wee bit of research. people have drawn on any features they want. all but one put the shutter release on the right.  and a lot of people included a viewfinder.

quick mdf mould. im having a go at some pewter casting with a view to producing a metal camera chassis. i found a method called slush casting. the molten metal is poured into a mould and then poured straight out.  the metal touching the mould cools first and leaves a  wall thickness.

some pewter ready for melting. it has a much nicer feel to it than i had expected. i think if i ever get it into the shape of a camera it will be quite nice.

as you can see that didnt really work. the mdf insulated to molten pewter and it all set together.  i think the mould needs to conduct the heat from the edge of the molten metal quite quickly so that the centre is still liquid enough to pour out.

so here is a metal mould. i know it no longer resembles any sort of camera but  i dont have much pewter. this conducts the heat so well that i didnt get a chance to pour it before it set solid.

this one worked quite well. it needs to be emptied less then a second after pouring the molten pewter in.

found this camera by chance. i cant believe it exists.  i have spent ages looking for  a camera with a fixed focus lens and a manual mode.  the fixed lens is needed so it can be removed without the camera noticing. the manual mode stop the camera compensating for aperture adjustments made on the new lens.

check it out. got my paws on a super eight. unfortunately the lens is not removable and i dont want to wreck it.

some plaster moulds. i want to try slush casting the pewter in these and hope it wont insulate as much as the mdf. 

so i tried to plaster mould and it did not work at all it insulates much more then the wood. so i need to find a material i can make moulds from which will conduct heat like the metal tube. in the meantime i did some more tube casts to try and reduce the wall thickness. i got it down to about 2mm on the last couple.

kodak model 60 8mm camera from '39 this has a removable lens so i can try on the digital.

the lens from the kodak cine camera. it has a lovely little arrow which points to light conditions on the camera case to allow the user to adjust for the environment. 

quick test. the field of view is about right however i have not got it to focus yet. did not spend much time on it so should get it going over the weekend.

this is an inside view of one of my slush casting tests. i really like this method of casting. i was going to weld up a box to try casting a simple camera chassis but im going to try some form of sand casting instead. the problem with slush casting is that the mould needs to be metal. simple enough for simple shapes. but if i want to create more complicated forms it will be difficult to make a mould. i want to start with a process which i can use right through so i think that an end to the slush casting for now.

possible shutter button and shutter speed dial. this old kodak lens is lovely piece of work.

one kilo of pewter. got this to make camera chassis. i think there is enough in there to have a few on the go at once.  ill just melt down the oldest one and make a new one. this way ill have a few to compare at any one time. im going to star with appearance prototypes. these are prototypes which look finished but are not constrained by the size or shape of any of the working bits like the sensor and batteries. these will be good to get people feedback and reactions.

can you guess what it is? that right it is part of the shutter release from the mtl5b.  just put it up because its so nice.

three piece form for camera. the idea is that i will use the centre with one of the end pieces when casting. this way there will be some overlap between the two halves. then i can grind the two halves till they match. 

wooden blank in jig. this way i can cut the elliptical curve at an angle.

cutting the curve on the bandsaw.

finishing up the the curve on the disc sander.

i really like the shapes created by the intersection of the curve and the flat planes in the wood.

got a surprise exhibition in a couple of days. just going to cast it quickly and make an appearance model. i have hollowed out the centre to make sure i have enough pewter.

change of plan. wont have time to make multiple part moulds. the camera shape wont come out of a one piece mould. i made another in foam. hopefully i can pick it out if a one piece plaster cast which i can then use as a sacrificial mould for the pewter.

ready for casting.

foam started to float so i had to hold it down with a stick.

started picking out the foam. ive got the weekend to get the foam out and dry the plaster so i can cast it on monday. going to be tight.

kern paillard yvar f1.9 13mm. really nice little lens. the orange dots move in and out as the aperture is changed to indicate the depth of field. the focus ring was stuck but its loosened up a good bit now.

got it on the "new" camera. the batteries died but i did get it to focus before they did so. the field of view was good. could be on to a winning combination here. the ring of aluminium that was the exposure dial from the old praktica makes the perfect spacer.

quick  mock up.

this the wooden form with the lens and shutter in place. with any luck i will cast this in pewter on monday. this is just for the appearance prototype. i think it will have to be a bit bigger if i want to make it a working prototype which might be the next step. 

getting read to cast. some pewter i already cast and a brand new ingot.

there was some bubbling caused by a piece of wood that was in the plaster. it lest this weird crystalline lump on top.

here is how it looked after breaking the mould. it had a nice light gold kind of colour.

this is how it looked after the first round on the sander. there are some imperfections here and there but it is not bad considering the rush in which i made it.

here it is with the wooden one just before it gets a final polish.

the imperfections really show up once it is polished. the pewter has a really nice feel to it.

bit of delicate filing to fit the lens. i could not get a thread cutter this big so i just made the hole slightly smaller than the  thread so it just bites a bit.

and thats basically it.

trying to figure out a way to cut this shape so it could be vac-formed. this means i need to find a way to half it so i can lay down the halves and have no undercuts. the shape needs some modification to make this possible. im not going to worry about this too much as this shape will likely change anyway before i need to start building it.

template for on of the curved sides. i modelled the shape in rhino and unrolled the surfaces. this was to try making it from sheet materials. i also thought it would be easy enough to make it from sheet wax and then lost wax it into pewter.

started stripping down the camera i found in the skip. pretty simple inside. the power switch, shutter release, flash, battery box and mode dial could all be easily relocated with longer wires as they are all off the main circuit board. i have already determined the distance the kern-paillard lens needs to be from the sensor to make the markings on the lens accurate. this is essential as i cant see any way other than the lcd to see if the camera is in focus. i think i want to leave out the lcd. luckily the lens has a nice depth of field indication.

i am finally getting around to building a working prototype with the cine lens. i have taken the flash, capacitor and battery box off the front of the circuit board. this is because the lens need to get quite close to the sensor and moving the whole board forward is easier than relocating the sensor.

this frame will hold the lens in relation to the circuit board. i will then encase the whole thing in a vac-formed plastic shell. the threads on the lens mount dont go right up to the flange and so dont grip the thin metal. on the left you can see two plastic nuts to thread on from behind.

as you can see i went for the thinner, red nut. i just drilled the hole slightly too small and  worked it on slowly.

the lens held securely in place.

here you can see the electronics hels in the frame. the screws are in slots rather than holes so i can adjust the flange distance to get it just right. i intend to place the camera a measured distance from an object and set the lens to that distance. then i will move the sensor in relation to the lens until the object is perfectly focused.

another view. you can see that the lens is miles over to the left and quite high. that is the down side of using donor cameras. but building from scratch just wont happen in my timeframe.

here are three shots of a foam prototype. it has some features that im pretty sure i want to include in the final piece.

here you can see the viewfinder and how it intersects with the body rather than being fully embedded in it. this is to provide a visual indication of the cameras direction when shooting from the hip. the coloured bit it a switch for white balance. it has three position. daylight in the middle with a blue and orange filter either side.

here is a view through the lens. i think a proper optical viewfinder is best but it means you have to keep the taking the camera away from your eye to set the focus and aperture. what i have done is used a fisheye viewfinder  to enable the user to see the lens settings in the bottom of the viewfinder.

here you can see the thumbwheel. i have shaped the camera son it can be held securely in one hand and without the thumb. i think this is a good way of controlling the shutter speed. i thought perhaps a small window on top of the camera and shutter speeds printed on top of the wheel.