frankencam research log

heres a few shots of turning the broken eos 10d into the next generation of functional prototype.

at this stage in the day the camera was still in bits for repair so i just taped the various panels on. i ended up cover tonnes of the camera in tape. i used it to smooth out features and generally mask any details. i knew the texture of the crumpled tape would show through the vac formed plastic but i though this would lend a nice "proptotypey" feel to the finished camera.

here you can see the tape over all the buttons and hotshoe.

the vac former. there is a short video at the end of this post of it in action.

the two shells and the camera. the shells are rough because i just trimmed them enough to get them off the camera. i then fitted them using a sharp knife (pictured ) and a bobbin sander.

after the workshop and the vac forming i felt quite good about this prototype so i stopped off in town on the way home and forked out the cash for a replacement cf reader unit. took about ten mins to install it and rebuild the camera.  i had taped each screw to a sheet of paper in the right formation and labeled them so it was pretty hassle free. unbelievably it came on first time. i left my cf card in the studio so i havent taken any photos but the shutter is firing and it seems to be working.

here is the camera in its ps housing. i think it came out quite well. all of the details have disappeared. its just a whit blob in a vaguely camera shape. i cut holes for what i have decided are the essential features. hopefully i got them right. just need to find someone to use the camera and see how it goes.