There's nothing worse than having an old camera that loses bits, pieces, parts or components that are difficult to replace. However, this photographer has come up with a brilliant solution to fixing up his old kit: he simply 3D prints those parts.
Witono is a self-described "engineer, inventor, designer, animator, adventurer, athlete, photographer, music enthusiast, lens hacker" who repaired his old Olympus OM-D E-M1 – a camera that has been most recently succeeded by the Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III and the Olympus OM-1.
• These are the best Olympus cameras (OM System)
"Not happy with all the missing parts on my Olympus, so I designed and printed them all," he wrote on his YouTube video (below) showing how he created the replacement parts to update his camera.
"Battery door cover - took me 6 iterations to get it to the perfect dimension, also the fact I was printing with an old 3D printer, designed to match the tolerance.
"Eyecup - This is a bummer. I could have printed with soft TPU (I do not have the filament) to mimic the rubber deformation. Instead, this is just an aesthetic part with no deformation. Designed with bridging without support material.
"Accessory port cover - My design skill has gotten better. I got the perfect fitting on the 2nd try!"
Photographers have been 3D-printing accessories for cameras and lenses for years (for my first professional job in 2014, we printed a replacement lens hood for a video lens I needed for a commission), but now the technology is so good that parts are rivaling OEM components.
Of course, the best 3D printers alone aren't enough; while you can download the specs of just about any component you might require, the best results can be achieved with the best 3D scanners (although this obviously requires you to scan the pieces in the first place, which isn't much help if you've lost them!).
So if you have a 3D printer, the next time you lose a head or battery cover or switch, check to see if the part you need can be printed at home.
Read more:
Best Olympus lenses
Best Micro Four Thirds cameras
Best mirrorless cameras
