Homemade 35mm Adapter

Kieran Clayton · November 28th, 2003, 11:36 PM

I reckon I can get one of these on to an XL1s..

Ages ago I got a cokin P-series adapter, which I've not used a great deal as I've since got some tiffen screw-in filters that meet most of my needs. Anyway, the cokin set came with a 72mm adapter designed so that you could slot the P series mount over the top. They do a whole range of them, which step up whatever screwthread you have to the P-mount slot size.

If you were to make a 72mm diameter hole in the cd-spindle then you could put the cokin adapter ring on the other side and then screw it into the camera, holding your adapter firmly in place. The only problem is that you need something larger in diameter than your average cd spindle in order to be able to have a motor spinning at the centre point... However, a cd should be just about the right size to project the image on to.. If you're using something other than an XL1s, this would probably be the best, cheapest way to secure the adapter to the camera, and you can get these rings from camera stores for about £5..

I'm going to have a go at making one when i get back home from Uni..

A couple of questions for you Agus, could you take a still of what the projected image looks like with no zoom on the camera? Also, have you tried mounting the lens at various distances from the "ground glass", how does that affect the quality of the projection? and last of all, did you get the motor out of a dreamcast vibration thing? it's just I'm sure I've got a N64 rumble pak lying around somewhere that would probably make a good motor...

Thanks,
Kieran

PS
A link to explain the cokin adapter thing (I'm suggesting that at stage one in the diagram you put Agus' wonderful device between the camera and the ring, and then secre it to the camera via the ring through the whole in the cd spindle):

http://www.cokin.com/ico1-p2.html

and a chart for getting adapter rings:

http://www.cokin.com/ico2-p3.html

Agus Casse · November 29th, 2003, 02:08 AM

The motor was actually from a cheap toy, i found it very useful cause i also remove the batery compartiment, and the on/off switch from it.

There are several ways to make the adapter, i think using a 25 spindle, will be the best one, cause the spindle have all the exact measures, and you only need to paint it so the light wont contaminate the image built in the ground glass. Also you only have to drill hole in the center, which almost all electric motors found in cheap china toys will center almos perfectly... that is why i choose it... also you have the choice to unmount the cap, in case you need to change the ground glass... it is very practical, easy to build, and useful..

I have been working on a Xmas ad, and i have to tell that for the first experience it was great, but i loose too many light steps and my cheap trv18, make a lot of video noise, i am workin now on remove it, but dont be scare, cause in daylight or in a very illuminated scene, with 4 steps down from the max exposure, you get perfectly video noise clean image... something really great.

Kieran, i would definitely, insist in building it with a 25 cds spindle.

Peter Sciretta · November 29th, 2003, 08:25 AM

definately looking forward to your footage from the ad you filmed....

Would also love to see a before and after color correction so that we know what comes out on the video without post production.

I have tried to much failure to duplicate your design, so when your design is in the more perfected stage I would like to make an offer to you to build me one...

I thank you for your work in this area...

Paul Doss · November 29th, 2003, 11:35 AM

Agus,

Wow. I am glad I made the post back on Nov 1st looking for the guys that had done this. That is what got you going on this and I'm sure glad it did. I knew that I was very interested in this and felt like you should be able to build something for much less than $8500! As we can now see many people are very interested, 86 posts between the 2 threads and over 3,200 veiws of these threads. Wow. You are doing great work. Keep it up.

BTW I have tried contacting the people I was looking for, to see if they had done any more work on it. I have not heard anything back from them. I think you are as far or further along than they were. Congratulations.

Paul

Agus Casse · November 29th, 2003, 11:55 AM

I am pretty sure that i will make a comercial version of the adapter, also i will post the plans to build a simpler version like this one, the another adapter will be really beatiful,i started planing it internal system, always with rotating ground glass.

Keeping in the real thing, i almost finish the ad, isnt my greatest job.. but a great experiment.

Jun Qaz · November 29th, 2003, 12:45 PM

How would these plans adapt to larger lenses (on the DV Camera side). Like the 58mm on the Sony VX2000 or the 72mm on the Panasonic AG-DVX100?

Also, where did you put the fresnel/magnifying glass? Between the lens and ground glass or between the ground glass and the DV camera?

Sorry for all the question, I was able to make the ground glass with spinning mechanism and also able to mount the lens, but I don't know where to mount the fresnel/magnifying glass. Thanks for all your help!

