Report By: Nina Rai Date: 14 August, 2011 Here is a terrific bit of news, good enough to warm the hearts ofgizmo buffs of the world – a 55x40 mm pocket-sized SingleLens Reflex (SLR) Camera. This could well be the tiniest workingreplica of a SLR handy-camera in the world. It is the invention ofmild-mannered graphic designer and photography enthusiast KrishnaKumar hailing from Kerala in India. He has named his mini handmadecamera creation as Cu327 (the chemical equivalent for copper andmelting point of lead) as it contains 90% copper. In addition the compact camera has a viewfinder, shutter, filmadvanced liver; flip mirror, film cartridge, cartridge carrier etc.It even has focusable lens with aperture plus 2 extensional lenses.This is required for full and wide angle effects. Presently in theworld, the 1962 built - Rollei replica is considered as the tiniestfully operational standard film camera making use of a 35 mm rollof film. Excerpts from the interview with Nina Rai: Can you tell us a little about your background? I was born and raised in Badiadka, a township in Kasaragod districtof Kerala. My father the late M. Babu passed away when I was fouryears old. He used to work for Syndicate Bank. My mother C.Kamalakshi, got that job after my father"s death. I also havetwo elder sisters and a younger sister. My primary and high school education was at G.B.U.P.S andNavajeevana High School respectively, both at Peradala. Right from4th standard I would participate in art competitions. ‘Sugunateacher," our class madam would always encourage and help me.That was my first entry into the art world. Later, I participatedin various art competitions and won prizes till secondary schoollevel. I did my secondary education in science at Kumbla. Here I got anopportunity to participate in the district level art competitions.There was a school level art competition, both for painting andcartoon, held at the Kanhangad Durag High School. The topic forcartoon was the ‘Present Police State." I won the firstspot in cartoon for my concept, despite tough competition. I wasalso made the district-level head at Govt. model boys HSS, Thrissurin 1999. I did my graduation from University Collage Mangalore, where PCMwas my subject. Here my full focus was on science. I would doscience related projects and spend most of my time on electronics.I was basically a last bencher, not really interested in studies.Just like others I too went to college. What were your hobbies as a child? In addition to an interest in arts, my hobbies included makingscale models like building, vehicle models and crafts. In factwhile studying in the tenth standard, I got a chance to participatein a high school level ‘Science Forum" held at ChemnadHigh School. My project was 'How to produce Gobar Gas' andit"s working with scale model explanation, which I did quietsuccessfully. When did you seriously enter into the science world? I guess it was with my participation in our universitycollege"s ‘Science Forum" entitled‘IMPRINTS-2003" held al St. Aloysius College inMangalore. My junior Shiva Prakash and I jointly participated in aproject ‘Sojourner." This comprised the working modelof a mars spacecraft. This model was very well appreciated. Later in our college, we ran a science exhibition entitled‘Avishkar 2003" which was also the first scienceexhibition conducted in the history of Mangalore University. Myproject here was ‘Radio Transmission," a radio whichtransmitted an audio signal from a music system using FMtransmitter circuit, to a distance of around 10 meters. Theexhibition organized with help of lecturers was a huge success. Tell us briefly about your career as graphic designer and yourpresent job? After my degree final examination, while waiting for the results Igot a job at ‘Daffodils," a pharmaceutical medicinemanufacturing firm at Baikampady. Simultaneously I even studiedgraphic designing at Arena Multimedia in Mangalore. With the helpShibu Mathew (former Manager at Arena) I got a job as graphicdesigner at Rangoli Digital, Bejai in Mangalore. From there beganmy real life journey with a dream job at Rahul Advertisers, atBendoorwell where I am currently working since past 3 years. How did you get into photography and what led you to making thistiny camera? As already stated I was interested in electronics and photographyfrom my school days. What ever electronic items were in my house, Iwould remove and go through it to see how it works. In the processI damaged quite a lot of items. I even spent a lot of time, moneyfor buying electronics related books and would be making hobbycircuits. This smallest camera stuff was inspired by a capacitor. One day while I was studying for my graduation exam, there was acapacitor on my table and it just looked like a camera lens hood atan angle. I got very curious and just closed my book and startingchecking up the capacitor. I modified it a bit. Well, it did looklike a camera lens after modification. Ok, done with the lens butbody? Now, that inspired me to make a small camera. Tell us some detail about your new invention? To turn my inspiration into reality in the form of a working cameramodel; came after meticulous research and endeavor of two plusyears. My camera, is built with 90% of copper and rest of the partsare shutter, viewfinder, flip mirror, film cartridge, cartridgecarrier; film advanced liver, focusable lens, with aperture and twoextensional lenses for macro and wide angle. This tiny camera has roughly sixty-five hand-made parts other thanthe screw, gear, and spring. Each part is miniscule and verycomplex. It will not function properly even if there is a slightchange in the size. Its lens hood is carved out of PVC pipe, whilethe aperture comprises of 4 blades, 3 f point with the f pointsbeing roughly 10, 6 and 4. An unexposed x ray Sheet has been usedto make the blade. One requirement of my miniscule camera is that film rolls have tobe loaded in a dim lit studio and only then photos clicked. Thus isbecause while the photographs taken indoors come out just clear, incase of outdoor, pictures tends to get over-exposed. I think byusing the flash this problem can be solved. Since the chemicals andblack & white film rolls were not available in India I had toit imported from Europe. More details about my camera can be garnered from my site . Kindly do check. When do you intend to send it to the Guinness Book of WorldRecords? Actually, I made an attempt to get into Guinness World Records inthe year 2005 but they did not seem to be too convinced with what Ishowed. Probably, my method was wrong and hence it did not qualify.However, I took the rejection as a challenge and started making anew camera with more features like viewfinder, flip mirror, backcover with lock, detachable zoom lens with aperture, ‘HotShoe," ‘Flash Gun," etc. I named it as NIEPS1816. However, I was still not satisfied with its build-in body andworking condition. What is your goal for the future – Any new inventions, newideas? My goal is to get a good graphic designer cum photographer job. Asregards ideas – yes what I believe about creativity inphotography is that one should have full camera control in ourhand. According to me, creativity is not all about clickingphotographs in an auto-controlled camera because here cameracontrols everything and we just point it at a scene and click itand that"s it! This may suffice in the present times andconditions. But I believe, this will never ever satisfy trulycreative photographers. In future, I have plans do develop a unique digital camera body andlens. Not like our conventional camera body and lens but with a newidea and in a different direction. The camera will have full manualcontrol and no automatic controls which indeed, will enable aphotographer to bring out his natural creativity. Also Check Other Mangalore News : A peep into the world of teen girls in Mangalore City Flash back to the ugly Mangalore riots, Karnataka, India Mangalore's International Kite Festival attracts mammoth crowds(Pics) Religious fervor marks ‘Sri Krishna Janmashtami"celebrations in Mangalore Thousands throng to seek blessings of ‘Hugging Saint"Amritanandamayi in Mangalore Majestic annual Enmakaje 'Nemotsava' of Tulunadu Tête-à-Tête with RJ Vismaya Vinayak –rocking ‘KAMALA" of Radio Mirchi, Mangalore Simple home remedy to detoxify body of accumulated toxins. 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