Oct. 6, 2014 | By Alec
As just about any Facebook account will tell you, photography is one of the most widely used mediums for expressing oneself. However, is there a creative side to photography that hasn't yet been explored?
Panasonic designers seem to think there is, as they have developed a variety of 3D printed covers for their widely used LUMIX GM1 compact cameras. The idea is that these will allow users to not only express themselves through their photographs, but also through the medium used to take these photographs. Panasonic's Marketing Manager Sebastian Drawert remarked that it is something they've been wanting to do for some time: 'the idea of using 3D Printing in customization of Lumix digital still cameras is something we've been watching closely.'
The camera covers were developed and created as a collaboration between Panasonic, German design studio WertelOberfell and the 3D printing and design company Materialise. Their first range of custom camera covers were unveiled at the Photokina fair in Cologne, Germany, in late September.
Photos of three different covers were revealed, each intended to reflect a particular period in photographical history. As Jan Wertel, one of the designers from WertelOberfell, said on their website, 'The project was inspired by different design epochs such as art nouveau, modernism and digitalism, and pushes the boundaries of additive manufacturing in terms of detailing and material thicknesses – or rather thinness. Together with the engineers from Materialise, we realized very fine yet strong structures with different kinds of finishes.'
And this is certainly reflected in the results, as can be seen in the photographs. All three covers don't seem to be necessarily 3D printed, but instead convey three really different styles in photography. The printing itself was done by that Materialise's 'Factory for 3D Printing', which has worked on a vast number of design projects in the past. For this specific project, they used an unnamed high-resolution printer 'to achieve the highest level of details, and dedicated post-processing techniques for visual and functional features.'
Speaking about the collaboration, Jurgen Laudus, Director of Materialise's 3D printing department said that '3D Printing has introduced a new way of thinking about design and manufacturing. It's been exciting to work with Panasonic and WertelOberfell to fully explore the freedom of design and the benefit of a possible cost-effective small-series production. It clearly turned out to be the ideal technology for the custom LUMIX parts we've created.'
Sadly, none of the three partners revealed when these covers would become available to the public. Seeing the results, however, we would not be at all surprised if they will hit the shelves soon. Perhaps 3D printing is enabling a future where not just our phones have personalized covers…
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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