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This is a review of the Goodman Zone camera which is a 3D printed thing that takes Mamiya Press lenses and Mamiya RB67 backs. (not Pro or SD)
I ordered this wanting a really small and portable medium format offering as I have a couple of spare backs for the RB. My MF experience has been with the RB67 (lolsmallandportable) and the Pentax 645n which has a small footprint, but has the relatively small 6x4.5 negative as well as needing batteries.
You can print this at home yourself, or do what I did and order a kit.
Dora Goodman does an assembly video, which is... not great... Although, hopefully with this post it will be a bit easier. Someone once asked me to write a process for making a cup of tea, and it's surprisingly easy to miss out key steps because you assume that everyone knows what to do. The instructional videos feel a bit like that. I guess Dora has built so many of these, that she just takes stuff for granted that idiots like me just miss out completely.
The camera comes in a cardboard box, with the main body, accessories, and lots of screws and nuts. It overwhelmed me to begin with, but it's actually pretty straightforward once you know what you're doing - which I did after I'd disassembled the thing several times...
Before you start, arrange all the small bits into similar piles. All the small nuts, the less-small nuts, the big screws, the small screws, the slightly shorter screws and the threaded locking pins. Any additional bits you need for your accessories will be here too so don't worry if you have far more than the video shows.
The camera body is actually pretty much finished. All the screws and nuts are for attaching things. So if you've bought the grip, or the release mount, or the hotshoe, or the smartphone holder, you'll want to figure out where these go because the video doesn't explain it. The 2 attachments that every camera will need though are the lens mount and the back mount.
The front of the camera is the circular hole. The rear is the rectangle. The less obvious is the top and bottom. The *bottom* has "Goodman Zone" engraved on it, and has *no* recesses for the skin. It also only has a single hole for a locking pin, whereas the top has 4 holes for attachments. There are tripod mounts on both the top and bottom as well as a side, so you can't use this as a reference. You'd do well to figure out which is the top, and where all the attachments you bought will sit. Every attachment has a pair of holes used to secure it to the body and they're a set distance apart, so you can marry them up with the holes on the body. Once you're happy with what goes where (I used the promo pics to figure out where things like the cable release holder went) it's much easier to put together.
Step 1. Putting the small nuts in. There are 13 tiny nuts that all need sliding into slots. The video shows where they are, and once they have the screws in place, they stay in. However the video doesn't show any screws going in so as soon as you attempt step 2, the nuts fall out all over the place. My suggestion would be to take all the smaller screws and screw them in so that they bite into the nuts and stop everything falling out.
Step 2. Putting the big nuts in. This was a huge pain. There are recesses in the body to take the nuts, but they don't push fit in (on my one anyway). So you have to hold the nut in place with one finger whilst you screw from the other side. Dora makes this look very easy with her slim fingers but I was just a pile of cursing fat fingered frustration. If you have either the grip or the strap assembly (optional attachments) then you might as well attach them now. The Grip will go on the left or right side of the camera body. It needs to be angled towards the front of the camera. If you have the Strap holder and D rings for attaching a strap, the grip *must* go on the *right* side of the body because the strap holder *has* to go on the left. The darkside assembly on the RB67 back interferes with the strap holder otherwise. The 4 big nuts on the front of the camera are used to hold the lens & mount in place, so again, if you have the lens, you may as well attach it now. The 'how to' for this is a bit later in the video. With the attachments in place, it's much easier to "pull" the nut into the recesses, and once it's in, it's in. If you don't do this, the nut won't pull into the hole and when you take the screw out, the nut will fall out of the camera, onto the floor, and cause lots of cursing when you get down on hands and knees to look for it.
Step 2a. The lens attachment is the weakest design part of the whole thing. It's not fixed in place, it sits in place and then instead of being screwed down, you use a locking pin from the side. This has caused me immense problems with light leaks, and only a blu-tack ring around the lens mount has resolved this. Comms with Dora were very much "this has never happened before", so it's entirely plausible that I am an idiot, but even now that it's fixed, I daren't go out casually walking with this as there is a high chance the lens could just fall off.
Step 3. Putting the locking pins in. This is where you take out your holding screws that you attached in step 1 for the lens locking pin on the base of the camera and the 4 locking pins at the back of the camera that are used to lock the RB67 back to the body. Don't over tighten these screws, you can crack the back or the case. Don't under-tighten these screws, the back will fall off. Use the force Luke. Yay. Again, I have not got the tension right here and ended upm with a back that is just not as easy to use as it is on the RB.
