Homemade 35mm Adapter

Agus Casse · December 6th, 2003, 05:16 PM

Just in front of the mic :(... eh

i need to buy a boom, or a shotgun...

Peter Sciretta · December 6th, 2003, 10:04 PM

I just made a model and i haven't been able to get the cd to rotate yet but it doesn't seem even with all the light blocked out, that i am getting enough light... I can only see an image if i point it directly towards a light... is something wrong?

Peter Sciretta · December 6th, 2003, 11:56 PM

This may be really stupid, but I realized I didn't have the fstop up to let more light in on the 35mm lens...

now to get the disc to spin!

Pete

Mike Perkin · December 7th, 2003, 01:31 AM

Hi everyone,
I stumbled onto this topic about a week ago and I've been very interested in trying to make one of the Agus 35 adapters. About a year ago I did alot of research into the P&S Technik adapters but it was out of my price range, however I love the shallow DOF 35 mm lenses give the image. I decided to give the Agus35 a try. Here is my experience so far.

The camera I am using is the Sony VX-1000. I figured that the 2 big problems I would encounter would be how to attach and center the motor to the spindle base and how to attach the cd to the motor..

I purchased the motor at Radio Shack for a couple dollars. It runs off of 2 AAA batteries. I also bought a small on/off switch. Underneath the spindle base I used thin wood so I could mount the motor to something rigid using 2 machine screws that screw into the bottom plastic of the motor.

Next, with the motor secure I soldered the wires to the on/off switch and batteries and centered the plastic spindle bottom to the wood using 4 wood screws. This basically serves as a fastener for the 3 tabs on the bottom of the spindle housing which holds the housing secure.

Next using a hole saw drill bit I drilled a 72mm hole through the bottom of the plastic and wood to accept the lense of my VX-1000. I'm planning on attaching a 72mm filter ring to the outside of the hole to make fastening the camera easier.

I then attached the the cd which I sanded using 400 grit sandpaper bought from Home Depot. To center the cd on the motor I used parts from an old cd burner that I took apart. I then taped the piece of hardware in the center of the sanded cd. The hole in this hardware accepted the motor shaft and the cd centered perfectly.
Next I drilled a hole in the top of the spindle housing to attach the 35mm lense, covered it with black duck tape to block the light and assembled the base,sanded cd, top housing,35mm lense and vx-1000 together.
With all the pieces assembled to my amazment I saw the upside down image in the spinning cd with all the elements of shallow DOF. When the cd spins the image begins to take on a hologram effect. All thats left to do is capture the image with my camera.

A couple things I noticed: A 25 pack spindle did not work for me because the spinning cd was to close to the 35mm lense to give me a usable image so I had to go with a 50 pack. This gave me just about the right distance to see the image in the cd properly. And also I had to use my set of close up macro filters in order to be able to zoom in and still be able to focus my VX-1000 on the image on the spinning cd.
The images seem to be very dark. Is this normal?

Its still a work in progress. I'm gonna post some pictures of my device soon as I figure out how to post jpeg files to this board. Sorry for the long post
Bye for now
Thanks ,
Mike

Jeremiah Rickert · December 7th, 2003, 01:42 AM

You posted right before I was going to point out, that I cannibalized an old CDROM. (note: even though it was only a 12x, it worked, and I felt strange pangs of guilt taking it apart...I think I paid $60 for the thing originally)

Anyway, in the middle of the guts, is the spindle that "captures" the CDrom when the tray slides in. (it's really rather ingenious how these things are built). The spindle is mounted so it slides into place in the cdrom's center hole as the tray shuts. After removing the spindle, there was another piece, a round plate, that is built into the cdrom housing, that is magnetized. When a CDrom is on the spindle, the little suciton-cup shaped thingy sticks to it and holds it on.

As Mike mentioned, the radio shack motors fit onto the spindles rather easily.

BTW...the one part of this process that I lack is an SLR lens. I've seen several used ones for sale fairly cheap. What sort of focal length should I get. I've seen variance from 25mm through 200mm.

Jeremiah

Zac Stein · December 7th, 2003, 03:33 AM

jeremiah, start with a 50mm, that is the standard size... basically it will mimic close to your natural eyes perspective of vision.

Zac

Jeremiah Rickert · December 7th, 2003, 03:41 AM

I found a used canon FD lens for a few bucks.

1:1.8

Would this work?

