How a Photographer Handmade His Dream 8×10 Camera for Everyone

Slovenian photographer and founder of Ondu, Elvis Halilović, has unveiled the Ondu Eikan 8×10″, a new lightweight, handmade large-format field camera.

Halilović tells PetaPixel the Ondu Eikan 8×10 is the camera he has always wanted for himself.

“I like shooting wet plate photography, this is my driving force now, and it was like I wanted to make a camera for myself. That was how I envisioned an 8×10 camera in my head,” Halilović says. “And if people like, that’s good. If they don’t, that’s also okay.”

Halilović has had the idea for the Eikan 8×10 for many years, even before he designed and launched the smaller Eikan 4×5″ camera in 2023.

The photographer, carpenter, and camera maker wanted to see what he could do with an 8×10 camera without specific time constraints or limitations.

“I took my time, maybe seven or eight months of design work and preparing, and so on. And it turned out like I imagined,” Halilović says.

Halilović made an 8×10 prototype camera way back in 2018; it can even be seen in the background of older Ondu Kickstarter campaigns, but he wasn’t satisfied with it.

“It looked like other cameras out there,” he says.

“Then a few years later, I was hiking and the shape, these details you see now, popped in my head and I did a sketch on my phone,” Halilović says. And now, years later, the Eikan 8×10″ is here. He went to college for industrial design, and actually, when he founded Ondu, the company was building geodesic domes, not cameras.

“There are a lot of large format manufacturers right now, but nobody is really trying to merge craftsmanship, design, and technology with the same kind of vibe. That’s what I try to do. It’s not just like a technical camera, it also has to look good.”

He was able to make it relatively lightweight — approximately 3.5 kilograms (7.7 pounds) — by utilizing CNC machining, laser cutting, aluminum, and 3D-printed parts. As for the 3D-printed parts, Ondu uses them only for a limited number of components, such as carriers. The frame and all the knobs are wood and metal.

Halilović, who works closely with experienced friends to build and assemble Ondu cameras, says he worked with about 15 different parts suppliers for the Eikan 8×10″, including the metal work and ground glass.

As Halilović knows firsthand, having been building and selling analog cameras for well over a decade, analog photography has experienced a significant resurgence. There is a ton of interest in it, especially for smaller formats. So he knows that an 8×10″ camera like the new Eikan is probably never going to be hugely popular. It’s a niche segment of an already specialized analog camera market.

“Most of my users for the large format stuff are wet plate photographers,” he says. “I don’t know the actual numbers, but I would guess there are maybe a few thousand wet plate photographers all over the world. It’s not a big, big thing.”

By employing a relatively compact, lightweight design, at least by 8×10 camera standards, Halilović wants people to use his Eikan 8×10″ in places large format cameras rarely go, like high up into the mountains.

“The goal was simple: to create a camera that keeps the beauty of the 8×10 process intact while removing unnecessary weight and complexity. The large ground glass, the deliberate rhythm, the incredible detail, and the physical presence of the negative are all there — but in a camera designed for real use in the field or studio,” he says on the Eikan 8×10″ product page.

The camera sports a foldable design with a rear vertical lock; it works with standard sheet film holders, has permanent magnets for secure bellows attachment, and is built from powder-coated aluminum and European walnut. Halilović carefully considers every piece of wood, ensuring the grain pattern and direction work in terms of durability and aesthetics.

The Eikan 8×10″ is quite genuinely a work of art in and of itself, and when it arrives in September, photographers worldwide will be able to use it to create art of their own.

The Ondu Eikan 8×10″ is available to preorder now, starting at €2,500. This introductory price is available for the first 20 units until June 30, or until the units sell out. The price will then increase to €3,050. Halilović expects orders to begin delivery in mid-to-late September.

The End of Ondu’s Pinhole Cameras

As Halilović prepares to launch the Eikan 8×10″ large format camera, he is also winding down another part of the business, the very way that Ondu started making cameras in the first place: pinhole.

He says he has just lost the desire to make them, after building thousands over the years. They require extreme precision and considerable time to make. It is becoming increasingly challenging to make them at a low enough cost to keep the retail price accessible, so Halilović says it’s time to stop.

He has received many warm messages over the years from people who have bought his pinhole cameras and done incredible work, or just as importantly, had fun.

“I get pictures in the mail, books in the mail, and stuff like that when people make images,” Halilović explains. “Every business has its ups and downs, so sometimes you’re feeling a bit low and then you get a random letter or package in the mail that would boost you up, and you’re like, ‘This is why I do it.'”

As of writing, Ondu has about 200 handcrafted pinhole cameras remaining. It is the final batch, at least for the foreseeable future. Halilović says it’s hard to predict, but the plan is to focus on other projects.

Image credits: Ondu. Wet plate photographs by Elvis Halilović. These wet plates were not captured using the new Ondu Eikan 8×10″, but are instead illustrative of the type of images he hopes to capture using his new camera.