DIY Photographer Builds Full-Frame Camera, Open-Sources the Project (dpreview.com)
(Wednesday October 09, 2024 @11:30PM (BeauHD)
from the DIY-FTW dept.)
- Reference: 0175223117
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/10/09/2322227/diy-photographer-builds-full-frame-camera-open-sources-the-project
- Source link: https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0535447263/the-sitina-s1-how-a-determined-diy-photographer-built-his-own-full-frame-camera
Boston-based engineer and photographer Wenting Zhang [1]built his own full-frame camera and open-sourced the project [2]on GitLab for anyone else to build upon. The camera, named Sitina S1, features a 10MP CCD sensor, custom electronics, and a 3D-printed body. Digital Photography Review reports:
> Zhang says he started the project in 2017, and it's not finished yet. "Engineers are usually bad at estimating how long things will take. I am probably particularly bad at that. I expected this project to be challenging, so it would take a bit longer, like probably one year. Turned out my estimation was off," he says. He makes clear to point out that this is a hobby project, purely for fun, and that his camera isn't going to achieve the level of image quality found in commercially available products from established companies. Despite that, his project provides a fascinating look into what's involved in building a camera from the ground up.
>
> Although CMOS has become the dominant sensor technology in consumer cameras, owing to factors like speed, lower power consumption and cost, Zhang's camera is built around a 10MP Kodak KAI-11000CM CCD sensor with a global electronic shutter, which he selected for a rather pragmatic reason: it was easy to source. "Most manufacturers (like Sony) aren't going to just sell a sensor to a random hobbyist, so I have to buy whatever is available on eBay. This 10MP CCD turned out to be available," he explains. The choice of sensor has a useful benefit. As he [3]explains in one of his videos , designing and building a mechanical shutter is complicated and beyond his area of expertise, so his DIY design is based on using an electronic shutter. For similar reasons, he chose to use an LCD screen as a viewfinder rather than a prism-based optical design, resulting in a mirrorless camera.
>
> Zhang wanted his design to be compatible with existing lenses. His mirrorless design, with a short flange distance, provided a great deal of flexibility to adapt different lenses to the camera, and he's currently using E-mount with active electrical contacts. And that's just the start. Zhang also needed to integrate a CCD signal processor with an ADC (analog to digital converter), a CPU, battery, an LCD screen and buttons. He also designed and built his own circuit board with a power-only USB port, flash sync terminal, power button and SD card slot, and create the software and user interface to tie it all together. Finally, everything fits inside a 3D-printed enclosure that, to my eye, looks rather attractive.
[1] https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0535447263/the-sitina-s1-how-a-determined-diy-photographer-built-his-own-full-frame-camera
[2] https://gitlab.com/zephray/sitina1
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma9FrN5COIo
> Zhang says he started the project in 2017, and it's not finished yet. "Engineers are usually bad at estimating how long things will take. I am probably particularly bad at that. I expected this project to be challenging, so it would take a bit longer, like probably one year. Turned out my estimation was off," he says. He makes clear to point out that this is a hobby project, purely for fun, and that his camera isn't going to achieve the level of image quality found in commercially available products from established companies. Despite that, his project provides a fascinating look into what's involved in building a camera from the ground up.
>
> Although CMOS has become the dominant sensor technology in consumer cameras, owing to factors like speed, lower power consumption and cost, Zhang's camera is built around a 10MP Kodak KAI-11000CM CCD sensor with a global electronic shutter, which he selected for a rather pragmatic reason: it was easy to source. "Most manufacturers (like Sony) aren't going to just sell a sensor to a random hobbyist, so I have to buy whatever is available on eBay. This 10MP CCD turned out to be available," he explains. The choice of sensor has a useful benefit. As he [3]explains in one of his videos , designing and building a mechanical shutter is complicated and beyond his area of expertise, so his DIY design is based on using an electronic shutter. For similar reasons, he chose to use an LCD screen as a viewfinder rather than a prism-based optical design, resulting in a mirrorless camera.
>
> Zhang wanted his design to be compatible with existing lenses. His mirrorless design, with a short flange distance, provided a great deal of flexibility to adapt different lenses to the camera, and he's currently using E-mount with active electrical contacts. And that's just the start. Zhang also needed to integrate a CCD signal processor with an ADC (analog to digital converter), a CPU, battery, an LCD screen and buttons. He also designed and built his own circuit board with a power-only USB port, flash sync terminal, power button and SD card slot, and create the software and user interface to tie it all together. Finally, everything fits inside a 3D-printed enclosure that, to my eye, looks rather attractive.
[1] https://www.dpreview.com/articles/0535447263/the-sitina-s1-how-a-determined-diy-photographer-built-his-own-full-frame-camera
[2] https://gitlab.com/zephray/sitina1
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma9FrN5COIo
Full frame camera? (Score:1)
For non-photographers, what is a full frame camera and how does it differ from a regular DSLR camera, or the camera that's built into modern phones?
And why would you want one? What does this get you that the other cameras I listed above don't have?
Re: (Score:1)
A full frame camera captures the image in one single frame, instead of capturing the image pixel-by-pixel. As you can imagine, it offers the highest fidelity (no pixels!), and is orders of magnitude faster than regular DSLR's (near-instant).