Ben,
I have heard that the reddockmicro glass is not actually glass but a type of plastic, i could be wrong though. I also heard that the $25 replacement glass is only for customers that purchased the main unit. Again, correct me if im wrong, but thanks for pointing that out.

Still adjusting the housing and that, but hope to have test footage up later.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Test Footage Uploaded
 

Ok guys,
Finally got everything together and got some quick test shots with my new baby. My first impressions are that im very pleased, but i need to adjust the condesor lens as the distance is not correct. Here is the link, 46MB quicktime file:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.k...ter_Test03.mov


Please keep in mind that these shots are filmed with a cheap 1 CCD panasonic cam like this one: http://www.skala.nl/usr_img/webshop/19/PA-NVDS30.jpg

You will notice both slight barrel distortion and slight vignetting, but this is due to the condensor distance. You can see the barrel distortion on the shot looking through the balcony rails. As in my experiements in my other thread with the condensor lens, 11mm away from GG seems to be optimum. I'll do some adjusting and get some more shots. There is also a slight bit of dust on the consensor lens. BTW, im recording the full 36x24mm frame area.

Anyhow, let me all know what you think so far. Im also working on a commercial unit with 15mm rod support that will be coming in the near future.

Thanks,
Wayne.

SWEET!!!!!
(the aspect ratio seems a little off though, that fan looks rather oblong! ;-)


Nice job; looks awesome!

WOW Finally
 

Someone did it with REAL glass.. Did I miss it or has someone made a guide for this setup? Cause I'll make one... Also Red Rock is plastic cause I had one and they also went up from $10.00 to $25.00... WOW... Thanks...


OK I found the guide but didn't know if this is the updated guide... Also I've had frosted window film placed on glass before for this purpose and it has been the most crisp of anything I've tried... thanks again

Footage
 

OK the footage looked the best I've seen in a very long time... I think I'm back in the game of making my 3rd adapter... WOW looks very nice...

Craig,
Yes this thread is the most up to date information on my method.

I would love to see someone else try this to. I have a few tricks and modification up my sleeve, but thats for the commercial version. I'll get some more 'adjusted' shots in soon.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Hey Wayne, you've come a long way in a short time and its awesome. Glad its working out. I'm downloading the video now to take a look at it.

Glad that method of cutting the glass worked out as well.

Not to take anything away from Wayne's accomplishment, which I applaud, but didn't Nick Bartleet do it with glass months ago?

Good job, Wayne, looks terrific!

Thanks Bill,

Nick's design was a little different, spinning a small peice of glass inside a bearing, but this means thats the glass in the centre of the frame is moving very slowley and in theory the dead centre of the glass is not moving at all. While Nicks design has other physical bennefits (smallers size adapter, doesnt suffer from gyro effect), this part of Nicks design always concerned me and you would need a very clean ground glass but more worrying you would need much higher RPM to dissolve the grain perhaps meaning more noise?

The main concern with my method was gyro effect and the glass shattering under sudden movement. Well, under a few controlled and safe tests, with the glass spinning faster then would be needed, I put the glass under extreme movements and harsh sudden turns (movements you would never dream of putting your camcorder through), and the glass held up fine. I put this down to my design having a much smaller diameter disk then a CD, therefore being much stronger and having smaller gyroeffect.

As I say, im working on a commercial version, that comes with 15mm rod support. Which will feature:

1:15mm adjustable rod support
2:Nikon style lens mount.
3:Adjustable GG speed control via rotary knob.
4:Full 36x24mm frame
5:1 - 2 stops light loss.

The unit will be availible in under a month.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Cost
 

Any Idea of possible cost and also what strength of Acromat? 100X 50X... I have a PDX 10 and have only been able to use a 100X and gert it to work properly... Also what kind of case. RAdio shack Box or a better design... Thanks

Hi,
I am going to offer an introductory price of £125-£150. Still finalising the price.

One thing to keep in mind is it wont come with macro/acromat. It will come with 58mm thread size, so the buyer will provide his/her own macro, then screw the adpater onto his/her own macro. The case will be the black ABS plastic project box. Would people perfer a glossy or matte finish?

I see this as a better option anyway, as it gives the buyer the freedom to choose the macro/acromat that best suits their camcorder and personal preference. I will provide exact distance between filter thread and GG so potential buyers test if they need a macro or not by trying to frame and focus on a 36x24mm frame from that distance.

