchases I've ever made. I have to kick myself for getting by with el-cheapo power drills all these years. It even came with two batteries, so now I never wait for it to charge. It is one extravagance that's really worth every penny of what it costs.

Mike

[Mark Sperry]

What was that second book? I can't read the title haha...

[Steve Smith]

MF 612 cameras were (probably still are) ridiculously expensive, at least in the UK, so I never bought one. I don't have anything like the woodwork skills shown here to make one, but the article did get me remembering that at a basic level, a camera is simply a light-tight box, a lens held at an appropriate distance, and a shutter and film.

A cheap way to get something similar is to get a Holga 6x12 pinhole camera and replace the pinhole with a real lens. With a 65mm lens like I am using, the focusing mechanism is a luxury item. Setting the lens at hyperfocal distance for f16 will give all the depth of field it needs and this was my plan until I started playing with broken lenses and adapted the Olympus helical.