Customer Spotlight

Meet Felipe and their DIY build!

Jan 03, 2026

First off, I formally want to say happy new year and thank you for following along this camera hacking journey that started out last summer. Since launching the monochrome camera in November, I have been blown away by the creativity and ingenuity by customers building and using the camera. Seeing it being used in several different countries around the world has been the most rewarding part of this experience and I’m grateful for everyone’s support.

After seeing the work that people have been sharing with me, I felt like it would be great to share it with the larger group as well. As a result, I’m going to start doing customer spotlights on a regular basis whenever I receive their work.

The first person I want to introduce you to is Felipe bbartokk. Felipe is originally from Santiago, Chile and currently resides in Los Angeles. They went full DIY with this build and 3D printed the full camera. I honestly love the color combination:

I reached out to get some additional feedback on their experience with the build. From a challenge perspective, they experienced some tolerance issues when 3d printing the sensor and side plate. Felipe also recommended a more detailed BOM with purchase links to help with sourcing components such as the correct focal reducer.

Here is additional feedback on the process:

What is your favorite feature about the camera?

Besides the fact that I built it, I like how it takes me back to feeling like I am shooting film. There is no quick auto focus point and shoot. You have to slow down, think about the shot, and try to get the composition and exposure as best as possible.

What initially made you interested in building this project?

What made me interested was using a raspberry pi to build a camera. Long ago I shot film on medium format cameras and large format. I’ve looked for methods to digitize my large format camera. There have been a few projects but none as clear and detailed as the one you created. I looked up your web site and it looked like you really made an effort to make a project and provide all the tools for a DIY build. Some Pi projects show images but the software and hardware tend to be lacking, or support is dropped. You are continuously adding features and the finished product works very well. Lastly, I was interested in a monochrome camera. Leica makes one that is not in my budget so I was really excited to see this project.

Finally, here are some of their results! It’s still early days with the camera but I absolutely love what they’ve been able to capture so far. It was taken with a Pentax Takumar 35mm lens with a c mount focal reducer.