Like many Makers, I got my start taking apart everything I could lay my hands on. Sometimes, however, it takes a good old fashioned cutaway to truly appreciate the complexity of a well engineered device. How the heck do they do this? Can I borrow the tool they used?
More photos at Tokyobling. via notcot
28 thoughts on “What’s inside: Nikon D3 cutaway”
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the very first comment in that blog provides the update.. It’s not a D3, it is just a dismantled Nikon Coolpix S60.
The commend about the s60 is linking to another article ins0mniac
I can’t pick out what it is based on the image, especially since I don’t know cheap cameras. But a D3 has a totally different shape and does not say Nikon along the left side.
The Nikon D3 is a $5000 camera body. I would hope it’s not a D3, even broken. It’s also a thing of beauty, if you’ve never handled one you really should.
I looked up the Nikon product page for the D3: http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/lineup/digitalcamera/slr/d3/index.htm
You can easily tell the cut camera does not look remotely like the D3.
The coolpix S60 is a compact point and shoot, so it’s not an S60 either.
I’m very familiar with Nikon’s bodies, I’ve owned about 6 over the years and it doesn’t look like a Nikon to me. I found a page with a lot of Nikon images here http://www.pbase.com/cameras/nikon but I don’t see anything like this camera on there either.
It’s a D3 on its side, gentlemen.
@Silverman – You’re right. Thanks for clearing it up. :) I was wondering why the “left grip” had what looked like a prism in it and why the “side” of the lens have the printing that should be on the bottom. But I still didn’t make the connection.
It’s an impressive shot, but I cringe to see a D3 like that.
I’ll go to bed before I embarrass myself any more tonight.
I took that picture myself during the Eco Products fair in Tokyo in December last year. It is Nikon D3 sliced in half (probably with a a water jet or a laser cutter, I imagine that the lens elements were taken out and cut seperately as you wouldn’t ever use the same machine to cut glass and metal the same way). The reason you might not see it is because it looks like a horisontal cut while in reality it is a vertical cut.
The mentioning of a Coolpix S60 is just to compare the lenses of the two different pictures.
I haven’t yet contacted Nikon about it, since I didn’t imagine that this blog post would get noticed at all. But I am honored to be picked up on the MAKEZINE blog. It is my favorite blog!
The d3 is an amazing camera. This one was amazing until somebody ruthlessly chopped it in half.
it’s an air brush painting. Skill full and often done.
… and the lens is a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 G.
Nah, these cutaways are made with a special kind of saw. The blade is made with a soft metal, which forms the matrix for embedded carborundum particles. Just like a tile saw. The trick is to saw very slowly, more slowly and smoothly than a human can, using a stepper (or like) motor and a slide.
How do you recognize the lense? I just knew it wasn’t a VR lense because of the print on the bottom.
They should have cut a Canon in half, it wouldn’t have made the camera any worse. (Sorry, had to say it).
My company has made such cutaways. It’s not as simple or cool as you’d imagine. First a line is marked for cutting, then the product is taken apart and rough cut, usually with a bandsaw or mill–glass would take something different, obviously. Then the parts are sanded up to the line and sometimes polished or painted. Then they are reassembled and mounted to a display board.
Fantastic cutaway display model.