Homemade 35mm Adapter

[Jim Lafferty]

I must be missing something here, or maybe your adapter is built a little differently than mine - but I can't see why you wouldn't benefit from having both a fresnel lens to focus your image onto the GG and having a macro to allow you film something up close. Can you shed some light on this?

Devin,

Well, maybe you're right -- I thought I'd read something in one of the earlier posts where Agus discarded his fresnel after installing the macro. Now I see, going over the old threads that this wasn't necessarily the case. My mistake, sorry. And so I have to ask -- is everyone using a fresnel and are they helpful?

Agus -- is the fresnel in your latest version of the adapter?

So in essence if you fail to get a powerful enough macro lens to get you close enough to the GG to fill the frame and avoid "vignetting," you wouldn't be able to zoom in and pull sharp focus would you? I guess in this case it's better to overkill and get a +10 macro lens - better to be closer than further?

I think this is all correct. I'd go with a more powerful macro either way you slice it.

I'll definitely keep you posted,

- jim

[Filip Kovcin]

hello there,

as far as i can see - there is no info about manufacturer of frosted fake cds.
i have suggestion that anyone who knows the manufacturer who is definitelly NOT producing frosted/sanded CDs - to put it on the list, so we will be closer to that real one.

second thougt - does anyone knows how to make CD frosted with some chemicals? maybe this is much simpler than making it "mechanically"

filip

[Jim Lafferty]

Just picked up a cheap fresnel and it doesn't help me -- at least, not yet.

I'm convinced my focusing problems are a flange focal length issue, but I've yet to find the proper distance between my lens and the focal plane (the GG). It's better, but still not acceptable.

When/if all else fails -- is a longer distance between the lens and the focal plane the best solution?

Incidently, I've got a Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens, part # 3958069. If anyone has the info that Google doesn't seem to turn up for me, I'd love to know...


edit: Helen -- the link you posted was down when I first clicked on it -- the link now works and I see that the distance for a Nikon SLR lens is 1.83 inches. Thank you for the info!!

- jim

[Louis Feng]

The focal plane for the 50mm lens are 50mm away from the lens. That's the distance from the middle of the mirror to the focal point. On the lens it usually says something like f=50mm. If it doesn't say that, I would assume that because it's very common. If you measure the thickness of the camera, it gives a good approximation of where your GG should be.

[Jim Lafferty]

Thanks. It's just that I don't have a Nikon at hand...

Got it working, however :D

- jim

[Devin Doyle]

Muchos gracias for your response Jim. Good luck, I'm looking forward to seeing some pics + footage. Chris, I definately think this thread needs to be compressed - way too hard to find info in here!

[Dillon Thomas]

Greetings

Someone over at dvxuser.com posted that he was able to uprez his DVX footage using S-Spline Pro (Software) - and to tell you the truth - the footage looks just about as sharp as the footage captured at HD rez. Unbelievable.

How about it? Agus35 + DVX100 + S-Spline Pro = 24p HD w/ DOF!

I'm in heaven. Now if only I could afford it!

Dillon

Look here for his experiment and clips (comparisons)
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX/YaBB.cgi?board=news;action=display;num=1071560094


quote:
what about the jvc hd10
can you tell me if theres any problem if someone makes a
agus35 on the JVC HDV CAMCORDER?
i THINK THIS WOULD BE A WONDERFUL THING!!
think about it
the resolution of HDV and the DOF
great
someone please try it.
ciao
end quote:

[J. Clayton Stansberry]

Anyone find out where the pre-frosted CD's come from? So far from the thread this is what I have:

CD Packs that do not offer Frosted CD's:
Imitation
Fugifilm
Philips
100 pack $20 at Best Buy

Possibly have it:
Khypermedia
Memorex

Please let us know and add to the list so we can find out which pack it is...and then run out and buy their stock because you know they will be selling a hell of a lot of them!

Agus,
That beta footage is awesome! Do you have any recent pics of your new design so we can start drooling for the commercial version? Thanks.

[Filip Kovcin]

i just checked Memorex 10s and 25s (at least in Poland) - they are clear ones.
but, tomorrow in the morning (polish time) i have a meeting with the guy who is selling huge ammount of CDs. he got ONE frosted cd - but no name on it - he found it in the shop somewhere, but at least i will know what CD manufacturers to ignore...

