[ENG] Camera from Scratch: My Unique Hands-On Photography Project

Описание: Could I really build a functioning camera using only materials from my home workshop?
I didn’t buy any special photography gear—just film and chemicals. My goal: something more advanced than a simple pinhole camera. That meant the biggest challenge was making the lens from scratch.

With no tools or skills to make a glass lens, I turned to plastic. My approach: shape two plastic halves using heat and vacuum, glue them together, and fill the “lens” with water.

The camera body is made of plywood, one of my favorite materials to work with.

This isn’t a tutorial, but you’ll see every step of how I built the camera. My aim is to show that it’s possible to make a simple camera that actually works.

I love making things in my workshop, whether practical or just for fun. I’m also a retired journalist and newspaper editor, with thirty years of experience shooting film and thousands of hours in the darkroom.

The negatives from my homemade camera were scanned exactly as they came out of the film—no digital tweaks, just like the old days in the darkroom.

Why Watch:

See the full DIY camera-building process from start to finish

Learn how to make a simple lens from plastic and water

Explore a unique hands-on photography project