terraPin OSKAR Tuxedo 6X9 Lochkamera

The terraPin OSKAR Tuxedo 6X9 pinhole camera is easy to print and assemble, requiring but a single lock nut and bolt for the shutter and a flanged 1/4-20 nut for the tripod mount. The 29 mm 'focal length' provides for a wide angle (approx. 110 degrees) and just a bit of optical vignetting at the corners of the 6X9 frame, for a classic pinhole look. OSKAR is designed for a pinhole diameter of 0.23 mm, but that's not a critical dimension. Exposure charts for a variety of films are included in the Thing Files.

The OSKAR Tuxedo has recesses in the front and back for decorative purposes. I have used leatherette from CameraLeather.com and cherry veneer from rockler.com, but you could use topographic maps, postcards, your kids artwork! There is a template file for cutting the sheet material to fit.

NEW
There are now .SVG files for the decorative panels for your lasercutting / CNC pleasure!

Additional knob options added!
See terraPin High-Strength Winder (1/4" shaft) for additional winder/knob options!

While the center of the frame is f/135, I recommend shooting it a little slower at f/165 to balance the exposure differences between the middle and edges of the frame. Also, for best results, a film with good exposure latitude is necessary: B&W or color negative film. Slide film may experience unexpected color shifts at the periphery.

Load the film on the RIGHT side and wind on the LEFT side. The frame index numbers will be visible in the window behind the slide. I 3Dprint translucent discs to glue into the recess inside the camera body.

A pinhole camera is essentially a light-tight box with a teeny, tiny hole. After that, everything else is embellishment. I've designed a dozen or more pinhole cameras for 3D printing, the first couple being being rough exercises in ugly. Subsequent iterations feature details like knurled textures, clever joinery inspired by fine woodworking, and better solutions to assembly. Not only do my more recent cameras go together and work better, they look better. The P6*6, endures as a popular pinhole camera on Thingiverse, but it's difficult to assemble and fiddly to shoot. I consider it obsolete.

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“If today's arts love the machine, technology and organization, if they aspire to precision and reject anything vague and dreamy, this implies an instinctive repudiation of chaos and a longing to find the form appropriate to our times.”
– Oskar Schlemmer, member of the Bauhaus School

Long before the Goth-Punk Band, the Bauhaus School aimed to "to reimagine the material world to reflect the unity of all the arts". The Bauhaus principles were extremely influential on modern design, architecture, graphics, interior design and typography. Historians characterize Bauhaus-style buildings with a prevailing harmony between design and function and a noticeable lack of ornamentation. The Bauhaus school's approach of unifying art and craft with technology also influenced design education. The teaching philosophy at the Bauhaus school was that artists should be capable of working with the industrialists.

The Bauhaus fell under criticism as the Nazis began to rise to power. The Nazi government deemed the new modern lines favored by the Bauhaus "un-German," and controversy arose regarding radical architectural concepts, such as flat roofs. From its early beginnings, the Nazis viewed the work of the Bauhaus as "degenerate art" and the product of "undesirable" foreign influences. Many of the Bauhaus artists fled Germany after Hitler came to power. The emigrating artists helped spread the Bauhaus design principles worldwide and brought about a major change in architectural design in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Israel.

3D printing takes mass production and democratizes it, distributing the production of real things, from whimsical to useful, to the hands of those who would have them. I see this as a logical evolution from Bauhaus design principles. The terraPin OSKAR is my 21st century response to the Bauhaus school of design. I hope you 3D print OSKAR and use it to make disruptive and degenerate art. A little disruption right now couldn't hurt.

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