I don’t know about you, but shooting film gets me feeling kinda crafty.
Maybe it’s the fact that we constantly have to be hands-on, tweaking and nursing antiquated pieces of equipment just to keep everything running. These testy little machines usually require a bit of extra love and some elbow grease if you want it to function properly.
Broken springs. Stuck aperture blades. Laggy shutters. It’s no short list.
For example- just today, I was out and about with my Nikon EM, and the winder literally flew off while I was advancing to the next frame. Kind of annoying, sure, but whatever. Not surprised. I fixed it, then I finished the roll. Another crisis averted.
I’ve literally lost count how many cameras and lenses I’ve ripped apart to attempt a fix. Sometimes I get lucky and come away with a functioning piece of equipment. Other times… well, let’s just say I have an ever-growing shelf of “display” pieces!
It’s not just about the repairs, though. Occasionally I like to channel my inner ‘Bob the Builder’ and just make some stuff. Weird stuff. Lens or camera modifications that probably could be considered “unconventional” or, at the very least, not very practical. But I can’t be the only one thinking about how there’s a certain satisfaction that tinkering with a mechanical piece of gear can offer.
Admittedly, this blog post isn’t about writing out steps to build a certain thing, but instead meant to be more of an introduction to a couple fun builds I’ve done in the past.
These two videos give you a visual demonstration showing exactly how to build a functioning camera lamp, or making yourself a super stylish film canister keychain. Both of these projects are pretty simple and require minimal tools to complete. And, in the small chance that you do break something- it’s no big deal! It wasn’t functioning already. You can only make a non-working thing better.
Plus, you’re up-cycling or making use of something that might otherwise be headed for the trash.
That’s a win in my book.