Step 4. Attachments. Now you need to arrange your attachments and figure out where you want them (if you didn't do that in step 2). The cable release holder *has* to go on the opposite side to the grip because your knuckles won't fit around the grip
with it on the same side. The strap holder *has* to go on the left side otherwise the back won't sit flush (and thus light tight).
Step 4. Taking it all apart again. To put the skin on the camera, you need to have all the accessories off, so either do it at the beginning, or you'll need to disassemble.
Step 5. It's not obvious in the assembly video, but you get an adhesive felt "patch" with the camera which you need to cut up to make light seals for the back. There's a separate video on Dora's channel. Seems straightforward, but don't forget to do it.
Step 6. Do a final check for holes you haven't plugged with screws, and make sure any partially threaded screws you put on in step 1 are tightened. All these holes go through the body and will be a source of light leak if you don't make sure they're plugged.
Overall, I picked up the Zone at a discounted price, and feel (without calling out anyone specifically) that really this wasn't up to the standard of other 3D printed cameras and camera equipment. The issues stem from the lens mount and the back mount - which are key points. The back isn't so bad, because you can play with the screw tension to get it right. i.e. screw until the back stops working then untighten half a turn. The lens though is a different story, and after ordering the lens from Japan, I was relly pigged off that the mounting system seemed so amateurish. On my first attempt the lens literally fell off the camera and I had to email Dora to make sure I was doing it right. I was - just needed to be tighter - but not too tight or I'd break the lens....
So this is a "not recommended" from me. With 20/20 hindsight I really should have just coughed up the extra dough for a Chroma Snapshot [and a futuristic RB back assembly.] Steve - if you want the body for testing etc, let me know and I'll send it through to you. It'll be more use than the bin sadly.
Afterword: I feel bad about being negative for something filmy, but with new products like Intrepid & Chroma that seem to get great reviews, I was really dissappointed with the Zone. It's just a reminder that whilst some things are great, others are not so (Also lol Jollylook). The refund policy on the Zone requires sending everything back in tip top condition and I (stupidly) attached some Airfix transfers to mine, as well as chucking away packaging because I trusted it would be OK. Obviously you need to pay return postage too which in my mind is like throwing good money after bad. The reason I can't refund though is my own fault. Please take that into account while reading.
The Emulsive.org review has similar things to say around the "tweakage" needed to get it working. I have neither the time or patience for that sadly
I ordered this wanting a really small and portable medium format offering as I have a couple of spare backs for the RB. My MF experience has been with the RB67 (lolsmallandportable) and the Pentax 645n which has a small footprint, but has the relatively small 6x4.5 negative as well as needing batteries.
You can print this at home yourself, or do what I did and order a kit.
Dora Goodman does an assembly video, which is... not great... Although, hopefully with this post it will be a bit easier. Someone once asked me to write a process for making a cup of tea, and it's surprisingly easy to miss out key steps because you assume that everyone knows what to do. The instructional videos feel a bit like that. I guess Dora has built so many of these, that she just takes stuff for granted that idiots like me just miss out completely.
The camera comes in a cardboard box, with the main body, accessories, and lots of screws and nuts. It overwhelmed me to begin with, but it's actually pretty straightforward once you know what you're doing - which I did after I'd disassembled the thing several times...
Before you start, arrange all the small bits into similar piles. All the small nuts, the less-small nuts, the big screws, the small screws, the slightly shorter screws and the threaded locking pins. Any additional bits you need for your accessories will be here too so don't worry if you have far more than the video shows.
The camera body is actually pretty much finished. All the screws and nuts are for attaching things. So if you've bought the grip, or the release mount, or the hotshoe, or the smartphone holder, you'll want to figure out where these go because the video doesn't explain it. The 2 attachments that every camera will need though are the lens mount and the back mount.
The front of the camera is the circular hole. The rear is the rectangle. The less obvious is the top and bottom. The *bottom* has "Goodman Zone" engraved on it, and has *no* recesses for the skin. It also only has a single hole for a locking pin, whereas the top has 4 holes for attachments. There are tripod mounts on both the top and bottom as well as a side, so you can't use this as a reference. You'd do well to figure out which is the top, and where all the attachments you bought will sit. Every attachment has a pair of holes used to secure it to the body and they're a set distance apart, so you can marry them up with the holes on the body. Once you're happy with what goes where (I used the promo pics to figure out where things like the cable release holder went) it's much easier to put together.