[Bob Hart]

Chemical means of achieving frosted surface on disk!!

Those chemicals might be a little dangerous.
There may be some solutions but it would be irresponsible to post them here.

It could render me and the host of this service possibly liable for suit should tiny vexations like chronic dermatitis, blindness, chronic obstructive airway disorder and death emerge as collatoral consequences.

This is one area I would commend anyone not qualified to avoid like the plague. If you don't know it or can't do it, don't try. Chemicals are very socially enlightened. They don't discriminate. They just drop everybody. Seek help from somebody who has accreditation in this very specialised industry.

So you are going to go for it anyway. Whatever chemical you choose to experiment with, be extremely careful, avoid the vapors and don't leave the stuff lying around for little bro or sis to encounter. And for heaven's sake read the Hazmat notes, know what to do beforehand if it all goes wrong. Devise your personal or household counter-disaster plan if you have not already.

I don't think you will achieve by chemical means, anything you can't do with a lot less risk or hassle with graded silicon carbide grit or wet and dry silicon carbide grit papers or jobbing the task out to somebody who can gritblast with graded grits. That final 5% to perfection everybody looks for might only be achieved by experienced practitioners of specialised crafts.

The frosted CD disks people have been mentioning here?? Are they "frosted" right through the thickness of the disk or only on one surface??

If the "frosted" feature goes right through the full thickness of the disk, you will likely get inferior resolution, a halation effect into neighbouring image from pinpoint highlights and lower light transmission.

If the disk is only lightly translucent, your camcorder is going to also see through it into the front lens and you will get a hotspot in the centre of your recovered image.

There were two versions of the small "Pringles Chips" container press-on caps. One cap which originated from Belgium was a clear plastic with a frosted finish applied to one surface. These containers made excellent pinhole cameras for kids. The US cap was made of a translucent plastic which did not work as an image plane.

[J. Clayton Stansberry]

Another solution might be to do what they do to make ground glass. It may also work on the clear CD's...just another thought...

Check out this website:
http://www.phototechmag.com/previous...kas/dokas.html

I am sure there are others, but may be another option.

Bob,

Agus has stated, after using the frosted CDs, that his resolution increased and there weren't any problems. In fact, by his latest footage, I would say he pretty much got it right! Don't know about where it is frosted as I can't seem to find one of these bloody things:( Will let you know if I can ever find one.

[Paul Doss]

Agus Casse <btw Paul, your designs wont work, i tried them and they are no good.>

You are absolutely right! The one or two mirror versions do flip the image vertically but not horizontally. Back to the drawing board. Looks like the only way is to copy the SLR in as far as the light path through the viewfinder.

Paul

[Don Berube]

For what it is worth - In the past, I have had clear pieces of glass turned into frosted pieces very nicely via sandblasting. I didn't do the sandblasting though, it was done by an ordinary local glass & window service company. The pieces were very consistent with each other and it only took the shop an hour to perform the job.

- don

[Randy Reyes]

I have one frosted CD that came in a spindle but I forgot which brand it came i in. It could be Maxell or Primaris. They are definitely not from Fujifilm... :]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...e/fa3e9a51.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...b/fa3e9a4e.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...0/fa3e9a54.jpg

[Daniel Moloko]

hello there!!!

i have a trv18, just like Agus.

ive made some footage with the agus35, i did one exactly like the pic he put on the web.

and yeah, everything went out okey, just like the first exemple (the video of his father) he upload to the forum.

except the my footage has more vignette (? the spolight of the image and the black around it ?)

maybe its the distance from the 35mm lens and the ground glass. i will check it out (i just did it yesterday my first try)

anyway. but i found something really nice.

when i was pulling the 35mm lens from the PHOTOGRAFIC CAM (nikon), i just looked inside the cam.

i think its possible to make a 35minidv adaptor with the same GLASSES and LENS that we have on those usual photo cams.

i will try to make a black rubber box, with the lens adaptors connectors (the camcorder and 35m),and inside this box well
have all the glasses and lens we have on the photo cams.

the question is, maybe i have to re-size the glasses, re-made based on the photocam model?

or maybe isnt necessery, i just have to go downtown, to a used photo cams store, vampirize some cameras, get the glasses
and the lens from it, adapt it to the box and have fun?

what do you people think about it?

would we get the same 35mm image project inside the black box? is it possible?


ciao