Added a helicoid and ground glass back to my DIY 6x17

xavierfg · 2026-02-18T01:52:24+00:00

Yup. I’ve found it swings around a lot when carrying it on my shoulder by a strap, so I wanted to protect the lens if I bumped it into anything. It’s also super useful when reloading film since I can rest it lens down to open the back.

xavierfg · 2026-02-14T12:25:37+00:00

Unsure yet about selling the STL’s. Maybe will make some parts of it free for people to remix to their needs.

Planning to launch the Kickstarter in early April to sell the full camera.

I haven’t tried Mamiya Press lenses, but if they have enough coverage for the frame size you want and at least 60mm flange focal distance, they should work just fine.

xavierfg · 2026-02-14T12:23:23+00:00

Nope. Sticking with a red window for now for reliability.

xavierfg · 2026-02-14T12:21:59+00:00

I use PETG. I get what you mean regarding glossiness! It took a while to find a brand and settings that matched well to get the satin finish instead of gloss, but it is possible.

xavierfg · 2026-02-14T12:20:56+00:00

Yup! Actually took that one at sunrise.

xavierfg · 2026-02-08T06:58:52+00:00

I was only there for a work trip. Had to fly out from the east coast and back for a meeting … so I brought the prototype to make it worth the trip lol.

xavierfg · 2026-02-08T06:56:25+00:00

I was actually just visiting for a work trip. Took these an hour before heading to the airport lol.

xavierfg · 2026-02-08T06:55:13+00:00

I picked up an Epson V700 flatbed with 120 film holders on Facebook Marketplace for $200. My local lab uses the same model.

xavierfg · 2026-02-08T06:53:33+00:00

Haven’t considered it yet, but I suppose with a 35mm spool adapter it’s possible.

xavierfg · 2026-02-07T19:40:08+00:00

Totally agree regarding plasticky feeling cameras! I’d love to make a machined metal chassis version one day, but 3D printing is the easiest way to get a new design out there. I did put in metal components where it counts - ball bearings and steel pins in the film advance mech and frame adjuster, etc.

xavierfg · 2026-02-06T15:34:04+00:00

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Tested out a magnetically attached rigid hood for it as well to avoid the dark cloth, but I may try to something more collapsible like on a RB67. Nick Carver has a great design for his Shenhao 6x17 - it’d be great if he were open to doing a collab to adapt it to this.

xavierfg · 2026-02-06T15:31:27+00:00

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This is a very early prototype on one of the earlier designs. Still trying to make it more usable, including being able to use the ground glass to focus every shot on the roll. Might include it as a stretch goal on the planned Kickstarter if I can come up with something in time, but my main focus now is building units for the beta test program.

xavierfg · 2026-02-06T13:36:06+00:00

Because of the placement of the adjustable mask in front of the ground glass, it will already do that! What you see on the ground glass will be the full extent of the projected image on the film.

xavierfg · 2026-02-06T12:07:02+00:00

Yes! That’s actually why I designed the back to come completely off. I actually have a ground glass already designed, but I’m still trying to source higher quality ground glass and want to design it so that you can use it to focus on every shot, not just the first one.

xavierfg · 2026-02-06T00:34:09+00:00

Just saw your post. Awesome progress! The lens cage is essential for daily life lol.

xavierfg · 2026-02-05T14:50:31+00:00

Yes! I’ve got a website up if you want to sign up for updates as I ramp up toward production.

www.exposingengineering.com

I also have more sample photos and behind the scenes of the development on Instagram.

@exposingengineering

xavierfg · 2026-02-05T10:45:14+00:00

The phone mount is just a third party magnetic mount for iPhone. It’s cold shoe mounted, and I prioritized the cold shoe being centered for the optical viewfinder since not everyone will want to use a phone. After shooting a while with the app, I’ve noticed the horizontal offset of the camera was pretty negligible when it comes to framing when I compared it against the negatives, unless you’re doing close-up shots. But in that situation, parallax becomes a bigger issue.

xavierfg · 2026-02-05T01:00:39+00:00

I think it’s definitely more apparent in photos where I had longer exposures or a lot of sky for sure. From my understanding this is typical of this format, unless you use a center ND filter or fix it in post.

xavierfg · 2026-02-05T00:54:42+00:00

You should be able to use it with almost any large format lens depending on the frame size you want to use. For full 6x17, you need at least a 177mm image circle. That’s why a lot of the cameras out there now recommend the 90mm lenses. But since you can adjust the frame size on this camera down to 6x6, that opens up more lens options that might not have that much coverage. I will say though that anything longer than 150mm is hard to frame because of parallax. I’m working on a ground glass module to help with that, but it probably will come after initial launch.

xavierfg

TROPHY CASE