Personalize your Canon with these 3D printed lens hoods
posted Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 1:00 PM EDT
In general, there's not much room for customization in the world of photography — it tends to be a world of matte black and subtle metal accents (barring the occasional Pentax variant or gold modification). But a Dutch 3D printer has created a way of adding a bit of interesting color and texture to your camera: 3D printed lens hoods called Kapsones.
Rather than the usual, understated look of a traditional lens hood, these are available in a range of four textures: baroque, knitted, stealth, and street, and all of which come in an array of colors. They're also lens specific, and as you purchase one, you have to select if you want it for the Canon EF 28-80 3.5-5.6 II, Canon EF 28-90mm f/4-5.6 III, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, or Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS II. Hopefully that means that they're designed specifically for each lens and its focal length, and won't vignette. With a €19.95 (around $27) pricetag, they're not hideously expensive either.
As of right now, they're Canon only, and there are just a few options — but for some reason the knitted version contains a reference to NIKON 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6, so Nikon versions may be in the works.
There are, however, technical issues to be aware of. Lens hoods are thick, matte black plastic for a reason: you want to block incoming light. With colored plastic like this, we have no idea if they'll be translucent when exposed to extreme light, or even reflect a color cast on your lens, which would make for some very strange images.
But this also shows one of the more interesting potential uses for 3D printing for cameras. With a 3D printer, it would be child's play to make new lenscaps, cold-shoe mounts, basic grips, and more. There's a lot of potential for affordable accessories once 3D printers become widespread and affordable.
(via Gizmodo)
