Any,
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"You probably should have called Optosigma in California and cut out the middle man..."----

You probably right there, not sure why the postage costs are so high though.

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"so in theory the Knight Optical GG is going to be no different?"----

The difference is £15 compared to £44. If i see the grain in the optisigma GG and decide to oscillate it, then it would have been cheaper for me to get the knight optical straight away. But experiementation comes with a price i suppose.

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"and if you don't have a good lens you will most likely need condensers."----

I have bought a used Nikon Nikkor-S 50mm F1.4 lens. I have also bought a condensor les from Knight Optical, does a great job at getting rid of the hotspot, but has a bit of distortion. I got a 50mm dia, 63mm FL, i should have got a longer focal length i think.

Cheers,
Wayne

What I meant was I think the GG from Knight will probably be identical in terms of performance to Optosigma as they both have the same finish.

They charge so much cause they send it via DHL or UPS... they won't ship via regular mail (which only cost $10 to Australia vs $48).

I tried 80mm FL condensers and the distortion can be eliminated by moving the condenser further from the GG at the expense of image size (basically magnifies the centre) but the chromatic aberration was still a problem. Going to try 120mm FL next.

Nicholas,
What are you guys talking about here because me, I am lost.

Are you guys talking about how to make a 35mm Adapter or something.
Ok let me give you guys a great business Idea.

For example Nic, why don't you make this adapters for cheap and sell them on Ebay. I mean, I will buy it since

1, They will be cheaper. 2, I have seen some sample results from your film. 3, It will save me time.

So you guys that knows how to make this things, please come up with a way to make it available for us that do not know how to build one, etc.

What do you guys think?

I didn't know how to build one, much like you, and I spent many many long painfull hours reading, learning, building etc. I didn't do this for anyone else, this was purely to enable me to make the types of images I wanted to. There are people, making these adapters, and selling them for very reasonble prices, as they have invested enough into large productions to make it woth while.

If i were to build them, given the cost of my time, they would i'm sure not be competitive with the awsome mini35 adapter in tearms of price and quality etc. As for me, If I wanted to go into product design, that is what I would do, and i'm sure I could make a lot of money from it. That is exactly what my parents have done all their lives, and my brothers also, and I help them where possible. However, I am a director/filmaker, not a product designer. I have little interest in manufacturing an adapter for people who have little or no inclination to learn about the device, and selling it on for a price which makes it available to anyone with a camera.

I have responded to many many emails, and made several posts, giving as much advice as possible to anyone who seeks it, and I will help determined filmakers as much as I can. The knowledge is here, on this website and easily accessable, you just have to read.

Alternatively, if you can't be bothered, go and buy an adapter from redrockmicro. Theirs seem excellent, and at an incredible price.

I was never good with Optics. Luckily we didn't cover them in High School Physics or I would have failed. How much math is involved in figuring out the focal lengths on various lens combinations vs image size needed on the GG and the mounts and distances to your primary lenses, etc. Making the stuff on a lathe or designing the physical parts wouldn't be so much a chore but the math to know this lens will need to be mounted x" away from the glass and the macro lens will have to be this type and magnification for that image size...Man.

Or is this all trial and error?

Lastly, how much more light do you find yourselves throwing at a scene as it is going through this extra image transfer? You have two iris settings to account for too unless the Macro is left wide open, which I suspect it is.

I need to read more on this one. Keep up the good work.

Sean McHenry