Do It Yourself

Sometimes, the best products are the ones you make yourself. PetaPixel is your guide to custom lenses, handmade camera rigs, custom-coded artificial intelligence cameras, and the 3D-printed parts that makes photography truly personal.

This Medium Format Camera Was Made Using Parts from an Epson Scanner

Photographer Dario Morelli is a computer aided designer and programmer by trade. Several years ago, during a period of unemployment, he began diving deeply into the world of custom-made scanner cameras. There's an entire niche of photographers who are interested in the idea of turning flatbed scanners into digital cameras.

What you see is the result of one of Morelli's experiments. It's a medium format camera created by stuffing parts from an Epson scanner into a custom enclosure.

This DIY ‘Patina’ Leica M2 Was Turned Green Like the Statue of Liberty

Did you know that the Statue of Liberty started out as a dull copper color, but turned green over time due to oxidation occurring on the copper skin? The green patina (also called verdigris) can occur naturally or with human intervention on copper, brass, and bronze.

Know what else is brass? The body of the Leica M2 underneath the chrome surface. Photographer Bellamy Hunt used this fact to create a custom DIY special edition of the M2, the "Patina Edition."

Photographer Turns His Old Darkroom Enlarger Into a Large Format Camera

Photographer Chuck Baker is a self-proclaimed "camera and darkroom equipment hoarder" who can't bear to get rid of gear even when it no longer works. Having a large number of enlargers in his collection, Baker recently decided to upcycle one of them by turning it into a working camera.

The large format camera you see about is what resulted from the project.

A Cheaper Filter Holder for the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 Created with 3D Printing

Need a piece of gear but can't find a reasonably priced option? Perhaps 3D printing could help.

That's what photographers Patrick Ludolph and Christian Steinkrüger. After not finding an affordable filter solution for his Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, Ludolph approached Steinkrüger -- a 3D printing hobbyist -- with the idea of creating a custom filter holder themselves.

DIY Project Turns a Cheap Antique Store Camera Into the Perfect Shell for an Unused GoPro

Have you ever bought a GoPro just to realize that your life might not be quite as extreme as you initially thought? We've seen it before, and that’s exactly what happened recently with Instructables user Brooklyntonia.

But rather than watching her GoPro Hero 3 collect dust on a shelf, she decided to create an unlikely pair by Frankensteining together her unused GoPro and an old AGFA Ansco Shur Shot she had lying around.

Fun Weekend Project: How to Make a DIY Pop-Up Print

If you’re looking to make a DIY gift or keepsake, the folks at Photojojo have come up with a great project for you. It's a clever pop-up photo print that can be packed (and shipped) flat, then opened up to create a 3D version of the photograph of your choosing.

Recreating the Incredibly Accurate CGI Black Hole in Interstellar with In-Camera Elements

The black hole in the highly-anticipated Christopher Nolan blockbuster Interstellar has already made headlines. Put together with some serious mathematical help from astrophysicist Kip Thorne, it was so accurate he's actually going to get a few academic papers out of it.

It is, however, 100% CGI and as such outside of our purview as photographers... until now. Just a few days away from the movie's debut, Shanks FX and PBS decided to recreate the effect using all in-camera elements they've shown you how to create before.

A Durable DIY Remote Shutter Release Inspired by Mechanical Keyboards

British photographer and graphic designer Jake Howe recently began using a mechanical keyboard, and soon afterward he began wondering whether the same sturdy design could be used for a remote shutter release for his camera.

After some tinkering, Howe ended up making a sturdy and functional remote that features a one-of-a-kind design and a super sturdy build.

How I Built a Huge Gigapixel Panoramic Robot

Today I want to share how I created a few huge, Gigapixel photos, using a DIY panoramic head. Actually, it is not a panoramic head, because it not only goes right and left, but also up and down.

Photographer Turns a Pumpkin Into an Instant Camera with a Holga Lens and Polaroid Back

Halloween is only a few days away, and while there's plenty of photography themed carvings and Photoshop tutorials and other such shenanigans floating around, artist and photographer Nic Persinger might have just one-upped them all.

When his neighbors threw a pumpkin carving party, he decided to carve his into a camera... an actual, working instant camera with a Holga lens and Polaroid back and.

Clever $15 DIY Gear Hack Straps All Your Stray Light Stands Together for Easy Carrying

When it comes to carrying light stands, it’s usually best to use a dedicated case so they don’t get damaged and carrying them is less of a hassle. But there are times when a case isn’t a viable option. This usually leaves you struggling to carry them all at once or making multiple trips to the car just to get your light stands.

Thankfully, Dave Bode from Tuts Plus has come up with a cheap and clever gear-hack that makes carrying several mismatched light stands a lot less awkward.

Make a Rain Machine to Spice Up Your Portraits for $20 and Some Elbow Grease

When Benjamin Von Wong was commissioned to do a series of black and white portraits of SmugMug employees for the company’s gym, he knew he wasn’t going to be taking the easy route. But just because he was going to try to do something really cool, didn’t mean things needed to get expensive.

To spice up the sporty portraits, Von Wong decided to add water into the equation, and thanks to some help from the folks at SmugMug, they were able to make it rain for only $20.

DIY: How to Create an Entire Darkroom In a 3.5×7-Foot Closet

Do you love the smell of fixer on your fingertips and the ominous red glow of the safety light, but don't have enough space to build your very own darkroom at home? Well, you might want to reevaluate your definition of "enough."

Instructables user wackybit recently managed to pack an entire darkroom into a decent-sized closet. And rather than keeping it a secret, he was kind enough to share his entire setup with the rest of us poor darkroom-less mortals.

