Homemade 35mm Adapter

Sheldon Schwartz · September 20th, 2006, 12:26 PM

I simply use Macromeida Flash 8 Professional. As of version 8, Macromedia has included an EXCELLENT video encoder that all the new flash-video sites (youtube, google video) use. You simply convert your video from any format to an "flv" file, import the flv file into a new flash project, and voila-- you have a page that'll play your video as long as you have the flash player. Just publish and upload the html, swf, and flv, and you'll have what you need done.

Bob Hart · September 21st, 2006, 03:26 AM

Here's another site for the two tests. They are in wmv9 coding out of PP2 so are not the sharpest examples in the block. One of these days when the cargo plane comes home and brings good things to the mountain top, I'll buy Quicktime for the H264 encoding capability. In meantime, this will have to do.

http://media.putfile.com/20mm-Sigma-f18

http://media.putfile.com/SIGMA-50-500-f4-63-LENS

Sheldon.

Thank you for your advice on Macromedia.

FOOTNOTE:

Sorry. Looks like this sucks comprehensively too. Doesn't work at all. Never did like trying to download video so I don't expect uploading to be any better an experience.

www.savefile.com was the only one that worked and it looks like that one has gone belly-up as I can no longer access the site.

Looks like its back to the .jpg frame grabs.

FURTHUR FOOTNOTE.

Savefile must have been down for some care and maintenance as it is back up again now. I shall send my tests there.

FURTHUR FURTHUR FOOTNOTE.

Savefile is still broken. I probably broke it through mismanaging the account soimehow.

My previous material there had all timed out and dropped off and I am now being asked to change to a new password but my current now redundent password is being rejected so I give up.

In cost benefit terms of time wasted, it is easier to burn and send DVDs by post than perservere with attempting to ram Mbits into the end of a 300m copper overhead pair landline when they don't want to go.

As yoong Albert's moom wunce sedd, "Boy I'm vexed".

I'll try and get some .jpgs up when I can work out how to unstretch the frame grabs from cineform captures.

Sheldon Schwartz · September 21st, 2006, 09:38 PM

http://www.schtm.com/kitchen.html :)

Bob Hart · September 24th, 2006, 08:33 AM

Tried again at savefile.com under a new account - no luck. My computer is a bit too old or the landline is too thin for fat files to fit through.

Sheldon Schwartz · September 27th, 2006, 08:12 PM

http://www.schtm.com/jungle.html
Can't believe I even considerd blowing 995 on the redrock

David Delaney · September 27th, 2006, 10:04 PM

Hey Sheldon,
Have you tried the Nivea cream on your GG yet? That is supposed to yield some great results...

Alex Chong · September 27th, 2006, 10:33 PM

<QUOTE>http://www.schtm.com/jungle.html
Can't believe I even considerd blowing 995 on the redrock</QUOTE>
Hi Sheldon,

What did you mean?

Sheldon Schwartz · September 27th, 2006, 10:36 PM

I rented the redrock and got inferior results to the agus35 that I used to make the footage above.

Alex Chong · September 27th, 2006, 11:10 PM

oh man and ouch too! what a blow to redrock. Sorry but I am not trying to put anyone down here. Great effort from redrock by the way for a great product and creating a healthy competition, but I have always thought the footage from redrock aren't as great as I expected it to be. I hear alot of comments from people who had good results. But now my doubt is confirmed. I think its their GG. Some improvement probably in order.

Carlos E. Martinez · September 28th, 2006, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Delaney

Hey Sheldon,
Have you tried the Nivea cream on your GG yet? That is supposed to yield some great results...

Please forgive my ignorance, but what would exactly the Nivea cream do?

Carlos E. Martinez · September 28th, 2006, 05:52 AM

Sheldon,

Please save me from going through the almost 50 pages of this thread.

Where is the latest version of your 35mm adapter?

What camera are you adapting for the add-on?

What are the limitations your adapter has, like F loss, aberrations, maximum F before seeing any lens element (if that is the case), etc.?

Have you tried or do you think it would work in HDV cameras?

Sheldon Schwartz · September 28th, 2006, 10:41 AM

Hi,

I'm using the *original* agus35 design. I wrote a quick tutorial to get you started.

