Official Chroma Camera Thread - All questions/suggestions/feedback appreciated

Double Glass m39/139 mount lens now available for immediate shipping!

If you've been waiting to pick up your own Double Glass lens, I now have a small batch of 60 available on my website. There is a link in my bio to the page.

All lenses now come with a 49mm pinch cap and a custom-designed twist lock hard case to protect your lens during those rare times that you don't have it mounted on a camera. The hard case measures 60mm diameter and only 23mm thick so can be easily kept in your pocket or bag so you will always have an ultra-compact symmetrical element 24mm F11 snapshot lens to hand.

l've also added the option to include a 24mm accessory viewfinder (coldshoe mount) with your lens to make composition simple either for cameras that don't have 24mm trame lines or simply to tocus your view instead of using the screen on your digital Mirrorless body. I took all of these example images with my Sony A7 mk1 camera.





Cheers
Steve

My Chroma Click arrived yesterday. I've only had a couple of quick looks at it but first impressions are that the manufacture and design is of extremely high quality. Some nice touches especially the winding on mechanism and the associated frame spacing.

I'll start a mini thread about it in the next couple of days.

My new "FX-Six" multi format 120 system.




After launching the 6x17 format “FX617” in 2025, with its’ simplified fixed body design, I’ve been working on a smaller version that offers three different frame sizes; 6x12, 6x9 and 6x6 in one compact system and am happy to announce that my new FX-Six is now available to order from my website HERE
The FX-Six shares compatibility with the lens cones from the Six12 camera system, offering options from ultra wide to telephoto as well as pinhole. The FX-Six also comes with 4 slot-in frame masks to switch between formats. As the camera is a fixed body design, the frame masks are fitted before loading film and left in place until the film is complete.





The camera also comes with a drop in ground glass which can be fitted in place before loading film to check composition/focus, and to set your own preferred focus distance markings on the focusing helicoid.



Like my other cameras, the FX-Six comes as a ready to go setup, including the lens cone/lens board of your choice and ground glass. You just need to mount your lens to the lens board and load film. Available in a range of colours and built to order, ranging from £295 to £340 depending on the helicoid size required.

Cheers
Steve

stevelmx5 said:

My new "FX-Six" multi format 120 system.


View attachment 479615

After launching the 6x17 format “FX617” in 2025, with its’ simplified fixed body design, I’ve been working on a smaller version that offers three different frame sizes; 6x12, 6x9 and 6x6 in one compact system and am happy to announce that my new FX-Six is now available to order from my website HERE
The FX-Six shares compatibility with the lens cones from the Six12 camera system, offering options from ultra wide to telephoto as well as pinhole. The FX-Six also comes with 4 slot-in frame masks to switch between formats. As the camera is a fixed body design, the frame masks are fitted before loading film and left in place until the film is complete.

View attachment 479616

View attachment 479617

The camera also comes with a drop in ground glass which can be fitted in place before loading film to check composition/focus, and to set your own preferred focus distance markings on the focusing helicoid.

View attachment 479618

Like my other cameras, the FX-Six comes as a ready to go setup, including the lens cone/lens board of your choice and ground glass. You just need to mount your lens to the lens board and load film. Available in a range of colours and built to order, ranging from £295 to £340 depending on the helicoid size required.

Cheers
Steve

Click to expand...

Ooh, interesting. I'll have a look at that later on your website.

They're not massively exciting but I've just uploaded 4 short videos showing how to disassemble my Six17, along with others showing how to mount the ground glass, how to load film and how to focus using the helicoids that I use on all of my cameras. They're all on my Youtube Channel;

https://www.youtube.com/@chromacameras1715/videos

I had an idea a few days ago to design a modern version of the humble matchbox pinhole camera. I always try to keep my designs simple, but wanted to strip back entirely to see how compact I can build a 24x36 pinhole camera.

I started by designing a simple film path to keep the film flat without needing any pressure plate/rear door etc. The simplest way to do this is to use two 45 degree rebates to retain the film.

I then took that basic film path and integrated it into a simple box design,;



The film canister is secured with friction and the film opening slots into a light-tight rebate in the box. Once I was happy with the fit/finish I then worked on the retaining tab for the film canister to slim it down and keep the camera as compact as possible;



Next up I needed a removable pinhole/shutter unit so that I can feed the film through the camera and a similar light tight slot on the other side then fit the light tight shutter over the top;



It's the simplest shutter possible (other than your hand!), with a friction mounted arm that covers/uncovers the pinhole with a 45 degree movement and stays in place whether open or closed.



The pinhole is the one I use for all of my cameras, 0.2mm from James Guerin at Reality So Subtle, held in place with a friction fit locking ring from behind.



Once I was happy with the lock for the film canister and shutter design I then mirrored the camera in my 3d modelling software (Fusion360) and built the finalised body. I ended up rotating the shutter by 90 degrees to move it away from the take up film cartridge and keep the camera as compact as possible;



I've also added in a simple clicker for frame spacing. As you wind on just count 9 'clicks' and the spacing will be spot on for the 24x36 frame. The clicker moves both ways so you can also rewind the film back into the canister at the end! (There's no tension in the film here, hence the slightly wobbly looking film path)



I'm just drawing up a simple removable bracket to mount the camera to a standard tripod now and it will be finished. Current total weight, with both film cartridges in place, is 94g so I think that's as light as I can possibly make it whilst still delivering decent pinhole results.

With a 0.2mm pinhole and 15mm 'focal length', the camera has an effective aperture of F75 so should be relatively easy to use in normal daylight. I've got some reloadable 35mm cassettes on the way so I'll put a film through it as soon as I can.

Not bad for 2 days of design/iteration work, and a pile of test prints!

Tripod mount drawn up and on the printer now. Standard 1/4" thread using a simple steel nut embedded from the back.

Now with tripod mount, weighing 97g