#craft camera

Ссылка на статью http://photar.ru/dva-novyx-video-modulnoj-craft-camera/

"Maker Tales" is an ongoing series on knowable, where we highlight outstanding and interesting Makers and their projects. This time we spoke with Coralie Gourguechon, one of the co-makers of the beautiful „Craft Camera“ – knowable’s current „Project of the Week“

Hello Coralie! Nice to have you here with us. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Coralie. I am a product designer form Toulouse, France. I recently finished my studies in the Institute of Fine Arts of Toulouse.

You have a very interesting project on knowable - a DIY camera! Can you tell us a bit more about how this idea came to life?

Well, my aim was to build my own digital camera. The ideas was actually born out of frustration four years ago: I was traveling when both my laptop and my camera broke. I tried to repair it - but it was nearly impossible! I was really frustrated since I didn’t wanted to throw basically brand new products away. Just take the camera for example: It turned out that it was simply a sand corn blocking the zoom. It was nothing, really - but no one was able or willing to repair it!

– Craft Camera

I thought that this is not correct - and I really believe that we should have the option to easily repair our electronic products. With that experience in mind, I decided to build my own digital camera.

Yes, it is really a shame that there seems to be no easy way to repair modern day electronics. So, did you get other people involved in the product and issue, too?

I actually started the Craft Camera as a university project and wanted to use it for my final examen. But just one month before I should have finished the design and product, I noticed how tricky the electronics of this project really were. Fortunately I was able to convince an engineer  - Stéphane Delbruel (who was working for Snootlab, a company that is developing Open Hardware products) to help me with it. And shortly after that a friend of mine - Laura Messaglio - who is a graphic designer got involved, too. She wanted to make look a little bit nicer and I think she did a fantastic job!

– The case is made out of cardboard - it doesn't get any simpler

Apart form that collaboration - do you also work in a FabLab or Makerspace?

Yes, sometimes I am going to TetaLab in Toulouse. That is actually the place where I discovered the whole Open Source movement and learned about Makers and Hackers. I honestly didn't knew about the movement when I started the Craft Camera project. But it was really fascinating to see that there are so many people dealing with the same questions and topics as I am.

So after that, did you decide to open source your project?

Yes! We put all the schematics and templates online. Also the links to the shops where you can buy the parts. I actually think that we should also put together a video tutorial of how you can build the camera. This would make it easier for beginners to get started with their own camera. But even without that, you can basically go and build your Craft Camera right now with the schematics and instructions we have online.

– Assembly process

How do you see this project evolve in the future?

I am not sure - it’s a good question. I am wondering that myself, actually. The good thing is, now that the camera is open source the project can live on its own.

There are still some problems that I want to fix, though. Right now the whole camera is a bit expensive. So maybe we could make a custom Arduino shield to lower the price.

The other thing is, that I’d love to make it easier for beginners to construct the camera. As I said: A video tutorial would certainly help.

– Image taken with the CraftCamera

So are you working on other projects as well?

Yes, I am currently developing paper electronics! The idea is to screen print the circuits on a paper. You can think of it as a new kind of cartography: It’s basically a map that helps people build their own electronic products. This idea came to my mind after building the Craft Camera. Unfortunately the Craft Camera is still a “a box with electronic inside”. With this new project I’m hoping to make the whole process of building your own electronic products a bit more transparent.

While you'll find plenty of DIY guides for building film cameras, it's not the same story for digital.

The Craft Camera aims to solve that issue. It's a simple DIY digital camera built out of cardboard and a low-cost electronic system from Arduino. The camera stores the images on a memory card that plugs into your computer. 

The Craft Camera, a DIY Cardboard Camera!