Penang Taiping- A Tale of Two Hills- Oct to Feb
Video Tutorial Shoot- Oct to Dec
Kuala Lumpur Ilham Gallery- Instant Portrait booth- Dec
Kuala Lumpur Stellar- Pinhole workshop, Portrait booth- Jan

Kanta.Studio promotes the art & craft of the box camera practise through workshops, and road tours around Peninsular Malaysia. With over 12 large format cameras of various builds, and mobile darkroom tents, Jeffrey Lim is able to setup a mobile photo studio practically anywhere. Spending the last few years travelling locally & abroad on art research programmes, he has acquired invaluable experience, processing instant prints in the field.

Four workshop modules from making instant portraits, to publishing, are available through two local venues, Zontiga and Ilham Gallery in Kuala Lumpur. With recurring monthly road tours, bringing the instant portrait booth to localised events. Starting with Penang, with the hope to venture to other cities including Ipoh, Melaka, Johor, Kota Bahru and across the seas to Borneo as well.

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jeffrey has made plans for a routine road tour throughout the Peninsular, starting with Penang.

With over 12 large format cameras of various builds, and mobile darkroom tents, Jeffrey Lim is able to setup a mobile photo studio practically anywhere.

list of workshop cameras
#1 Interchange 3x5"
#4 Woodie 4x5"
#9 Field graphic 4x5"
#8 Intrepid 8x10"
#10 Tangki 4x5"
#11 Toyol camera 4x5"
#12 Russkie камера 5x7"
#13 Khemah Kamera 20x24"
# Kodak 2A 3x5"
# Ansco 2x3"
# Kodak six-20 R 2x3"
# Kodak six-20 W 2x3"

Workshop & road tour

Workshop module– The workshops covers the basics of photography, from the creation of a projected image, to the printed photograph. Experience the workings of the box camera, the hacking methods & alternative processes with just the basic tools & materials available. The four workshop modules are– Pinhole & the simple camera; Instant Portrait with Kanta Box Kamra; Art printing with BW photo paper; 101 Photobook publishing.

<on hold at the moment, too many projects to complete>

Honda Cub EX5 built for field work & Peninsular road tour

Road tour – Holding monthly portrait booth at recurring localised events, using a mix of box cameras & large formats to produce instant prints. Private sessions are available as well. Starting with Penang, and hoping to venture to other cities, including Ipoh, Melaka, Johor, the East Coast and across the seas to Borneo. Monthly venues include– Penang Tropical Spice Garden; Penang Hin Bus Depot Sunday Bazaar.

<on hold at the moment, too many projects to complete>

Concurrent projects

Khemah Kamera – Building the walk-in instant camera and exploring projections. A canopy tent camera, hand processing 20 x 24” poster size prints instantly, for large groups & portraits on archival black & white silverprint.

With the ability to be mobile, I intend to bring this tent camera to a community, and engage in a portrait session. This is also a pilot and test platform for Rumah, Benua / Dwelling, Realm. To explore projections, methods of projecting light from within the tent. It will be an experiment on materials and building methods, being mobile, and working with a team.

Location –
- KongsiKL- July
- Langkawi- Aug
- Hin Bus Depot- Sep

To be published December 2022

Making the Print – An instructional video on my darkroom alternative printing with silver gelatin photographic paper. Made up of two parts, the first is about the camera and how to make an exposure. The second will be in the darkroom, showing the two ways of making the prints. A grant programme under Cendana, Create Now 2.0, this video is currently being filmed.

Tale of Two Hills – telling the stories of Malaysia’s iconic hill stations through photography and ethnography. A mentorship program organised in partnership with The Habitat Foundation and Thinkcity, coordinated by Jeffrey Lim.

Starting soon in September 2022

Potret Jalanan – (Street Portraits) an initiative to explore the possibilities of street box cameras in Kuala Lumpur city. A pilot to a program I would like to start, on creating a training workshop and box camera production. Creating a new street art culture with box camera portraiture. Starting with getting a street artist permit from the city council authority.

Schedule & map

Key Upcoming trips
Aug - Langkawi
Sep - Penang
Oct - Kuala Lumpur

Jeffrey Lim / contact

Jeffrey Lim is a photography artist behind the art & research project Kanta Portraits. He has made unique box cameras that produce black & white portraits as part of his art practise. By merging the traditional practises of ‘large format’ camera and darkroom printing, he has intuitively made cameras that can print instantly, all within a box.


This century old practise of street box cameras has seen a revival around the world, and been aptly named as the living form of photography. Jeff has now ventured into creating workshops to pass on the practise and knowledge in order to share and create a continuity of this art form in Malaysia.

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for bookings, event & collaboration


member of the Kotak Kamera Trio. A collective of three box camera practitioners, photographers, camera builders, darkroom artists based in Malaysia.

Nuestros primeros socios internacionales del Foto Club Lambe Lambe. International partner of FotoClube Lambe Lambe, Brasil.