Thanks

Jeremiah

Yang Wen · December 7th, 2003, 09:54 AM

Now.. when this thing is working... do you focus with the 50mm lens? while you key your cam focus on the CD correct? And I also assume that you have to zoom with whatever lens you attach to it?

Charles King · December 7th, 2003, 10:04 AM

It would nice if those that have completed their mini 35 post some detail pics. I for one get confuse with all these discussion that just tell how it's done. Don't forget, pics say a thousand words. :)

Peter Sciretta · December 7th, 2003, 10:17 AM

What would be the different in sizes of lenses? would one lense give a smaller DOF then another?

Richard Mellor · December 7th, 2003, 11:13 AM

I just finished my 'Agus35'. I found an old Sony Walkman, used the motor, epoxying it to the blank CD. there seems to be virtually no vibration. Also used a lens adapter, which I epoxied to the rear of the CD case for attachment to the camcorder. The sanded CD captures the image perfectly! My camcorder - a Panasonic PV-DV-400.

Next upgrade: ground glass.

Thanks to all for this great project and extremely helpful information.

Charles King · December 7th, 2003, 11:29 AM

Com'on Richard, Some pics of your unit will be very will be very helpful here. Please. Congrats by the way. Hope to see some photage shot with it.

Noah Posnick · December 7th, 2003, 12:05 PM

Could anyone please give some recomendations for a "macro filter" for the Canon GL1 that will allow me to keep the camera focused while zoomed in at a short distance.

J. Clayton Stansberry · December 7th, 2003, 01:35 PM

Richard,

Could you give some more details? I haven't made one yet, but was also thinking about canabilizing a CD player. Seems like that's what it was made for - to spin CD's and would probably work very well. If you have pictures, you will need to post them as a link so we could see. I look forward to hearing more! Congrats!

Clay

Stewart McDonald · December 7th, 2003, 01:37 PM

Will any 50mm lens do? Or does it have to be a specific model/type ?

December 7th, 2003, 01:42 AM	#140
Jeremiah Rickert Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Newberg, Oregon Posts: 494	Ahhh... You posted right before I was going to point out, that I cannibalized an old CDROM. (note: even though it was only a 12x, it worked, and I felt strange pangs of guilt taking it apart...I think I paid $60 for the thing originally) Anyway, in the middle of the guts, is the spindle that "captures" the CDrom when the tray slides in. (it's really rather ingenious how these things are built). The spindle is mounted so it slides into place in the cdrom's center hole as the tray shuts. After removing the spindle, there was another piece, a round plate, that is built into the cdrom housing, that is magnetized. When a CDrom is on the spindle, the little suciton-cup shaped thingy sticks to it and holds it on. As Mike mentioned, the radio shack motors fit onto the spindles rather easily. BTW...the one part of this process that I lack is an SLR lens. I've seen several used ones for sale fairly cheap. What sort of focal length should I get. I've seen variance from 25mm through 200mm. Jeremiah

December 7th, 2003, 03:41 AM	#142
Jeremiah Rickert Major Player Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Newberg, Oregon Posts: 494	fd I found a used canon FD lens for a few bucks. 1:1.8 Would this work? Thanks Jeremiah

December 7th, 2003, 10:04 AM	#144
Charles King Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sweden Posts: 795	It would nice if those that have completed their mini 35 post some detail pics. I for one get confuse with all these discussion that just tell how it's done. Don't forget, pics say a thousand words. :) __________________ Charles 'What we perceive to be may not be what we believe to be.'

December 7th, 2003, 11:29 AM	#147
Charles King Major Player Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: sweden Posts: 795	Com'on Richard, Some pics of your unit will be very will be very helpful here. Please. Congrats by the way. Hope to see some photage shot with it. __________________ Charles 'What we perceive to be may not be what we believe to be.'

December 7th, 2003, 12:05 PM	#148
Noah Posnick Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: New York, NY Posts: 64	Could anyone please give some recomendations for a "macro filter" for the Canon GL1 that will allow me to keep the camera focused while zoomed in at a short distance. __________________ Noah Posnick http://www.posnick.com

December 6th, 2003, 05:16 PM	#136
Agus Casse Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Guatemala Posts: 322	Just in front of the mic :(... eh i need to buy a boom, or a shotgun...

December 6th, 2003, 10:04 PM	#137
Peter Sciretta Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 72	I just made a model and i haven't been able to get the cd to rotate yet but it doesn't seem even with all the light blocked out, that i am getting enough light... I can only see an image if i point it directly towards a light... is something wrong?