Agus Casse · November 29th, 2003, 01:24 PM

between the ground glass and the DV camera,

Show some pictures of the adapter built !!!

i would love to see the second mini35 Homemade Adapter.

Jun Qaz · November 29th, 2003, 04:16 PM

It's not finished yet, still testing focal lengths and what not. Unfortunately I don't have a fresnel lens that fits so I am going to hunt for it sometime this week. Here is what I have so far

Ghetto35 Digital Adapter on the VX2000 :)
http://infrastructuredv.com/g35d/

Thanks again for all your work, Agus!

Peter Sciretta · November 29th, 2003, 04:23 PM

Good work on the Ghetto35!

I can't wait to see what this thing can evolve into

The footage from both units so far look awesome...

J. Clayton Stansberry · November 29th, 2003, 05:23 PM

Jun,

Did you just use what Agus has posted so far to come to this? Was it easy? I am waiting for Agus' plans and want to do this bad...maybe I'll start tomorrow...Thanks you guys! Awesome stuff...

Agus Casse · November 30th, 2003, 01:22 AM

WAY too cool !!!

i am going to be famous !!!! :)

hey dude... put some creditin the adapter... make it with a knife... hehehe j/k

I am sooo glad that it worked for you and those pictures looks really great... !!!!

No noise at all...

Cool man... really cool ...

i loved this part "This adapter is a modified version of the ORIGINAL made by Agus Casse."

HEHEHE ok dudes... i will post this tutorial next week with full plans !!!

BTW did you get too much noise from the motor, also, who is the vibration doing, i had to use some homemade pieces from the motor to the ground glass, but let me tell you this tip...

It is almost imposible to make it Zero vibration, try puting a tape in the center of the ground glass cd, and then put in the motor, this way, if the cd is kinda of loose, the self spining force will center it with no vibration and reduce increible the video noise.

I am really glad that you well able to made it, and it worked for you... now we are two owner of a Mini35 adapters for less than 10 bucks !!!!

ISNT that GREEEAAAT ??

Tomorow i will put my adapter to the task, i will shoot a Gokarts race. that will be exciting.

Agus Casse · November 30th, 2003, 01:30 AM

hhehe i noticed in one of the pictures that there are some cds behind that have no case !!! hehheee those cds are now homeless...

Kieran Clayton · November 30th, 2003, 01:58 AM

Hey Jun,

What was the thing mounted between the camera lens and the cd spindle?

My problem with making one of these for the XL1s will be having to create some distance between the lens and the spindle and then zooming (which may require the addition of some sort of magnifier to help focus). The (stock) canon lens has a diameter of around 8.5cm and the cd spindle is only 12cm in diameter.. However, most of the 8.5cm is just housing, the lens itself is only using a small amount of that diameter.. The problem is mounting the motor at the centre point, when the lens' housing overlaps that centre point.

I'll probably have a go at doing this in about half a month though, so there's still some time to see the next generations of the Agus-35 and see how they deal with it :-)

Kieran

Agus Casse · November 30th, 2003, 02:06 AM

mmm Seens like the mini35 real adapter have the same problems, if you see it, they use another lens to the XL1s, from the box to the camera... perhaps that's the relay lens...

Try to find a really old canon lens from a SLR camera, you should be able to fit it in the XL1s, and then get the image from the ground glass.

Jun Qaz · November 30th, 2003, 03:43 AM

J. Clayton, Yeah all I was going on was what Agus had posted about this. Definately try it out if you have the parts handy. Once I get a better fresnel I'll try to make a more permanent and durable version.

Agus, There was some vibration at first, but what I did was lay the cd on a flat surface and filled the center with hot glue and found the exact center (or close), poked a hole, pushed the motor in and hot glued in place... But yeah, it's tough to get little to zero vibration.

Kieran, between the 35mm lens and the spindle? What I used to mount the lenses was the lens cap for the opposite end of the lens that i just cut the top out of, that way I could just screw in Canon EF lenses. On the DV camera side it was a standard UV filter and a macro lens (cause I didn't have the right fresnel) stacked.

This is history in the making, once these get perfected, P+S technik has some serious competition that will surely drive their prices down. Thanks again Agus! (I'm going to say it until I sound like an infomercial! haha)

November 29th, 2003, 05:23 PM	#70
J. Clayton Stansberry Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Colorado Posts: 316	Jun, Did you just use what Agus has posted so far to come to this? Was it easy? I am waiting for Agus' plans and want to do this bad...maybe I'll start tomorrow...Thanks you guys! Awesome stuff... __________________ I understand everything about nothing.

