Custom Camera Builder Dora Goodman Is Closing its Doors
Dora Goodman Cameras has announced that it is shutting down its store, citing a rapidly changing market and rising costs.
Dora Goodman Cameras, named for its founder, photographer Dora Goodman, got its start customizing cameras, giving them eye-catching new aesthetics, all by hand. Although it started as a reskinning service, Dora Goodman Cameras became so much more over the past decade-plus. In recent years, the company began building its own affordable, customizable medium-format film, 35mm, and pinhole cameras. Dora Goodman Cameras still kept customizing and reskinning cameras, too, of course.
Then the company, which had grown from just Goodman to a small team of photographers and designers, went quiet. In March 2025, Dora Goodman Cameras reemerged. The company sounded optimistic and refreshed.
However, just over a year later, Dora Goodman Cameras is closing its doors.
“This is really the end,” the company writes on Instagram. “It’s been a good run, full of experiments, surprises, and new friendships. But all things must come to an end eventually.
“Between the changing market, the increasingly impossible-to-please algorithm, rising US tariffs, and a certain cheeky bugger repeatedly attacking our website, we came to realize there is no sustainable way for us to keep going.
“But this is not a time to mourn the end. It’s a time to celebrate all the wonderful years behind us.”
Dora Goodman Cameras specifically says it is closing its online store, so there is still hope that the company’s GoodLab, a repository of open-source, 3D-printable files, will remain available to patrons and other supporters. The company has confirmed that its $3.99 iPhone and iPad viewfinder app, Goodfinder, will not be impacted by the store’s closure.
As expected, photographers are distraught by Dora Goodman’s news.
“One of the best camera makers out there! Good luck with your next adventures,” one comment says.
Another adds, “Sorry to hear. I purchased one of your Goodman cameras a few years back Such a cool thing you did. Thank you and good luck in your future endeavors.”
“You’ve done some amazing things, given back to an amazing community, and inspired so many people in so many ways over the years. Thank you so much for all of your hard work,” says photographer Jared Haas.
“It’s time for someone else to pick up the mantle,” Dora Goodman Cameras replied in the comments.
It is an extremely challenging industry, and the difficulties are that much greater for small companies like Dora Goodman Cameras. The company is hosting a 20% off closing sale on its remaining stock and says it will continue to accept backorders for Goodman Zone and classic Scura DIY kits for the next 12 days.
Image credits: Dora Goodman Cameras