December 6th, 2003, 11:56 PM	#138
Peter Sciretta Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 72	This may be really stupid, but I realized I didn't have the fstop up to let more light in on the 35mm lens... now to get the disc to spin! Pete

December 7th, 2003, 01:31 AM	#139
Mike Perkin New Boot Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: emmaus pennslyvania Posts: 10	Hi everyone, I stumbled onto this topic about a week ago and I've been very interested in trying to make one of the Agus 35 adapters. About a year ago I did alot of research into the P&S Technik adapters but it was out of my price range, however I love the shallow DOF 35 mm lenses give the image. I decided to give the Agus35 a try. Here is my experience so far. The camera I am using is the Sony VX-1000. I figured that the 2 big problems I would encounter would be how to attach and center the motor to the spindle base and how to attach the cd to the motor.. I purchased the motor at Radio Shack for a couple dollars. It runs off of 2 AAA batteries. I also bought a small on/off switch. Underneath the spindle base I used thin wood so I could mount the motor to something rigid using 2 machine screws that screw into the bottom plastic of the motor. Next, with the motor secure I soldered the wires to the on/off switch and batteries and centered the plastic spindle bottom to the wood using 4 wood screws. This basically serves as a fastener for the 3 tabs on the bottom of the spindle housing which holds the housing secure. Next using a hole saw drill bit I drilled a 72mm hole through the bottom of the plastic and wood to accept the lense of my VX-1000. I'm planning on attaching a 72mm filter ring to the outside of the hole to make fastening the camera easier. I then attached the the cd which I sanded using 400 grit sandpaper bought from Home Depot. To center the cd on the motor I used parts from an old cd burner that I took apart. I then taped the piece of hardware in the center of the sanded cd. The hole in this hardware accepted the motor shaft and the cd centered perfectly. Next I drilled a hole in the top of the spindle housing to attach the 35mm lense, covered it with black duck tape to block the light and assembled the base,sanded cd, top housing,35mm lense and vx-1000 together. With all the pieces assembled to my amazment I saw the upside down image in the spinning cd with all the elements of shallow DOF. When the cd spins the image begins to take on a hologram effect. All thats left to do is capture the image with my camera. A couple things I noticed: A 25 pack spindle did not work for me because the spinning cd was to close to the 35mm lense to give me a usable image so I had to go with a 50 pack. This gave me just about the right distance to see the image in the cd properly. And also I had to use my set of close up macro filters in order to be able to zoom in and still be able to focus my VX-1000 on the image on the spinning cd. The images seem to be very dark. Is this normal? Its still a work in progress. I'm gonna post some pictures of my device soon as I figure out how to post jpeg files to this board. Sorry for the long post Bye for now Thanks , Mike

December 7th, 2003, 03:33 AM	#141
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	jeremiah, start with a 50mm, that is the standard size... basically it will mimic close to your natural eyes perspective of vision. Zac

December 7th, 2003, 09:54 AM	#143
Yang Wen Major Player Join Date: May 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 991	Now.. when this thing is working... do you focus with the 50mm lens? while you key your cam focus on the CD correct? And I also assume that you have to zoom with whatever lens you attach to it?

December 7th, 2003, 10:17 AM	#145
Peter Sciretta Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 72	What would be the different in sizes of lenses? would one lense give a smaller DOF then another?

December 7th, 2003, 11:13 AM	#146
Richard Mellor Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: cambridge ma Posts: 247	I just finished my 'Agus35'. I found an old Sony Walkman, used the motor, epoxying it to the blank CD. there seems to be virtually no vibration. Also used a lens adapter, which I epoxied to the rear of the CD case for attachment to the camcorder. The sanded CD captures the image perfectly! My camcorder - a Panasonic PV-DV-400. Next upgrade: ground glass. Thanks to all for this great project and extremely helpful information.

December 7th, 2003, 01:35 PM	#149
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	Richard, Could you give some more details? I haven't made one yet, but was also thinking about canabilizing a CD player. Seems like that's what it was made for - to spin CD's and would probably work very well. If you have pictures, you will need to post them as a link so we could see. I look forward to hearing more! Congrats! Clay __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

December 7th, 2003, 01:37 PM	#150
Stewart McDonald Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: UK Posts: 130	Will any 50mm lens do? Or does it have to be a specific model/type ?