All I did was use on of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/58mm-45X-Wide-An...-DSC-F717-V3_W 0QQitemZ260031542220QQihZ016QQcategoryZ116190QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZVi ewItem

Materials:
1. cd-rom motor (with the plastic mount)
2. 6 x 6 x 4 project box - can be any side
3. 9 nuts and 3 hex screws that the nuts fit onto
4. Grounded clear cd
5. On/off switch
6. Two sets of red/black wires (3-5 inches each)
7. battery box for 2 AAA battereis
8. Lens mount (I suggest Nikon- you can find Nikon lens mounts on ebay or at a photo repair shop)

Directions:
1. Drill two holes between 50-60mm diameter on the front and back of the box
2. Mount the cd-rom motor on the side OPPOSITE the side you want to put your lens mount.
3. The cd-rom motor should be in a plastic mount that has three screw holes.
Drill three small hols in the box, and use the screw holes in the
plastic motor mount to mount the motor to the box.
4. Epoxy the lens mount to the other end. Find the focal plane distance of the mount. For the nikon mount, its 46.5 mm.
5. Put a disc on the motor, and adjust the distance from the lip of the mount till the DISC is 46.5mm (or whatever you mnount's distaance) from the
lens mount's lip.
6. Solder the motor to the on/off switch, and solder the on/off switch
to the battery box using the wires. Mount all of these wherever is most
conventient-- you'll need to drill a hole to mount the on/off switch.
7. Sand down the clear cd with a cheap sander and 1000 grit sandpaper. Only
sand down one side.
8. Plop the cd on the motor, with the ground side facing the lens.
9. Put your lens on the box, and put the macro on the camera. Turn on the
motor, and connect your camera to a TV to help you adjust. Find your correct zoom/focus and you'll be done... construct your DIY mount off these distances.

Sheldon Schwartz · September 28th, 2006, 11:17 AM

I haven't tried mine on an HD cam yet. I still love the look of the dvx.
As for stoppage-- I haven't measured it yet- but if you look at this footage, http://www.schtm.com/cheap35/cheap35.html - it was taken on a cheap F3.5 50mm Nikon lens wide open in my dark room at night. DVX was set to wide open as well. I think my MF number on the dvx is around 35 and the zoom is around 72-- though I'll have to dobule check when I get home.

David Delaney · September 28th, 2006, 07:57 PM

Sheldon,

The nivea cream leaves a fine layer, not unlike microwax on the CD. Some say it helps with diffusion and gets rid of the hotspot.

Bob Hart · September 28th, 2006, 07:59 PM

Sheldon.

Tis a good thing you are keeping the original thread alive with original building.

From viewing the image I make the following observation.

You have a brightness falloff to the corners and left. You will have this from a f3.5 lens so I would anticipate you should get a full frame with a f1.8 lens. You might however just pick up some remaining on the left side of the image as viewed.

If you have any zoom-in range left on your camera, this should take care of it.

This suggests that your SLR lens centre is slightly off to about 0.5 to 1mm low and about 1.5 to 2mm left relative to the camcorder centre axis as viewed from camcorder rear towards the groundglass, or the camera optical centre axis is slightly skewed or a combination of offcentre and skew.

Please don't take this comment as a criticism. Compared to my own efforts, you have it pretty well nailed. Because of the amount of zoom-in used, it takes very little to put the centre off, in my case, pulling up the seat belt on my assembly when taking it out in the car for a test is enough.

My own device has that amount of variation there always due to the flexing in the plastic casework and there being a chain of four removable joints along the optical axis, plus in my case three more for the prism path.

If you are fastidious about centres and your camcorder CCD image centre is the same as the camcorder's own lens centre axis, (NOTE: amazingly a lot of them are not) it is helpful to set up the camcorder mount and macro first on the second version you build because you know where it has to go.

Make sure the camcorder front and front face of the adaptor case are as perfectly parallel as you can get them.

Macro is best fixed directly to the camcorder for best centering. Once you have the rear mounting set up and secure, take off the camcorder then drill a small 1mm or 1/16th inch pilot hole in the case where the centre of where the SLR lens mount is to go.

Focus up and view this hole through your camcorder. File the hole out wider in the direction towards where the centre should be if it looks a bit off to one edge or another.

When it is centred, then measure out to your lens mount screw centres, fit the lens mount then mark out the clearance hole and go from there.

Within reason, centres are probably not the critical issue with groundglass relay as much as they would be for relaying the aerial image (groundglass removed) which I do for really long lenses.

As I have said before, welcome to the obsession. Go out and use what you have and become fluent with it before you go on to making any improvements. This helps you from heading into any dead-ends.

