Two Years Later, This Awesome 3D-Printed Film Camera Is Available to All

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A close-up of a vintage-style camera with "Fischer" written on it.

In March 2023, photographer Mark Hiltz designed and 3D-printed a fully functioning large-format (120) film camera, including a custom 3D-printed shutter. In the hectic two years since Hiltz met his partner and had a baby. He has now returned to his camera project and improved its performance.

The 3D-printed camera now has a name, the Pioneer Camera, and Hiltz shared all the relevant information, including parts lists, a build guide, and STL files for other photographers with 3D printer access to build one for themselves. The project is released under Creative Commons, and Hiltz encourages people to experiment with the camera.

The ambitious project to build a camera from scratch without using parts from any existing cameras attracted a lot of attention in 2023. Although building a camera like this is not wholly unique, it is very unusual.

A vintage black camera with dual knobs and a central viewfinder is secured by a strap. It rests on a metallic surface, with parts of a robotic arm visible above and to the sides.

Interior of a vintage film camera showing the film chamber, spool holder, and light chamber. The interior is mostly black with green foam padding on either side of the chamber. A metal lever is visible on top.

“I thought about how a painter could stretch their own canvas, make their own brushes, mix their own paints, etc., but as photographers, we have to rely on precision-engineered machines made in factories to make our art, so I felt that by making my own camera, I could have an even greater degree of authorship of my work, even if the images were lacking in technical quality,” Hiltz told PetaPixel in 2023.

The “technical quality” he references has been a significant focus as he has returned to the project. Hiltz described his initial results as distorted and that the lens’ focus was not too good.

A black and white image of a large, multi-story building with "Conforte" signage near the top. The structure includes a parking garage and a tall tower. The street in the foreground is empty, with a few streetlights and adjacent smaller buildings.

In the two years since he has “kept the project in the back of [his] mind” and regularly stayed up to date with other people’s DIY projects.

“I found a few creators getting decent results making DIY single-element lenses with cheap double convex magnifying glass lenses (mostly with large format), so I figured I might split the difference and attempt to build around a 60mm FL, 25.4mm diameter plano-convex lens from ThorLabs,” Hiltz explains on Reddit.

After some testing, Hiltz was satisfied that the optical problems had been addressed.

Black and white street scene showing a city intersection with tall buildings, a pedestrian bridge, and potted plants on the sidewalk. A signboard reads "Thank You.

Hiltz shared some test shots and sent them to PetaPixel, showing a nice improvement in image quality from the Pioneer camera. All the test shots were made using Ilford HP5 and developed in Caffenol.

Black and white blurred image of a historic, grand building with pointed arches and towers. The structure features a large central circular window and intricate brickwork, giving it a Gothic Revival architectural style.

He notes that any “reverse” vignetting, lightening in the corners, is due to his “crappy homemade scanning setup and not the camera itself.”

However, while the improved optics are notable, the star of the show is the custom-made shutter, which Hiltz calls the “Magna-Flick.” He cites a camera maker in the United Kingdom employing a similar shutter for use in an upcoming camera as a motivating factor to restart the Pioneer project. Although Hiltz does not explicitly say which camera shutter he’s referring to, British large-format photography company Intrepid Camera is working on a new shutter system for large format cameras.

Black and white photo of a street corner with buildings. A large mural depicting a person with flowing elements covers one building side. A "One Way" sign and traffic lights are visible. The scene has a vintage, blurred effect.

The Magna-Flick is an adaptation of a two-way rotary blade shutter, “as used in old box cameras,” Hiltz explains. The shutter has an 80-degree rotation with magnets locking it into a closed position on either end. A simple flick activates the shutter, and shutter speed tests to around 1/100s, although there is a bit of variance (1/60s to 1/125s).

“As the optical center of the lens was further away from the shutter opening, I did have to make the shutter unit larger to accommodate this and eliminate vignetting. Additionally, while the original camera had switchable apertures of f/10 and f/16, the updated version has a fixed f/13 aperture (same as a Holga on ‘cloudy’ setting) as the aperture is now in front of the lens, though I plan to release models for lenses with f/11 and f/16 if anyone would like them,” Hiltz says. “I will also be adding a keychain size tool that will allow the photographer to block the shutter switch for longer exposures.”

Black and white image of a park gazebo with a tiled roof, surrounded by bare trees. Snow patches on the ground suggest a winter setting. The image has a blurred, dreamlike quality, focusing on the central structure.

By providing the Pioneer Camera project to everyone via Creative Commons, Hiltz hopes other photographers will print and build one for themselves. If they do, they’re encouraged to tag the project on Instagram, @pioneer_camera. If anyone adapts the Magna-Flick shutter, Hiltz wants to know, too, so he can promote what people create.

Image credits: Photographs by Mark Hiltz using his custom-made Pioneer Camera

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