Step 1. Putting the small nuts in. There are 13 tiny nuts that all need sliding into slots. The video shows where they are, and once they have the screws in place, they stay in. However the video doesn't show any screws going in so as soon as you attempt step 2, the nuts fall out all over the place. My suggestion would be to take all the smaller screws and screw them in so that they bite into the nuts and stop everything falling out.
Step 2. Putting the big nuts in. This was a huge pain. There are recesses in the body to take the nuts, but they don't push fit in (on my one anyway). So you have to hold the nut in place with one finger whilst you screw from the other side. Dora makes this look very easy with her slim fingers but I was just a pile of cursing fat fingered frustration. If you have either the grip or the strap assembly (optional attachments) then you might as well attach them now. The Grip will go on the left or right side of the camera body. It needs to be angled towards the front of the camera. If you have the Strap holder and D rings for attaching a strap, the grip *must* go on the *right* side of the body because the strap holder *has* to go on the left. The darkside assembly on the RB67 back interferes with the strap holder otherwise. The 4 big nuts on the front of the camera are used to hold the lens & mount in place, so again, if you have the lens, you may as well attach it now. The 'how to' for this is a bit later in the video. With the attachments in place, it's much easier to "pull" the nut into the recesses, and once it's in, it's in. If you don't do this, the nut won't pull into the hole and when you take the screw out, the nut will fall out of the camera, onto the floor, and cause lots of cursing when you get down on hands and knees to look for it.
Step 2a. The lens attachment is the weakest design part of the whole thing. It's not fixed in place, it sits in place and then instead of being screwed down, you use a locking pin from the side. This has caused me immense problems with light leaks, and only a blu-tack ring around the lens mount has resolved this. Comms with Dora were very much "this has never happened before", so it's entirely plausible that I am an idiot, but even now that it's fixed, I daren't go out casually walking with this as there is a high chance the lens could just fall off.
Step 3. Putting the locking pins in. This is where you take out your holding screws that you attached in step 1 for the lens locking pin on the base of the camera and the 4 locking pins at the back of the camera that are used to lock the RB67 back to the body. Don't over tighten these screws, you can crack the back or the case. Don't under-tighten these screws, the back will fall off. Use the force Luke. Yay. Again, I have not got the tension right here and ended upm with a back that is just not as easy to use as it is on the RB.
Step 4. Attachments. Now you need to arrange your attachments and figure out where you want them (if you didn't do that in step 2). The cable release holder *has* to go on the opposite side to the grip because your knuckles won't fit around the grip
with it on the same side. The strap holder *has* to go on the left side otherwise the back won't sit flush (and thus light tight).
Step 4. Taking it all apart again. To put the skin on the camera, you need to have all the accessories off, so either do it at the beginning, or you'll need to disassemble.
Step 5. It's not obvious in the assembly video, but you get an adhesive felt "patch" with the camera which you need to cut up to make light seals for the back. There's a separate video on Dora's channel. Seems straightforward, but don't forget to do it.
Step 6. Do a final check for holes you haven't plugged with screws, and make sure any partially threaded screws you put on in step 1 are tightened. All these holes go through the body and will be a source of light leak if you don't make sure they're plugged.
Overall, I picked up the Zone at a discounted price, and feel (without calling out anyone specifically) that really this wasn't up to the standard of other 3D printed cameras and camera equipment. The issues stem from the lens mount and the back mount - which are key points. The back isn't so bad, because you can play with the screw tension to get it right. i.e. screw until the back stops working then untighten half a turn. The lens though is a different story, and after ordering the lens from Japan, I was relly pigged off that the mounting system seemed so amateurish. On my first attempt the lens literally fell off the camera and I had to email Dora to make sure I was doing it right. I was - just needed to be tighter - but not too tight or I'd break the lens....
So this is a "not recommended" from me. With 20/20 hindsight I really should have just coughed up the extra dough for a Chroma Snapshot [and a futuristic RB back assembly.] Steve - if you want the body for testing etc, let me know and I'll send it through to you. It'll be more use than the bin sadly.
Afterword: I feel bad about being negative for something filmy, but with new products like Intrepid & Chroma that seem to get great reviews, I was really dissappointed with the Zone. It's just a reminder that whilst some things are great, others are not so (Also lol Jollylook). The refund policy on the Zone requires sending everything back in tip top condition and I (stupidly) attached some Airfix transfers to mine, as well as chucking away packaging because I trusted it would be OK. Obviously you need to pay return postage too which in my mind is like throwing good money after bad. The reason I can't refund though is my own fault. Please take that into account while reading.
The Emulsive.org review has similar things to say around the "tweakage" needed to get it working. I have neither the time or patience for that sadly
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