How DIY are you?

[fotophox]

Do you:

 

[John Bartley]

I didn't see an option for "all of the above"

.

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

All of the above.

 

[Mongo]

Just about all of the above...these should have been check boxes instead of radio buttons. The only one I've not done is to grind my own ground glass...I find the stuff from Dave (SatinSnow) to be wonderful and inexpensive, and the thought of making my own as boring, so I don't bother.

But I build and/or modify my own cameras because I want things that aren't available...I fix my own equipment because it's easy and cheap...I do all of my own work with my film and a lot of my own chemicals because it's a blast to do it. Actually...I do everything I do because I find it fulfilling. Forget the other reasons...I do these things for the simple pleasure of doing them.

 

[gandolfi]

DYI?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

DIY="Do It Yourself"

I do most of those things, but don't grind my own glass. I do some repairs, but nothing too complicated. Haven't built an entire camera, but I've modified them.

 

[Aggie]

The things I don't do is repairs, ground glass and build my own camera. This way I can blame someone else if they fail.

 

[joeyk49]

I'm trying most of the above...about 2/3...

no repairs, just yet.

 

[papagene]

Almost all of the above... don't shoot slide film. I have a very sloooooow project of building an 8x10 pinhole camera.

gene

 

[VoidoidRamone]

All but ground glass. I've only mounted my own slides a couple times, I've built a bunch of pinhole cameras, and I've done small repairs to my cheaper cameras. Everything else is pretty regular.
-Grant

 

[removed account4]

if a pinhole camera counts, i've done all but the ground glass.
i used to buy+repair falling plate cameras and resell them on feebay for a while there.

 

[Gary892]

I do all but grind my own glass, and build my own camera. I have learned a great deal doing the other things. You can always send a camera out for repairs after you have attempted you own

Gary

 

[Ole]

I don't mount my own prints. Except for that, I do it all.

 

[argus]

I'm so involved with building my own camera that I haven't seen the safelight glow of my darkroom in 3 weeks.

G

 

[sterioma]

Use my camera in manual mode 50% the time; develop my BW negatives (color goes to the lab). Hopefully print my own BW stuff soon (studying "The Print" right now...)

 

[TPPhotog]

I do the first 6.
"Mixing" I don't need to whilst Rodinal is available and I'm too lazy.
"Grinding" and "Building" I don't have the skills or patience to learn them.

 

[AllanD]

The first seven. I have quite a lot of home made stuff in the darkroom.

As time goes on, it may be that we will all have to become more proficient at DIY in order to keep analogue photography alive. Our equipment will not last forever, although I suspect the 1929 Compur dial-set shutter I have may well out live me....

 

[127]

My DIY skills are pretty non-existant, but my design skills are a bit better. I love designing stuff thats simple enough that even _I_ can build it. I did a 5x4 camera last year which worked pretty good - no movements or shutter (I will add a falling plate shutter to the design), but it worked pretty well!

A month or so ago it got warm enough to spend the afternoon out in the yard, and build a 5x4 enlarger - the illumination is a bit uneven, and it has some limitations on the image sizes it can produce, but considering it was a $10 lens, and $5 of wood, it was a fun afternoon, and it does actually work OK.

Repairs usually get sent out, as I'm just too careless to be let loose on expensive equipment.

Ian

 

[Nathan Smith]

All but mix my own developer (probably will soon) and build my own camera - I've been too busy fixing up all the great old cameras out there to do that. Seems like a fun exercise, but not all that practical to me - unless you're making something you can't find or afford otherwise, in that case it's very cool.

Nathan

 

[colrehogan]

The things I don't do is repairs, ground glass and build my own camera. This way I can blame someone else if they fail.

Me too. I use bought developers though. I could mix my own, but I don't.

 

[geraldatwork]

6ix of the above.

 

[lee]

I use 6 of the catagories


lee\c

 

[medform-norm]

no darkroom here, so that cancels some categories. For the rest very much DIY. All kinds of repairs, mainly + some home-grown oddities. Most of our cameras operate manually and none have auto-focus (errrrk). Basic rule: as little electronics as possible.

 

[Dandy97]

I built one of my 4x5 field cameras and I built a horizontal 8x10 enlarger that I still have. I also use my digi-cam in manual mode on vacations once in a while, does that count?

 

[jd callow]

I:
x Use an all-manual camera
x Develop your own negatives
x Make your own prints
x Mount your own prints
x Do your own repairs and damage (More the latter than the former)
x Mix up your own developer (as well as bleach, fix, hypo, & stabilizer)?

As well as:
x Matting, framing and glass cutting
x make my own easles and neg carriers
x Do my own plumbing
x Electrical
x Carpentry
x Camera and darkroom equipment repairs (except on my Mamiya 6)