YouTuber designs and 3D prints a 35mm analog video camera

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: YouTuber Yuta Ikeya can now add "analog film camera designer and manufacturer" to his growing resume. Inspired by an interest in analog cinematography, Ikeya set out to design and build a camera to test his hand at movie making without having to spend a lot of money on expensive gear and film.

The industrial design student created a few prototypes to trial different film transfer methods, ultimately settling on a synchronized gear and cam mechanism driven by a single DC motor.

The motor is controlled by an Arduino, and the optical components are off-the-shelf parts, but almost everything else was designed and crafted by Ikeya using a 3D printer.

As Ikeya explains, incoming light from the lens is split by a half mirror before reaching the shutter. This allows the user to see the image in real time through the viewfinder, but unfortunately also decreases the amount of light that reaches the film. Cranking the ISO a bit can compensate, however.

The end result is reminiscent of shoulder-mounted, 80s-era VHS camcorders. As for the footage it spits out, it has a distinct lo-fi aesthetic and issues like light bleeding and gate weave don't help matters. Still, it's very neat and we look forward to seeing what improvements Ikeya can implement in future revisions.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/94099-youtuber-designs-3d-prints-35mm-analog-video-camera.html

 

[Avro Arrow]

That's pretty amazing. Now all he has to do is 3-D print the now massively-expensive film that it uses.

 

[merikafyeah]

Ah yes, the days when "cutting and editing" a video literally required scissors and tape.

 

[Freddie159]

That's pretty amazing. Now all he has to do is 3-D print the now massively-expensive film that it uses.

If he can make that thing smaller and use SDcards instead of film that thing could be a real thing in the poorer Countries that don't have access to phones etc. He could even make it work in very cold temps like the top of mountains or even an underwater version as well. Not the 200megapixel resolution of course but enough for tourists etc.

 

[Avro Arrow]

If he can make that thing smaller and use SDcards instead of film that thing could be a real thing in the poorer Countries that don't have access to phones etc. He could even make it work in very cold temps like the top of mountains or even an underwater version as well. Not the 200megapixel resolution of course but enough for tourists etc.

"YouTuber Yuta Ikeya can now add 'ANALOG film camera designer and manufacturer' to his growing resume."
In that passage lies what makes your (very good) idea impossible.