It was a long time ago. Someone gave me an old heavy metal lens. it had a leather bag and a lot of dust. I put it in the closet. Sometimes I'll bump into it, considering if I should throw it away (yes, i know, it's awful). One day while watching another YouTube about vintage lenses, I suddenly remembered the old lens in my closet. Maybe it's something interesting? I thought to myself. Let's see what it is. So, I googled the letters and numbers written on the lens, and surprise, it indeed looked like a lens heaving the potential to be interesting. It was an old MIR soviet lens, designed for medium format film cameras (Big and heavy…). I really wanted to try it, but the lens didn’t fit any of my cameras. (yes, I own more than one). I searched for an adapter, and found one on a 3 D printing site. Getting there, I looked around and found pretty amazing stuff, using 3D printing, that can help and enrich the photography experience. Let me show you what you can do.
But first things first. Let's begin with some words about 3D printing.
3D printing is evolving very fast. Basically, it’s a printer that prints 3 dimensional objects. It uses different materials, and can print many things-from every day useful items, to biomedical products and even houses. The quality of the printer defines the product quality. For everyday uses, the main material to use for 3d printers are plastic material, ABS and PLL. The PLL is the environment friendly stuff. And it also comes in many cool colors.
But what's in it for me? You probably ask. I don’t own a 3Dprinter and it probably costs a little fortune.
Well, it doesn't, but you don’t have to own such a printer. There are many places where you can print your designs, at local shops, or send it online and get it shipped to your home. And the good part-it should be for very low cost. There are also educational institutes which have 3 D printers, like schools, and maybe you know someone who has access to it. And even better-you can find tons of designs, models, online, for free!
And what about photography? 3d printing enables you to replace missing parts at low cost or/and original designs and colors, have things you can't find like special adaptors, and play with cool stuff. here, see what I found.
Some of the rich 3d printing sites, where you can search for models:
http://www.thingiverse.com/categories
http://www.yeggi.com/
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/index.html
3D print shops- https://www.3dhubs.com/, https://blog.tinkercad.com/ and there are many more. you can also check maybe your community center or nearest collage or school has one
Bokeh kit-A round cover with a shaped hole which you put on top of your lens and get great bokeh, stars, or harts, or airplanes or what you want it to be.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Bokeh-Kit/
there are many more kits.
-Dual Lens Cap Holder for 58mm and 77mm.you can find them in all sots of sizes.
Here is another one, for a 58mm Lens cap holder for the fuji XT-1 or Fuji XT-2 strap.
-Lens Adapters -you can find a good variety here. A model for Sony NEX/E mount to Minolta MD mount adapter is here
M42 adapter-for many very nice vintage lenses. I own one like this, the Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50mm 1.8, which I purchased or under 60$ but had to wait 3 weeks for an adaptor to arrive. It gives you a beautiful bokeh:
m42-to-eos-mount. m42-to-MFT, Canon FD lens to EOS M Body - industar 22 - M42 to M39 + macro (click to open the link).
- Rear Lens Cap - Canon EF Mount-you can find them for other lensses/cameras too.
Oh, forgot to mention, there are many gadgets for Go Pro.
If you love to experiment and play, and explore different and really cool effects , with very little expense, here comes the good stuff:
tilt and shift adaptor for regular lenses. -Tilt-Shift Micro Four Thirds Lens Adapter -this one is for Olympus and panasonic MFT.
-A lens reversing ring for the XF 35mm 1.4 , anables you to do macro photography.
MFT-DIY Micro 4/3 Lens v1.1 single lens design-You can print lenses too! Well, the lens itself is a magnifying glass, which cost 5$ at B&H, it was modified to create a camera lens. It gives interesting playful effect on tour camera. Those things are not meant for classic nature photography or wedding photography, but for some artistic playful experiments. I just love those blue and purple lenses on the boring camera body!
Why not print a cmera?
If you have some knowledge in design software, you can of course modify some designs and adapt to your specific lenses and cameras.
this is what I printed for now, a lens cap holder for my Fuji lenses, 58mm
at first I thougt this green is terrible, but it looks good with my vintage neckstrap, doesn't it?
thats it, for now.
Hope you found this article interesting.
I'll love to hear your comments !
see ya
Liat