mechanical

A mechanical issue that took the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) offline on August 24 has been resolved and the camera has resumed full operation.

NASA has paused the use of one of the modes on the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) due to what it describes as "increased friction" that occurs during its setup phase ahead of new observations.

There are any number of ways to trigger a digital camera remotely: from IR remotes to smartphone apps. But if you're a bit more old fashioned, then Instructables user Steloherd has hacked together something you might like even better.

Here's a video by the Camera Repair Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, that shows an overhaul they did recently of a Pentax K1000 film SLR -- the "dirtiest Pentax [they've] seen in a very long time." The 3 to 4 hour examination and cleaning is condensed down to 2.5 minutes, and shows the beautiful mechanical inner workings of the K1000.

Love someone who loves photography, and planning to pop the question soon? Check out this homemade ring box Matt Chalker made for his photographer girlfriend recently. It opens and closes like the aperture on a camera, and it took about 50-60 hours to make.

Forever 21 has unveiled what it calls the F21 Thread Screen. It's a 2,000-pound contraption that can display any Instagram photo using 6,400 mechanical spools of thread.

Photographer Kevin Twomey has a fascination with capturing complex objects in the most simple of compositions, and his series Low Tech is the epitome of this. The series features photos of old, mechanical calculators stripped bare, exposing the exquisitely complicated creations that they were from the inside out.

If removing the LCD from a digital rangefinder just isn't retro enough for you, Leica has something that even the most adamant of purists won't be able to dog. Dubbed the Leica M-A (Typ 127), this all-new film rangefinder is 100% mechanical: no built-in light meter, no electronic control, this beauty doesn't even take batteries.

Pinhole cameras can be easily and cheaply made using things you have lying around the house... or you can go to the opposite end of the spectrum and fashion yourself a highly intricate pinhole camera. That's what Korean photographer Kwanghun Hyun did with his Heartbeat cameras. The two cameras created so far feature one crazy design choice: they use intricate watch movements as their internal timing mechanisms.

If flashlights can be solar and mechanically powered, why can't digital cameras? Turns out they can. Superheadz Japan has launched a new digital camera called the "Sun & Cloud." It's the world's first digital camera that's capable of generating its own power so that you don't need to constantly be worrying about battery drain and recharging.

Kaufmann’s Posographe is an intricate pocket-sized mechanical calculator invented back in the 1920s. Measuring 13x8cm and filled with tiny scribblings, the device allowed photographers to approximate the exposure values they needed by simply sliding around six small pointers.

Time-lapses are usually created using intervalometers — devices that electronically trigger the shutter …