Fabrice on Film

I designed this little adapter for my 126 Fex Indo camera (the infamous   Fex Indo Compact 126 XR ! Because it's a super cute camera, that's why.).   As such, I don't know if all the designs are identical throughout 126 cameras. You'll have to hack off the protruding part of your 35mm film canister with a saw, and then fit this adapter onto it. Oh, and you also have to have an empty 35mm canister and then spool the unexposed film onto this empty spool before loading (in the dark obviously). Also, you might have to wind back into the canister it in the dark. I therefore recommend it for hardcore photograph tweakers rather than for first timer photo gear hackers.   Above tests were done with GP unperforated 135 film, I haven't tried with perf film but wonder if it might tear the film up. But if you want to shoot square format 35mm film with fun results, or just look cute hanging out with a Fex Indo toy, try it out! And let me know how it went. BUY THE 35MM ADAPTER FO...

  I designed some adapters to fit my Schneider Cinelux Anamorphic lens on a Ø49mm thread.   The adapter makes screwing and aligning much faster than other systems like clamps. It places your taking lens very close to your anamophic lens (5mm without a circular rotating filter, 15mm with a rotating filter), which will considerably reduce vignetting. It is also sturdy, made out of aluminium. On top of it, it brings way more precision to your rig than a lot of "homemade" systems, since you don't need to align both lenses on the viewing axis (you do need to rotate it however, to align the distortion). Aligning the verticals can be done either by adding a circular rotating filter (not included) or simply by loosening the screw and spinning the anamorphic lens before shooting. You can buy the first batch here, and I'll make new ones when they're all gone.  

 Or how I crafted a super fast camera lens from bits and parts... fun! As a photographer, I've had many photographer friends in my life, amongst which fast lenses were often a highly sought after item. The price of such lenses - for example the Leica Noctilux - is usually a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a camera lens, ranging sometimes up to 15,000$. Some of my photographer friends would save up for long periods of time before they could finally buy one, others would simply give up on the idea, bitter or saddened by the unattainable perfection of their dream lens. Among filmmakers and cinematographers, the sequence in Stanley Kubrick's "Barry Lyndon", which was lit only by the light of candles and shot using a very fast lens that Kubrick had the Nasa make for him, is also the stuff of dreams. After doing some research, I found that, there were lots of lenses that were built by various manufacturers and for various purposes throughout the history of optical le...

There are several attitudes regarding broken cameras.  Some people would believe that you have a duty to fully restore them to their original appearance, and failing to do so makes you a vandal. Some people think they become trash and should be discarded.  And lastly, some people, if the two first options are uncomfortable or impossible, will think you can repurpose their parts to make something else. Now, I personally don't have a lot of respect for people who turn old cameras into lamp shades or paper weights.  A camera is a camera, and for as long as some of its parts can function, it should be used as a camera as much as can be, imho.  I recently came across a Semi-Leotax camera with a totally broken lens (glued focusing ring, moldy lens, completely destroyed shutter with parts jangling inside of it...). And I also had a $2 Holga, which I thought was very bulky and kind of hard to carry around because of that.  I always thought one of the Holga's weak points...

I recently had the idea of using two adapters to put a roll of 35mm into a 616 camera, thus making it almost a medium format 35mm camera. I make the 120 to 616 adapters and sell them here , I'm not sure where I bought the 35mm to 120 adapters. Putting the film in place required a little bit of force, but nothing that would damage the camera. After all the shots were taken, I went into a darkroom and rewinded the film with a pocket electric screwdriver fitted with a flat tip. A very simple, quick process! It also gives me an opportunity to use the camera I repaired and detailed in this post . I really liked the results. I think that elongated formats can be a really fun challenge to frame, either vertically or horizontally.  Moreover, what is really fun with this experimental process is that you're not really sure what you'll get. Trying to do as best as possible and wishing to get interesting results is always a process I enjoy. I also find that it's a good use of 400 s...