This Experimental, Single Pixel Digital Camera Takes Color Pictures

A single pixel color digital camera sounds an awful lot like a camera that captures a single bright red, green or blue dot, but when scientist Ben Greer set out to build his own single pixel camera, that's not what he was creating at all.

No, by moving a little autmatic arm in front of the sensor, scanning the scene multiple times, and then getting into a bit of math, he built something that can take actual pictures.

Interesting New ‘Donut Selfie’ Technique Makes for Cool Travel-Lapse Videos

Have you ever heard of the ‘donut selfie’? Probably not since it was just 'debuted' today, but it's actually pretty neat. A donut selfie is an interesting take on the video selfie that uses a panoramic technique to create a perpetual, seamless selfie across multiple locations.

We've seen similar techniques before, but never anything quite like Karen X. Cheng's new 'donut' version. Plus, you can create one from start to finish using just a phone.

A Custom-Built On-Location Tethering Workstation Complete with Speakers and a Place for Everything

For years and years I’ve worked on location, slowly I’ve moved over to tethered shooting and past two years I have been trying to shoot tethered as much as possible, I’m a big fan of it and I find it can really help a shoot and improve the images overall when everyone knows what they are working towards.

For those of you who aren’t up to speed on tethering it is effective connecting your camera to your computer and shooting to the hard drive on the computer rather than the memory card on the camera. There are a variety of advantages to using this method (speed, accuracy and client feedback amongst them) but there are hundreds of articles on various blogs about tethering so if you want to start using it just give it a google search. This post will be focusing on my case rather than the principles of tethered shooting.

Math and Photography: How to Capture a Pellet Piercing a Water Drop

Water droplets can make for some beautiful high-speed photography, but how do photographers manage to capture such precise moments? And what if you add even more elements to the equation, such as shooting a tiny pellet through the drop as it reaches its peak?

While repetition and luck are one option, a far better approach is to use a clever triggering system called the Camera Axe.

Video Tutorial Shows You How to Mount and Frame Your Own Photographs

While many of us leave it up to the labs to print and mount our photographs, there are those who would like to try their own hand at it. For those more adventurous folks, Tony Roslund has put together a video tutorial that walks you through the process of printing and framing your own photographs from start to finish.

Make a Beautiful DIY Camera Bag from a Pair of Jeans and an Old Laptop Bag

When it comes to camera bags, there’s no such thing as perfect. But if you’re looking to get as close to perfect for you as possible, the best way to go about it is probably to create your own.

That's exactly what Intructables user inspiredwood did with some help from his sewing skills, an old pair of jeans, and laptop bag he didn't need any more. The result is a unique, functional, upcycled camera bag that looks great to boot!

How I Built a Lightbox for $0

I'm 39 weeks into a 52 week project. Every week I go to this Art Prompt Generator for a random prompt and then spend a week taking a photo to match the prompt. This week was "Candy". I wasn't getting great results taking pictures of candy on plates, counters or other mundane surfaces so I thought I'd try a lightbox.

DIY: Noticeably Improve Your Macro Photography with a Cheap Plastic Cup

Hand-held macro photography presents a lot of challenges, but three of the most prevalent are: subject movement, camera shake, and harsh shadows. Fortunately, you don't have to carry around a bunch of gear to solve these issues. In fact, a cheap plastic cup will do the trick all by itself!

DIY: How to Build a Brute but Bright LED Ring Light

If you’ve been looking to get your hands on an LED ring light but don’t have the cash to burn, this weekend project is just for you. It’s called the Octo-Light, and it’s a DIY LED ring light create by Instructables user comsa42.

‘Steampunk’ DIY Camera Obscura Made with a Flatbed Scanner, Magnifying Glass and Gold Duct Tape

Joe Barone is a recent college grad who enjoys the process as much as the result. Inspired by his love for old objects, knack for tinkering with things and growing up in his parents’ hardware store, Barone brought the camera obscure into the 21st century recently with the help of an old scanner, a magnifying glass and duct tape... well, gold duct tape.

The result is a glorious steampunk-esque contraption that yields some rather impressive images.

DIY: How to Turn Your Canon T2i Into a Full-Fledged Infrared Camera

“Until the 20th century, 'reality' was everything humans could touch, smell, see and hear. Since the initial publication of the chartered electromagnetic spectrum... humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see and hear is less than one millionth of reality.”

DIY Tip: Using a Shower Curtain as a Diffuser

Sometimes we’re left working with inconsistent or otherwise less-than-ideal light sources. And while we can’t always make bad light good, we can certainly control some of the light quality if we get creative. Showing just how to do that is this clever little DIY Diffusion tip by the guys over at Film Riot.

Pro Tip: How to Wrap Cables with Duct Tape Without Getting Them Sticky

Duct tape can often be a photographer's best friend. Cable management can often be a nightmare. The two don't naturally combine very well though, since duct tape can leave sticky reside on your cords after its removed.

If you ever need to wrap up cables and don't have any twist- or zip-ties on hand, here's how you can use duct tape to wrap cables without the cables getting sticky.

18-Year-Old Retrofits an Old Konica Rangefinder with a Sony NEX APS-C Sensor, and It Works

There are only a small number of cameras on the market these days that allow you to shoot digital photos while manually focusing with a working rangefinder. These cameras also cost quite a bit, so they're not exactly the type of thing most enthusiasts can pick up on a whim and play with.

Ollie Baker wanted one, but instead of paying the big bucks for one, he decided to convert an old film rangefinder into a working digital rangefinder.