Topic: I want to design a new camera.

[Flippy]

The idea has been kicking around in the back of my mind for a couple years now. I've got an idea for a simple panoramic camera, essentially a box camera. The basic premise is to make a camera that shoots 24 exposures on a roll of 120, so a nominal 3x6 cm frame.With the camera body being so compact, it would not be too expensive to simply 3D print it. Wide angle lens, if possible, 50 to 60mm being ideal. The big problem of course is where to find a lens that'd work and is in supply.

Would anybody else be interested in such a camera? Anybody have ideas for lenses? I kind of wonder if I can find suitable generic meniscus lenses somewhere.

[astrobeck]

Surplus Shed is your friend for lenses.
I have bought a few simple meniscus lenses for them to "doctor up" a couple of my Holgas.

They have quite the assortment.
Don't blame me for the money hole it may cause once you start browsing.... 

[Kai-san]

You would also need a advance mechanism for the film, the numbers printed on the backing paper will be useless for 24 frames.

[Francois]

You will need 67mm or wider. And a shutter.
With simple lenses, the film to optical center will be the focal length, so a wide angle will need to be pretty close to the film.
For the film advance, you will need two windows using the center numbers.

Having designed a camera before, most of your time will be spent making the film advance and film path work. Be prepared to make a lot of changes, so choose a CAD program that is fully parametric like FreeCAD. And be prepared for unusable prints. I usually have to make a minimum of two prototypes before I get one working. And for my camera design, it took way more than that; though I must admit that I was designing a full blown 35mm film advance with a sprocket wheel and frame position indicator.

[Flippy]

As it happens, one of my hobbies is model building and over the past two years I've become well acquainted with 3D printing. Here's my 1/87th scale model of the first steam locomotive built in the U.S.

Best Friend by Berang Berang, on Flickr

It also just dawned on me that the Holga uses a 60mm lens, but I might seek something a bit more "quality".

I suppose the shutter blade could be made from laser cut brass, and if I keep with the box camera theme, it could be done with a single "blade" and a lever for releasing it, one exposure in each direction the lever is pushed. I could probably even just steal the dimensions/geometry from a box in my collection.

The plan for the film advance is to use a double red window. I got the idea from my Koroll 24S, which makes 24 exposures on 120, but which regrettably has a film gate giving an aspect ratio identical to that of 135, instead of using the full width of the 120 film.

[Francois]

Pretty much the same as the Coronet Commander. I cut the film gate to elongate it on mine.
You could steal the lens and a part of the mechanism from a disposable camera. The lenses on those isn't as bad as on the Holga, and they are a wide enough angle to make things really interesting. You just need to keep them stopped down as they are truly horrible when used wide open.

On one of my lens designs, I made a lens holder that has a fine threaded screw and a custom tool to drive it into the casing for adjustment. Once it collimates, I just put a drop of crazy glue on the back side that I sprinkle with baking soda to make sure it's solidly locked.

[Ed Wenn]

Sorry to jump in and have nothing useful to contribute, but much like the Monty Python "Spanish Inquisition" sketch I magically appear anytime anyone mentions the Coronet Commander (it's in my contract), so I thought I'd do just that and add that I too have cut away the gate/mask of my various Commanders to produce a fuller 120 format image size.

[Francois]

so I thought I'd do just that and add that I too have cut away the gate/mask of my various Commanders to produce a fuller 120 format image size.

To do a nice even job, I used a razor-saw (it's a saw blade that fits in an Olfa box cutter; check hobby shops) to cut the sides and a regular blade for the top and bottom. But I'm not sure this is on par with the Ed aesthetics 😁