Im currectly finalising the design, more info to follow.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Great job, Wayne! Looks real good.
Doesn't look like you have any vignetting problems either. Did you use a PCX lens with that, or straight from GG to video cam?
You've been pretty focused on getting to this point, and it looks like you're outta the woods. (By the way, what's it like? :)

G

Thanks Glen,
There is a bit vignetting in the far corners, you can see that mostly in the last 3 shots, but i know why it is and have adjusted it all now. Yes i was using a pcx lens as in my other thread http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=50884

Yes Glen, it feels good that i have got there, and the results are better then i could have hoped for, both in terms of picture quality, and how robust the glass mechanism is.

Give me a couple of weeks, and the commercial version will hopfully be available.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Full frame
 

The footage looks very nice. Is it perhaps possible to post a full frame of the last shot, the one with the pepper? Just curious how sharp it really.is.

Hi Kurt, thanks.

Here are 2 full frames from the pepper shot.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.k...ullframe01.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.k...ullframe02.jpg

Please remember that it was shot with a cheap 1 chip/ccd panny, an nvds30 like here: http://www.skala.nl/usr_img/webshop/19/PA-NVDS30.jpg

You can see the slight vignetting i was talking about, which is now resolved.

I'll try and get some more footage up soon, but i have ran out of webspace. I only have 55mb;)

Thanks,
Wayne

Wayne,

I have a massive amount of space available if you want a host. It's a very fast server. I host files for a couple of other dvinfo folks and my ISP never complains. So far it's been typically hundreds of views of 50-ish meg files with no problems (!)

Bill, that is very very helpful of you. Yes i would love it if you could host my video files for me. Could you please host the video i have already posted and give me the new link, if you would be so kind?

Is it possible for me to upload video's to your server directly, maybe via ftp?

Please let me know my friend, and thanks again!!!

Wayne.

Happy to help.

http://tinyurl.com/cgazu

I don't know how to make other accounts so just let me know if you need more files uploaded and we'll figure something out.

Thanks Bill,
I'll send you an email when i get my next video ready for upload:D..Thanks again!!!

Wayne.

You're welcome. Glad to help another member, of a community that has helped me a lot.

Still
 

Thanks for posting the full frames. Quite sharp! I've saved it as a reference file...

Which lens did you use? Do you have a whole bunch of them to test?

Very nice work indeed!

Thanks Kurt,
Im using a Nikon Nikkor -S 50mm F1.4 lens, its the only lens i have right now, planning on gotting more soon.

Wayne.

Don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but, Wayne, will you do a test movie and close up the aperture? Maybe in steps? I'm very curious to see what happens when the aperture is stopped down.

Thanks!

Bill,
Good idea, thats the real test, huh?:D Hehe, ill get to it.

Wayne.

Lens
 

"Im using a Nikon Nikkor -S 50mm F1.4 lens"

Does it always have so much barrel distorition? Or is that the camera?

Secretly, I hope it's the camera, since I've just ordered the same lens... Having a fast lens is nice and I can hardly image a 50mm lens so distorted.

Looks good Wayne - I was thinking about moving to glass as well because of the abberation I am getting from plastic. I daresay you will see micro35 probably moving that way shortly as well! What kind of glass did you end up using? Museum?

Yeah glass is way better optically then plastic. Not sure if the micro35 will make the move or not....Oh, its a 1.5mm glass, not sure of the type.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Oh it's not even so much the real test (your footage seems to be quite terrific), so much as satisfying my own curiosity. I am a static GG kind of guy so I'm so curious to see what on earth does happen when you shut the 35mm lens' aperture with a spinning one!

Bill,
Yeah, well thats 'suppose' to be 1 advantage of a spinner, so we'll see tomorrow.

Kurt, its not the SLR or the camera creating the distortion, its the condensor lens, its because the distance from GG was not properly set. All is fine now, shell prove tomorrow.

Thanks,
Wayne.

New footage up!!!
 

Ok guys, got some new test footage up, so the old footage is now here (kindly hosted by Bill Porter):

http://tinyurl.com/cgazu (right click and save as)

The New footage is here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.k...ptertest02.mov (Bill Porter, would you be so kind as to upload this clip to your webspace aslo?)