September 20th, 2006, 12:26 PM	#1441
Sheldon Schwartz New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Monterey Park, CA Posts: 22	Flash 8 I simply use Macromeida Flash 8 Professional. As of version 8, Macromedia has included an EXCELLENT video encoder that all the new flash-video sites (youtube, google video) use. You simply convert your video from any format to an "flv" file, import the flv file into a new flash project, and voila-- you have a page that'll play your video as long as you have the flash player. Just publish and upload the html, swf, and flv, and you'll have what you need done.

September 21st, 2006, 03:26 AM	#1442
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,477	Here's another site for the two tests. They are in wmv9 coding out of PP2 so are not the sharpest examples in the block. One of these days when the cargo plane comes home and brings good things to the mountain top, I'll buy Quicktime for the H264 encoding capability. In meantime, this will have to do. http://media.putfile.com/20mm-Sigma-f18 http://media.putfile.com/SIGMA-50-500-f4-63-LENS Sheldon. Thank you for your advice on Macromedia. FOOTNOTE: Sorry. Looks like this sucks comprehensively too. Doesn't work at all. Never did like trying to download video so I don't expect uploading to be any better an experience. www.savefile.com was the only one that worked and it looks like that one has gone belly-up as I can no longer access the site. Looks like its back to the .jpg frame grabs. FURTHUR FOOTNOTE. Savefile must have been down for some care and maintenance as it is back up again now. I shall send my tests there. FURTHUR FURTHUR FOOTNOTE. Savefile is still broken. I probably broke it through mismanaging the account soimehow. My previous material there had all timed out and dropped off and I am now being asked to change to a new password but my current now redundent password is being rejected so I give up. In cost benefit terms of time wasted, it is easier to burn and send DVDs by post than perservere with attempting to ram Mbits into the end of a 300m copper overhead pair landline when they don't want to go. As yoong Albert's moom wunce sedd, "Boy I'm vexed". I'll try and get some .jpgs up when I can work out how to unstretch the frame grabs from cineform captures. Last edited by Bob Hart; September 21st, 2006 at 01:47 PM.

September 21st, 2006, 09:38 PM	#1443
Sheldon Schwartz New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Monterey Park, CA Posts: 22	Shot this in 10 minutes after I finished my DIY rod support http://www.schtm.com/kitchen.html :)

September 27th, 2006, 08:12 PM	#1445
Sheldon Schwartz New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Monterey Park, CA Posts: 22	more footage http://www.schtm.com/jungle.html Can't believe I even considerd blowing 995 on the redrock

September 28th, 2006, 05:52 AM	#1451
Carlos E. Martinez Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Posts: 1,138	Update Sheldon, Please save me from going through the almost 50 pages of this thread. Where is the latest version of your 35mm adapter? What camera are you adapting for the add-on? What are the limitations your adapter has, like F loss, aberrations, maximum F before seeing any lens element (if that is the case), etc.? Have you tried or do you think it would work in HDV cameras?

September 24th, 2006, 08:33 AM	#1444
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,477	Tried again at savefile.com under a new account - no luck. My computer is a bit too old or the landline is too thin for fat files to fit through.

September 27th, 2006, 10:04 PM	#1446
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Hey Sheldon, Have you tried the Nivea cream on your GG yet? That is supposed to yield some great results...

September 27th, 2006, 10:33 PM	#1447
Alex Chong Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Brunei Posts: 140	<QUOTE>http://www.schtm.com/jungle.html Can't believe I even considerd blowing 995 on the redrock</QUOTE> Hi Sheldon, What did you mean?

September 27th, 2006, 10:36 PM	#1448
Sheldon Schwartz New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Monterey Park, CA Posts: 22	I rented the redrock and got inferior results to the agus35 that I used to make the footage above.

September 27th, 2006, 11:10 PM	#1449
Alex Chong Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Brunei Posts: 140	oh man and ouch too! what a blow to redrock. Sorry but I am not trying to put anyone down here. Great effort from redrock by the way for a great product and creating a healthy competition, but I have always thought the footage from redrock aren't as great as I expected it to be. I hear alot of comments from people who had good results. But now my doubt is confirmed. I think its their GG. Some improvement probably in order.

