[q] Open Source Photo adapters project

<p>While recently looking into lens interchangeability and digital back compatibility of Bronica ETRS system, I have seen prices of basic metal plate adapters as high is 900 USD (this is for bronica to Hasselblad v back adapter)<br>

<br />I has to be somewhat strange, that in a day and age of 3d printers, CAD machining, global open source efforts -- that the photo enthusiasts still get to pay hundreds of dollars for what essentially amounts to 'notepad-like' word processor for DOS OS.</p>

<p>Does anybody know if there is an open source repository of cad/3d printer blue prints of the basic mechanical adapters for photo gear (back adapters, lens adapters, battery adapters, etc)<br>

So that one could organize a 'group buy' of a machined/3d printed product based on those blue prints.<br>

thx</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Well, I hope there is (or, there will be) one! <br>

Certainly, a very good idea... </p>

<p>Well,<br>

Outside of photography I am a Mechanical Engineer. There might be legal ramifications as outlined in this <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2011/04/the-next-napster-copyright-questions-as-3d-printing-comes-of-age/">article</a>. Legal considerations aside, I am guessing that most of these are made-to-order parts with tooling and blank costs being amortized over very few orders per year. 3D printing might be an elegant solution if questions of strength and durability can be engineered around.<br>

If I could learn what design considerations are (optically and dimensionally) then I am sure we could come up with some prototype designs that can be 3D printed. Could anyone who has a better grounding in optics shed light on these?<br>

Suresh</p>

<p>@C Watson. Open source hardware allows to separate 'design' from 'manufacturing'.<br>

And therefore allows for demand to drive manufacturing independently of the design.<br>

Manufacturing is paid for the buyers at the time of 'demand' -- that's why I mentioned 'group buy' of an already designed adapter. This was meant for the 'manufacturing'.<br>

Designers do open source designs (at least initially) to advance their resumes, contribute to the community, or number of other goals (they do not necessarily immediately expect compensatory demand for their efforts).<br>

There are number of open hardware projects, their licensing terms/etc.<br>

<a href="http://microfactoria.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/from-software-to-hardware/">http://microfactoria.wordpress.com/2011/12/09/from-software-to-hardware/</a></p>