E20 The Hammer

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 making mini bellows focusing mechanisms (58:00) as a method of saving weight through the elimination of the helical.

The Cameradactyl OG is discussed in length again (1:00:00). Please excuse the rustling in the background as both of the hosts have their cameras in-hand during this time. Graham harkens back to the Starship Enterprise for inspiration for a light-shading device for viewing the ground glass even though Nick doesn’t want to think about it.

Just like a cuckoo bird laying an egg in another bird’s nest, Nick and Graham discuss an interview conducted on the Classic Lenses Podcast (https://classiclensespodcast.podbean.com/) with Raffaello Pondri of the PONF camera (ponfcamera.com) project (1:24:30). The PONF camera is a design that features swappable film and digital backs on a 35mm camera. It is well worth a direct listen instead of relying on the shaky memories of Nick and Graham. The manufacturing process would use a metal 3D printing system like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igq8gQuXfR4.

One of the most interesting of the concepts that came up in the discussion of the PONF camera is the use of an LCD shutter (1:42:15). They are plentiful and cheap but that doesn’t mean they are right for film photography.

They move on to what they’ve been working on lately (1:51:00), including the adapting of lenses, more about lumen boxes and issues with Graham’s 3D printer. Graham incorrectly identifies the supplier of lenses as Surplus Shack while it is Surplus Shed (surplussed.com).

Shout out to Matt Melcher of the Box of Cameras podcast and poster on Flickr (mattmelcher) and Instagram (@mattmelcher and @box_of_cameras).

Graham has some cameras for sale on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/FrozenPhotonCameraCo) and thinks everyone should own one of them.

E19 Aesthetics

E19 Show Notes

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 (https://www.google.com/search?q=haptics&oq=haptics&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.1485j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8). 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).

Graham quizzes Nick about leather, vegan leather and hotboxing (1:06:45). Nick talks about wood and wood veneer.

There’s a bit of a lesson about Darwin and evolution in the middle of the discussion of cameras (1:23:45). Seriously, it makes total sense if you listen to it. It shouldn’t, but it does.

How does a pink BB gun work into our conversation? It’s at the core (1:29:30).

Color Photography a Working Manual by Henry Horenstein is the Book of the Ep (https://www.amazon.com/Color-Photography-Working-Henry-Horenstein/dp/0316373168).

After about a dozen episodes of forgetting, Graham finally remembered that the person who was wrapping pinhole cameras in Fabric was Martin Scarland (@mscarland on Instagram). Of course, he didn’t remember while recording the show.

Matt Loves Cameras, a podcast from Sunny Brisbane, Australia, is mentioned a couple of times. To find a link to that and other podcasts, go to http://www.filmpodcastnetwork.com and click on the listings.