September 28th, 2006, 10:41 AM	#1452
Sheldon Schwartz New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Monterey Park, CA Posts: 22	Latest version? Hi, I'm using the original agus35 design. I wrote a quick tutorial to get you started. All I did was use on of these: http://cgi.ebay.com/58mm-45X-Wide-An...-DSC-F717-V3_W 0QQitemZ260031542220QQihZ016QQcategoryZ116190QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZVi ewItem Materials: 1. cd-rom motor (with the plastic mount) 2. 6 x 6 x 4 project box - can be any side 3. 9 nuts and 3 hex screws that the nuts fit onto 4. Grounded clear cd 5. On/off switch 6. Two sets of red/black wires (3-5 inches each) 7. battery box for 2 AAA battereis 8. Lens mount (I suggest Nikon- you can find Nikon lens mounts on ebay or at a photo repair shop) Directions: 1. Drill two holes between 50-60mm diameter on the front and back of the box 2. Mount the cd-rom motor on the side OPPOSITE the side you want to put your lens mount. 3. The cd-rom motor should be in a plastic mount that has three screw holes. Drill three small hols in the box, and use the screw holes in the plastic motor mount to mount the motor to the box. 4. Epoxy the lens mount to the other end. Find the focal plane distance of the mount. For the nikon mount, its 46.5 mm. 5. Put a disc on the motor, and adjust the distance from the lip of the mount till the DISC is 46.5mm (or whatever you mnount's distaance) from the lens mount's lip. 6. Solder the motor to the on/off switch, and solder the on/off switch to the battery box using the wires. Mount all of these wherever is most conventient-- you'll need to drill a hole to mount the on/off switch. 7. Sand down the clear cd with a cheap sander and 1000 grit sandpaper. Only sand down one side. 8. Plop the cd on the motor, with the ground side facing the lens. 9. Put your lens on the box, and put the macro on the camera. Turn on the motor, and connect your camera to a TV to help you adjust. Find your correct zoom/focus and you'll be done... construct your DIY mount off these distances.

September 28th, 2006, 11:17 AM	#1453
Sheldon Schwartz New Boot Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Monterey Park, CA Posts: 22	I haven't tried mine on an HD cam yet. I still love the look of the dvx. As for stoppage-- I haven't measured it yet- but if you look at this footage, http://www.schtm.com/cheap35/cheap35.html - it was taken on a cheap F3.5 50mm Nikon lens wide open in my dark room at night. DVX was set to wide open as well. I think my MF number on the dvx is around 35 and the zoom is around 72-- though I'll have to dobule check when I get home.

September 28th, 2006, 07:57 PM	#1454
David Delaney Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Niagara Ontario Canada Posts: 1,121	Sheldon, The nivea cream leaves a fine layer, not unlike microwax on the CD. Some say it helps with diffusion and gets rid of the hotspot.

September 28th, 2006, 07:59 PM	#1455
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,477	Sheldon. Tis a good thing you are keeping the original thread alive with original building. From viewing the image I make the following observation. You have a brightness falloff to the corners and left. You will have this from a f3.5 lens so I would anticipate you should get a full frame with a f1.8 lens. You might however just pick up some remaining on the left side of the image as viewed. If you have any zoom-in range left on your camera, this should take care of it. This suggests that your SLR lens centre is slightly off to about 0.5 to 1mm low and about 1.5 to 2mm left relative to the camcorder centre axis as viewed from camcorder rear towards the groundglass, or the camera optical centre axis is slightly skewed or a combination of offcentre and skew. Please don't take this comment as a criticism. Compared to my own efforts, you have it pretty well nailed. Because of the amount of zoom-in used, it takes very little to put the centre off, in my case, pulling up the seat belt on my assembly when taking it out in the car for a test is enough. My own device has that amount of variation there always due to the flexing in the plastic casework and there being a chain of four removable joints along the optical axis, plus in my case three more for the prism path. If you are fastidious about centres and your camcorder CCD image centre is the same as the camcorder's own lens centre axis, (NOTE: amazingly a lot of them are not) it is helpful to set up the camcorder mount and macro first on the second version you build because you know where it has to go. Make sure the camcorder front and front face of the adaptor case are as perfectly parallel as you can get them. Macro is best fixed directly to the camcorder for best centering. Once you have the rear mounting set up and secure, take off the camcorder then drill a small 1mm or 1/16th inch pilot hole in the case where the centre of where the SLR lens mount is to go. Focus up and view this hole through your camcorder. File the hole out wider in the direction towards where the centre should be if it looks a bit off to one edge or another. When it is centred, then measure out to your lens mount screw centres, fit the lens mount then mark out the clearance hole and go from there. Within reason, centres are probably not the critical issue with groundglass relay as much as they would be for relaying the aerial image (groundglass removed) which I do for really long lenses. As I have said before, welcome to the obsession. Go out and use what you have and become fluent with it before you go on to making any improvements. This helps you from heading into any dead-ends.