Watch How Sean Hodgins Made His Own Camera Sensor

Has DIY gone too far? I don't think so.

YouTuber Sean Hodgins is known more in the maker scene than the photography scene. Making videos on 3D printers, Arduino projects, and the like. But his latest creation is something that just fascinates me in a "I will never be smart enough to make this" way. He made his own image sensor from scratch, needing to hand place every single pixel. 

While the image sensor itself isn't going to top any DXOmark scoreboards, it is definitely an incredible feat of engineering to create this from scratch without a guide to offer any help. In fact, he has taken what he's learned from this project and made his own guide so if you're so interested, you can make your own sensor too! What I find most fascinating is how, when scaled down, the 32x32 image sensor captures a surprising amount of detail. It's amazing what our brain can do to fill in an image's flaws. 

I find these sorts of videos fascinating because not only does he create the sensor, but he makes a full camera body too. It's a section of creativity I have next to no experience in and I find these sorts of projects so inspiring.

Now all Hodgins needs to do is create his own lens from scratch too!