3D printing technology has made rapid production towards the “domestication” of home 3D printing. Personal 3D printing started with printing parts for printers, phone cases, jewelry, and figurines.

To date, Marius Leo was not satisfied with the state of 3D printed cameras. This is why he set out to build an entire home printable camera: The OpenReflex, the first open source 3D printed camera. Leo, a graduate student from France, interested in design modeling and 3D printing has created a fully functional SLR camera you can print only by spending $30 in materials.

The camera has all the body molded from 3D printed parts. The designer shows the step by step guide as how to set up the equipment. The site also offers files for printing each of the parts needed in the process.

Marius Leo (aka Bozardeux) describes the OpenReflex as an Open-Source analog camera with a mirror Viewfinder and an awesome finger activated mechanic shutter (running ~ 1/60°s). What’s more, it’s compatible with any photographic lens with custom mount ring.

All the pieces easily printable on a recent RepRap-like ABS 3D-printer without using support material! Everything should print in less than 15h and anyone should be able to assemble it within 1h. All parts are separate (Film receiver, Shutter and Viewfinder) to simplify builds and modifications.

The printed pattern camera is compatible with all types of lenses and has a magazine well protected from light for placing the rolls of 35 mm film. The OpenReflex will not replace the experience of shooting with a conventional camera, and photos with this model have different look and feel compared to the old SLR captures images. However, the model can be refined as other professionals, designers and photographers to modify the original design of OpenReflex.

How it Works

You need Vinyl cutter or Laser cutter, a glass cutter as well as screwdrivers, glasspaper, Sugru, screw and bolts to make the camera ready for 3D printing. All parts can be printed on a desktop 3D printer and then be snapped together.

Once you have everything, each of the parts is printed to create the three disassembled final pieces. You will need to put together the film receiver, shutter and viewfinder in the order provided in Instructables.

The next step is to set about light-proofing everything using Sugru. All screw holes, nooks and crannies will need to be filled in just to make sure block out all light. The final step is to snap the three final pieces together into a lightproof whole. Then start taking photos by loading the film in it. If you followed step by step of Leo’s entire step, the final shots should look amazing.

Leo is working on improving the viewfinder design to incorporate a true lens mount. He is also working to add the “PhotoBomb special Back” that add some specials guests on your films; “Arduino test bench shutter” that allow to measure your shutter speed and the “AP-Lens special mount” for a full DIY camera. He further encourages everyone to copy and improve his design.

Leo’s work in progress can be seen on Leo’s website and instructions are freely shared on Instructables. OpenReflex is fully Open Source, under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license (CC-by-SA).

Explosion in 3D Printing

An explosion in the applications of 3D printing technology has spawned alarming developments about its use. Microsoft is coming up with full support for 3D printers in the next Windows 8.1 update. The company will support plug-n-play support for printers enabling apps to seamlessly submit 3D print jobs, understanding 3D file formats, and connecting lots of apps with lots of hardware to deliver an end-to-end solution for customers.

Pirate3d, a Singapore-based startup, announced its flagship product–The Buccaneer, a 3D printer that can be used by masses. The Buccaneer can be used to print any appliance. Stratasys Ltd., the leader in 3D printing, and MakerBot, the leader in desktop 3D printing, recently signed a deal to extend Stratasys’ product offering to include a full range of 3D printing capabilities.