November 28th, 2003, 11:36 PM	#61
Kieran Clayton Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: England Posts: 56	I reckon I can get one of these on to an XL1s.. Ages ago I got a cokin P-series adapter, which I've not used a great deal as I've since got some tiffen screw-in filters that meet most of my needs. Anyway, the cokin set came with a 72mm adapter designed so that you could slot the P series mount over the top. They do a whole range of them, which step up whatever screwthread you have to the P-mount slot size. If you were to make a 72mm diameter hole in the cd-spindle then you could put the cokin adapter ring on the other side and then screw it into the camera, holding your adapter firmly in place. The only problem is that you need something larger in diameter than your average cd spindle in order to be able to have a motor spinning at the centre point... However, a cd should be just about the right size to project the image on to.. If you're using something other than an XL1s, this would probably be the best, cheapest way to secure the adapter to the camera, and you can get these rings from camera stores for about £5.. I'm going to have a go at making one when i get back home from Uni.. A couple of questions for you Agus, could you take a still of what the projected image looks like with no zoom on the camera? Also, have you tried mounting the lens at various distances from the "ground glass", how does that affect the quality of the projection? and last of all, did you get the motor out of a dreamcast vibration thing? it's just I'm sure I've got a N64 rumble pak lying around somewhere that would probably make a good motor... Thanks, Kieran PS A link to explain the cokin adapter thing (I'm suggesting that at stage one in the diagram you put Agus' wonderful device between the camera and the ring, and then secre it to the camera via the ring through the whole in the cd spindle): http://www.cokin.com/ico1-p2.html and a chart for getting adapter rings: http://www.cokin.com/ico2-p3.html

November 29th, 2003, 02:08 AM	#62
Agus Casse Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Guatemala Posts: 322	The motor was actually from a cheap toy, i found it very useful cause i also remove the batery compartiment, and the on/off switch from it. There are several ways to make the adapter, i think using a 25 spindle, will be the best one, cause the spindle have all the exact measures, and you only need to paint it so the light wont contaminate the image built in the ground glass. Also you only have to drill hole in the center, which almost all electric motors found in cheap china toys will center almos perfectly... that is why i choose it... also you have the choice to unmount the cap, in case you need to change the ground glass... it is very practical, easy to build, and useful.. I have been working on a Xmas ad, and i have to tell that for the first experience it was great, but i loose too many light steps and my cheap trv18, make a lot of video noise, i am workin now on remove it, but dont be scare, cause in daylight or in a very illuminated scene, with 4 steps down from the max exposure, you get perfectly video noise clean image... something really great. Kieran, i would definitely, insist in building it with a 25 cds spindle.

November 29th, 2003, 08:25 AM	#63
Peter Sciretta Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 72	definately looking forward to your footage from the ad you filmed.... Would also love to see a before and after color correction so that we know what comes out on the video without post production. I have tried to much failure to duplicate your design, so when your design is in the more perfected stage I would like to make an offer to you to build me one... I thank you for your work in this area...

November 29th, 2003, 11:35 AM	#64
Paul Doss Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Gulf Shores, Alabama Posts: 57	Agus, Wow. I am glad I made the post back on Nov 1st looking for the guys that had done this. That is what got you going on this and I'm sure glad it did. I knew that I was very interested in this and felt like you should be able to build something for much less than $8500! As we can now see many people are very interested, 86 posts between the 2 threads and over 3,200 veiws of these threads. Wow. You are doing great work. Keep it up. BTW I have tried contacting the people I was looking for, to see if they had done any more work on it. I have not heard anything back from them. I think you are as far or further along than they were. Congratulations. Paul

November 29th, 2003, 11:55 AM	#65
Agus Casse Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Guatemala Posts: 322	I am pretty sure that i will make a comercial version of the adapter, also i will post the plans to build a simpler version like this one, the another adapter will be really beatiful,i started planing it internal system, always with rotating ground glass. Keeping in the real thing, i almost finish the ad, isnt my greatest job.. but a great experiment.

November 29th, 2003, 12:45 PM	#66
Jun Qaz New Boot Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: San Diego Posts: 6	How would these plans adapt to larger lenses (on the DV Camera side). Like the 58mm on the Sony VX2000 or the 72mm on the Panasonic AG-DVX100? Also, where did you put the fresnel/magnifying glass? Between the lens and ground glass or between the ground glass and the DV camera? Sorry for all the question, I was able to make the ground glass with spinning mechanism and also able to mount the lens, but I don't know where to mount the fresnel/magnifying glass. Thanks for all your help!