Tested both different aperture settings on the SLR and different shutter speeds on the cam. As you can see, as the aperture is closed, it starts to vignette slightly around the edges. Again, this is due to setting up the proper distance between the elements. I have setup the condensor the correct distance from the GG, so no more barrel distortion, but there is a sweet spot with distance from condensor to camcorder as to get no vignetting. Is the vignetting acceptable? NOT AT ALL. It needs to be perfect, quality is top of the list, so this is my next adujstment.

I set the shutter speed in increasements from 1/50th to 1/8000th, even at 1/8000th you can only slightly start to see the glass spinning in the window.

My aim it to take every artifact and limitation of these adapters like grain, vignetting, distortion, light loss, limited aperture use, limited shutter speed use, and get past them one by one. I think I have nearly passed all except light loss, which is around 1 - 2 stops light loss.

Anyhow, let me know what you think of the footage. Also, please let me know what tests I can do next for you all to see, lets test this baby;)

Thanks,
Wayne.

Here ya go, my friend:

http://tinyurl.com/aqpaf

Now that is a neat test. Thanks for doing that; I was the only one who asked to see it with the aperture closed, but I know literally hundreds of people are going to download it. My server stats prove it! :)

Your results are ridiculously impressive. You make it look easy!

Keep it up!


P.S. some of the folks around here (thankfully not me) are on slow connections. Will your file size be smaller if you delete all audio? Some people might want that. Even though Simon and the boys have still got it!

Bill,
Thanks, im getting there dont you think?:D
No, the audio is compressed so much it only takes like 200K of the file. I lowered the video frame rate as much as i could as not to get compression artifacts. Maybe i'll try a little lower next time.

Thanks for hosting man, im just getting some really tight close ups now, with EXTREME DOF, by adjusting the flange focal length further away fromt he GG to experiement, makes some pretty neat shots, ill show you in about 30 minutes:D

Wayne.

OK,
Here are the new links for the 2 footage files:

First: http://tinyurl.com/cgazu

Second: http://tinyurl.com/aqpaf

Ok, I have done some extreme close up extreme DOF shots. These were done buy moving the GG distance away from the lens, thereby allowing you to focus on objust just MM away from the lens, with extremly shallow DOF. It was just for fun to see what the results would be, all shot through my adapter.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup02.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup03.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup04.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup05.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup06.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup07.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup08.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup09.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup10.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup11.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup12.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup13.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/closeup14.jpg

And I also did a test to try and get the cam to see the grain spinning. Its not untill I shut the SLR aperture all the way to F16 and put shutter speed to 1/2000th that you started to notice the spinning glass. BTW, it looks as though the glass is spinning very slowly, but that just an illusion, kinda the same thing as a car wheel look like its turning backwards when you look at it at a certain speed.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/wayne.kinney/GG Grain.mov

Again remember these are shot with my cheap 1 chip/ccd panasonic. Let me know what you all think,

Wayne.

I'd say you're there, in fact, you're more there than Daves Spi, from what I've seen from both of you guys (ok, there are two Daves, who shared one name). Your footage sure looks sharp with no fuzziness or fresnel-like marks.

Super nice job!

Thanks bill,

I think my adapters performance come from 2 main factors, 1: I treat my ground glass with my 'secret ingredient';), which improves light transmittance and gives much more contrast and richness to the image, without effecting diffusion properties. Also, proper/accurate setup of condensor lens.

I have now made a new thread announcing my commercial unit thats going to be available buy the end of this month. IM asking £150 including 15mm rod support, but no macro.

Thanks,
Wayne.

Glass to Plastic
 

Just wondered how you attached the Glass to the motor. In the Guide you say to use 3 screws... BUT in the picture you seem to have a different attachment Method...

Craig.
Always 3 screws, but with thick rubber washers so the screws will not 'crush' the glass.

Thanks,
Wayne.

What's gyroeffect?

Now this is a hard one to explain:D

Its a force that acts on a spinning object. With my spinning glass, there is a resistance to any rotational movement around its own axis, but only around 2 axis, the other two axis other then the one the glass is spinning around

Im not very clear about it, but see here for a more detailed explaination.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/gyro.html

Or if your a mathmatician, go here;)

http://print.google.co.uk/print?id=5...kuPE0inm4xA-NY

Thanks,
Wayne.

Ok, but How does it affect performance or use in the real world?