Why no carbon fiber camera/lens body?
- Thread starter baggiolee
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Not true. Carbon fibre bodies are formed via layering multiple layers of carbon together and subsequently applying a top coat to smooth out the surface. It can be mold into any shape and size.
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dunno about its use for cameras, but isnt carbon fibre supposed to be very strong, as well as being light in weight? i dunno, but if i had to guess why its not used for camera bodies, i'd say its too costly?
I thought the main advantage of carbon fibre is shock absorbancy, that's why people use carbon fibre tripods. If following my line of thought, then I guess there really isn't a need for the added cost of carbon fibre bodies and lens because there's no shock to absorb on normal use?
I think the main cost will still be the high cost. The designing and engineering into making one will be costly too. Ever thought of such idea during my last time poly FYP but its way way too costly.
Until im aware of what stresses the shutters go through during its life cycle, its alittle hard to answer your question. But what i can offer is that for material composites are that there is no one ideal material that can befit all applications.
And in the case of shutter, it might have been good to use CF.
You be glad to know that even for CF, there are various standards and qualities and a low grade CF (those car bonnets that you see..) dont exactly give you much of an advantage in terms of wgt to properties ratio. Its better off using PC or magnesium (which incidentally is shares the same density as some grades of CF).
As for cost... we are all made to believe that its expensive. but i assure you that its not.
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My take will be the high cost of making them and the tedious process of moulding them. They are weaved in sheets and layered onto the mould so it is very tedious as compare to mould polycarbonate or magnesium.
As for brittle, yes, they are very brittle upon heavy impact. Take F1 cars for example, the whole body is moulded using CF and when they crash, sharp and small objects will fly everywhere.
As for brittle, yes, they are very brittle upon heavy impact. Take F1 cars for example, the whole body is moulded using CF and when they crash, sharp and small objects will fly everywhere.
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CF are used because they are light wgt and cheap (its about 1/3 of the wgt of AL). u try whacking your CF tripods on lamp-post, it will most prob break.
Very, very brittle.. If you knock your 70-200 against the table or a door frame, you can still say oops and get on with it.. If you knocked a carbon fibre 70200 on the door frame.. It may not break apart, but you may get hairline cracks and soon big cracks..
there are too many grades of carbon fiber... dry carbon, wet carbon or carbon tube you're talking about? different carbon fiber configured for different purpose, there are slightly more brittle one to shatter absorbing impact (cars parts most probably)... there are very heavy duty one that you could stand and jump on a 4 feet x 4 feet less than 1 inch thickness (with internal metal wire frames) and it won't break if designed properly... there are some designed just to absorb and not transferring heat...
any of these would be too high cost for them.. unless you wanna buy a camera at least twice as much as current price... why? real carbon fiber are molded at 3 times higher temperature than plastic (plastic is about 150 to 500 degree celcius depending on resin)... plastic use the barrel to inject good enough or can say less critical... for carbon fiber the pressure applied is critical that they need a big oven like thingy to control it... and the older and best way to build CF stuffs, cut out carbon fiber sheets (looks like black cloth) and stack 2 to 12 ply depending on purpose... put on the mold, send in the oven, and the oven would heat it up and apply correct pressure to the resin injected... and keep the pressure until the oven is open...
i would want one because it's cool but i don't wanna pay the price since plastic is doing good... in this case where are those cameras going to sell to?
if you really like CF stuffs and don't mind the price... here's something you can consider... http://www.carbonfibergear.com/carbon-fiber-toilet-seat-cover/ (p/s: it's not that cold at night ;p)
any of these would be too high cost for them.. unless you wanna buy a camera at least twice as much as current price... why? real carbon fiber are molded at 3 times higher temperature than plastic (plastic is about 150 to 500 degree celcius depending on resin)... plastic use the barrel to inject good enough or can say less critical... for carbon fiber the pressure applied is critical that they need a big oven like thingy to control it... and the older and best way to build CF stuffs, cut out carbon fiber sheets (looks like black cloth) and stack 2 to 12 ply depending on purpose... put on the mold, send in the oven, and the oven would heat it up and apply correct pressure to the resin injected... and keep the pressure until the oven is open...
i would want one because it's cool but i don't wanna pay the price since plastic is doing good... in this case where are those cameras going to sell to?
if you really like CF stuffs and don't mind the price... here's something you can consider... http://www.carbonfibergear.com/carbon-fiber-toilet-seat-cover/ (p/s: it's not that cold at night ;p)
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Dude, my initial response was for your comment on the brittle features of carbon fibre without providing enough details. It's good that you know that there are different types of carbon fibre composites available. Do note that there were numerous industrial use of carbon fibre way before commoners we got to know them.
Carbon fibre alone with a graphitic characteristics is brittle. But Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers show extraordinary strength to weight ratio. That's why you can see all expensive bikes' forks and body frames are made of CFRP.
It's absolutely possible for a camera body to be made using CFRP. But price / performance ratio may not look good in today's production technologies.
wow very good info! :thumbsup:
if most of the parts of the camera can be made into carbon fiber and inexpensive..imagine the weight reduction.
i'm studying engineering course on final year in NUS. My friend who specialise in building carbon fibre for car components actually had seriously contemplate about trying to build a carbon fibre camera body, or perhaps build a CF wrap for starter.
would you want a carbon wrap over of your camera?
would you want a carbon wrap over of your camera?
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