Physics-Bending Large Format F-Zero Camera Is Now Available to Everyone

Last May, the large-format F-Zero Camera hit Kickstarter, promising to “bend the laws of physics” and enable photographers to shoot at effective apertures of f/0.3-0.6. The campaign proved successful, and its creator, Nick Salazar, says all backers have received their cameras. As a result, the F-Zero is now available to the general public.

The F-Zero Camera works with just about any camera, including smartphones, action cameras, DSLRs, and mirrorless bodies. Using rail mounts and bellows (not included), photographers can mount their camera of choice and create the necessary distance between their camera and the lens to achieve a remarkably shallow depth of field that is otherwise impossible.

The camera kit includes a sensor box with glass elements, two lens carriers, an objective lens and lens plate, a gantry plate, a camera-side lens plate, a rail clamp, and a custom hardshell case. Given the number of components, it should come as little surprise that a bit of assembly is required.

At its most basic level, the F-Zero Camera is a depth-of-field adapter that looks and functions similarly to a traditional large-format camera. A typical large-format camera has two standards, the front lens standard and the rear standard, which is where the film goes. Light travels through the front standard before exposing the film. However, with the F-Zero Camera, there is a third standard further to the rear. Light comes through the front standard and hits the middle standard where the film could go, and the attached digital camera shoots the focused light that would otherwise expose the film.

The specialized objective lens at the front creates a huge image circle, enabling super-shallow field depth, and the attached “taking” camera at the back can shoot the image projected onto the intermediate sensor.

The idea here will be familiar to photographers who have used cameras with different image sensor sizes. All else equal, it’s possible to get a shallower depth of field on a full-frame camera than an APS-C camera, for example. The same principle applies here, although the “sensor” is much larger.

The physics involved are covered exceptionally well in the video below for “The Impossible Lens,” a project created in 2022 that utilized a super-fast 29mm Leitz projector lens and an experimental camera design to achieve a depth of field equivalent to an f/0.3 lens.

Some essential considerations apply to the F-Zero Camera, though. Perhaps most importantly, despite offering a depth of field similar to an f/0.3-f/0.6 lens, the F-Zero Camera system does not have the light-gathering capabilities of such a physics-bending lens. The light-gathering power is more like f/8, so it’s not the ultimate low-light lens. “It’s more than [fast] enough to shoot in most practical environments,” F-Zero Camera explains. “But not in ultra-low light.”

Further, the “camera” is not, in and of itself, a camera. It requires the purchaser to have a camera of their own. It also doesn’t ship with bellows or a sliding rail, which are necessary. Salazar recommends purchasing two specialized 8×10 bellows for the F-Zero Camera from eTone for $179 each. As for rails and additional components, there is parts list on the F-Zero Camera website.

It’s a specialized system, to be sure, but one that promises to deliver results unlike anything possible with a typical camera and fast prime lens. For those without any large-format sensor glass, the entire camera kit — which, again, requires separate bellows — is $2,399. If someone has glass elements already, a DIY bundle is available for $999.

Image credits: F-Zero Camera