A Nikon F3 Exploded View Made Using Hundreds of Macro Photos

Photos of disassembled cameras are usually created by laying out the parts neatly and shooting a photo from above. James over at CasualPhotophile went a step further: he shot hundreds of macro photos of the individual components and stitched them together into an ultra-high-res “exploded camera” image of the Nikon F3.

“I’ve gone through the excruciating process of photographing every single component with a macro lens, and compiling the hundreds of massive images into one gargantuan file,” James says. “The detail is just unbelievable, and it allows me to make prints that are truly impressive.”

James was originally inspired to created this exploded view after seeing a similar illustration in a schematic of the F3 that went viral a while back.

After getting his hands on a Nikon F3 and fully disassembling the camera to its basic components, James photographed each piece with a macro lens in 3/4 view. Some of the larger pieces required focus stacking for sharp shots.

The hundreds of macro photos were then combined into a single image in Photoshop. The resulting image is over 9000×15000 in size, about 135 megapixels, and big enough for wall-sized posters.

“Lots of work, but people love the result, so it was worth it,” James says. You can buy a fine art print of this poster over on F Stop Cameras, where a 44×84-inch print costs $120.