A lot of photographers are gear heads. To an extent, I’m one of them. While I try really hard to focus on the artistic side of photography on this blog, and shy away from talking too much about equipment, I wanted to write a short post to make people aware of what has been, for me, a really good way to save money on photography-related purchases. If you’re not familiar with 3D printing, there are a few different types. The most common and the most accessible is called FDM printing, which is when plastic filaments of various types are melted at high temperatures and extruded through a nozzle one layer at a time to create a finished product. You may have seen an FDM 3D printed object with its telltale “layer line” texture:
These layers are each 0.28mm thick.
3D printers that can print various useful plastics can be had for under $200 these days, and I have found that a LOT of accessories that tend to be overpriced can be easily 3D printed for pennies instead.
Here’s a great example. Really Right Stuff used to make an L bracket for my ancient 5D Mk II. At the time of writing this post, they’re going on eBay for $70. $70 for a chunk of milled aluminum with “RRS” stamped on it! And that’s for a camera most RRS customers would probably consider totally obsolete in 2020. Compare that to my custom 5D Mk II bracket, which was printed out of about $2 worth of black PETG filament, and works 100% as well as the RRS version.
Ready to send to the printer.
Sturdy enough to hold my telephoto lens.
Nobody even makes an L bracket for my S100. But comical as it may seem, I often wished I had one when I first got the camera, because I use the S100 to shoot multi-row panoramas on a regular basis. 10 minutes in some free 3D modeling software and $0.42 worth of filament later, voila.
When I got my 4x5, I didn’t have any lens boards. While I was initially able to get by with some lens boards I hacked together from birch plywood, I have now replaced them with strong, sturdy, opaque boards printed from the same black PETG I used for my L brackets.
Pictured here in blue. For some reason.
How about this absurdly large 300mm extension tube that is allowing the designer to photograph housefly eyeballs? Nobody even makes one of these commercially as far as I know, but this guy is getting similar results to the Canon MP-E, a specialized $1,000 super macro lens.
Or this digitizing tool that allows for easy scanning of negatives with a backlight and your existing digital camera? Just saved you $680 for a Nikon CoolScan 4000 LS.
Even entire cameras can be 3D printed for a few dollars + some basic hardware. This pinhole camera shoots 120 film, and there are many other designs out there that can be downloaded for free. If you’ve never heard of the Standard 4x5, you should know that it achieves its low price point largely because the small custom parts in its design can be 3D printed very inexpensively.
“But Andrew,” I hear you saying, in your whiny, contrarian voice. “I don’t have a 3D printer! And I don’t know how to 3D model!” What a buzzkill you are.
“That’s okay,” I answer benevolently. Because you can get free 3D models on Thingiverse.com, and have them printed by Shapeways. There’s a markup compared to printing it on your own, sure. But you’re still going to pay a lot less than $70 for your L Bracket unless you choose to have it printed in solid platinum. Next time you need a small accessory, take an extra second and think if you could save some money by 3D printing it. Chances are, someone has already modeled one and posted it for free on Thingiverse.