November 29th, 2003, 01:24 PM	#67
Agus Casse Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Guatemala Posts: 322	between the ground glass and the DV camera, Show some pictures of the adapter built !!! i would love to see the second mini35 Homemade Adapter.

November 29th, 2003, 04:16 PM	#68
Jun Qaz New Boot Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: San Diego Posts: 6	It's not finished yet, still testing focal lengths and what not. Unfortunately I don't have a fresnel lens that fits so I am going to hunt for it sometime this week. Here is what I have so far Ghetto35 Digital Adapter on the VX2000 :) http://infrastructuredv.com/g35d/ Thanks again for all your work, Agus!

November 29th, 2003, 04:23 PM	#69
Peter Sciretta Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 72	Good work on the Ghetto35! I can't wait to see what this thing can evolve into The footage from both units so far look awesome...

November 30th, 2003, 01:22 AM	#71
Agus Casse Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Guatemala Posts: 322	WAY too cool !!! i am going to be famous !!!! :) hey dude... put some creditin the adapter... make it with a knife... hehehe j/k I am sooo glad that it worked for you and those pictures looks really great... !!!! No noise at all... Cool man... really cool ... i loved this part "This adapter is a modified version of the ORIGINAL made by Agus Casse." HEHEHE ok dudes... i will post this tutorial next week with full plans !!! BTW did you get too much noise from the motor, also, who is the vibration doing, i had to use some homemade pieces from the motor to the ground glass, but let me tell you this tip... It is almost imposible to make it Zero vibration, try puting a tape in the center of the ground glass cd, and then put in the motor, this way, if the cd is kinda of loose, the self spining force will center it with no vibration and reduce increible the video noise. I am really glad that you well able to made it, and it worked for you... now we are two owner of a Mini35 adapters for less than 10 bucks !!!! ISNT that GREEEAAAT ?? Tomorow i will put my adapter to the task, i will shoot a Gokarts race. that will be exciting.

November 30th, 2003, 01:30 AM	#72
Agus Casse Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Guatemala Posts: 322	hhehe i noticed in one of the pictures that there are some cds behind that have no case !!! hehheee those cds are now homeless...

November 30th, 2003, 01:58 AM	#73
Kieran Clayton Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: England Posts: 56	Hey Jun, What was the thing mounted between the camera lens and the cd spindle? My problem with making one of these for the XL1s will be having to create some distance between the lens and the spindle and then zooming (which may require the addition of some sort of magnifier to help focus). The (stock) canon lens has a diameter of around 8.5cm and the cd spindle is only 12cm in diameter.. However, most of the 8.5cm is just housing, the lens itself is only using a small amount of that diameter.. The problem is mounting the motor at the centre point, when the lens' housing overlaps that centre point. I'll probably have a go at doing this in about half a month though, so there's still some time to see the next generations of the Agus-35 and see how they deal with it :-) Kieran

November 30th, 2003, 02:06 AM	#74
Agus Casse Major Player Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Guatemala Posts: 322	mmm Seens like the mini35 real adapter have the same problems, if you see it, they use another lens to the XL1s, from the box to the camera... perhaps that's the relay lens... Try to find a really old canon lens from a SLR camera, you should be able to fit it in the XL1s, and then get the image from the ground glass.

November 30th, 2003, 03:43 AM	#75
Jun Qaz New Boot Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: San Diego Posts: 6	J. Clayton, Yeah all I was going on was what Agus had posted about this. Definately try it out if you have the parts handy. Once I get a better fresnel I'll try to make a more permanent and durable version. Agus, There was some vibration at first, but what I did was lay the cd on a flat surface and filled the center with hot glue and found the exact center (or close), poked a hole, pushed the motor in and hot glued in place... But yeah, it's tough to get little to zero vibration. Kieran, between the 35mm lens and the spindle? What I used to mount the lenses was the lens cap for the opposite end of the lens that i just cut the top out of, that way I could just screw in Canon EF lenses. On the DV camera side it was a standard UV filter and a macro lens (cause I didn't have the right fresnel) stacked. This is history in the making, once these get perfected, P+S technik has some serious competition that will surely drive their prices down. Thanks again Agus! (I'm going to say it until I sound like an infomercial! haha)