Retro Camera Lamp

Having rescued the camera that took many a picture of my siblings & I, from the doom of the recycling/dump, I decided to try and give it a new life in the form of a lamp. The pictures don't do it justice and its not feasible to reduce the light by means of a shade. But here's how I made it! Thanks for reading.

Things you will Need:

• An old unwanted camera
• Plug and wire (<€5)
• Bulb Socket (€1.49)
• Bulb
• Mould-able Glue/Putty (Try Sugru)

Tools:

• Drill
• Precision/Small Screwdrivers
• Hammer (Optional...depends on camera)

I thought this would be much easier to be honest. i thought I would unscrew the lense housing and take out the glass quite easily and put it back together.

This was not the case. After taking as many layers out carefully with precision screw drivers I ended up smashing the final glass lens with a screw driver and a hammer.

The aim is to clear a path for the wire to pass through and the bulb socket to sit within.

Inspect the inside of the camera for a location that may be drilled through easily and gives a path inside the camera to the lens section.

I also need to use a hacksaw and a file to slightly create a notch in the plastic section show in the second picture which let me close the camera.

Simply fit the wire through the hole and pull it through long enough to feed through the lens

Wire the Socket with no particular wire in any particular side.

Wire the plug side as you would regularly. Google for proper safe instructions. Fit the socket in the lens and pull the wire back through the camera so that the socket sits comfortably

Fortunately I picked up this socket for €1.49 in a local hardware store. Having taken off the white cover it fit almost snugly in the camera lens. Using a moldable plastic "glue" I wrapped it in the Locktite product and sit it into the lens.

From the pictures you will see I tried to smoothen the outside section of the socket to make it look flush. I found this product hard to work with and had used a similar product before, and found "Sugru" an easier product to work with After the socket is set in the camera lens, check again that the wire is pulled through the camera the other way.

Insert your favourite Hipster Bulb in and flick on the switch at the wall! Unfortunately it looks really bad on "camera"..

Afterthought: This could be very cool if it was hanging on a wall from the camera strap. Would been a fitting to keep the camera sitting against the wall, So will look into a solution!