Hey guys,
Well, I've finally resolved my abberation problems with my macro. I ended up making my own. I bought enough parts to make many more as well. So overcoming this milestone allowed me to move on to completing the production grade micro35. I'll be releasing a guide on how to do it yourself. I'll also be selling the parts online for you guys that live in the sticks. And all you guys with two left hands, I'll assemble them for you as well. I promised myself I wouldn't post anymore "test looking" shots. But here goes anyways... I'm very happy with it and its size (3"x4") and the new rail setup.

15MB (Please download to your computer)
www.micro35.com/micro35.wmv

For all you guys that emailed me and anyone interested, please check out www.micro35.com and get on the list!

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions!

First off, wow! that looks great! Looks like true 35mm. Did you shoot that off the dvx-100a?

exellent footage.

i noticed really minor "rotating" atrefacts in brighter parts of the shot. (i.e. when sky is somehow in the frame) or it is due to compression?

filip

DVX100A!! And I love iT!

I messed up an shot it with my first rev GG.... I'm shooting a music video with it in the next few weeks so I'll have some production footage available. Until then, keep a lookout for the guide!

Looks great -- I see the spinning in the sky, too :/

I assume you've got pics of the rig coming? Spinning/oscillating rigs produce the best images so far, but generally seem prohibitively bulky to me.

- jim

James remind me again...Are you rotating the GG or oscillating it? If your rotating it what size is the image your framing up on the GG? And if your rotating it are you filming the GG off center or right in the middle? Excellent footage btw! I see a acceptable amount of sharpness in the compressed footage. Im downloading the uncompressed version of the file right now. Cant wait to see what it can do. Could you shoot a rez chart both with and without? Thanks again. It looks like all of your hard work paid off!

It's not bulky at all. I shot some steadicam stuff with it and it flies great. I would have stuck it in the test video, but it wasn't very "horsey".

www.micro35.com/m351.jpg
www.micro35.com/m352.jpg

Sorry for the goofy light. I've been too lazy to take it off.

Brett, I used your framing pic to size up the frame. (It's off center). Again, I screwed up and used to first gg. it was a bit spotty. Sharpness is really sweet... I used a rez chart printed on a 13"x19" printer during the development. This was my first day of getting it out of the house. You'll be amazed of how simple and cheap it is to build. It won't require any machining etc.

I'm planning on taking the rig down to a production house close by. I plan on doing some real tests with different lens, follow focuses etc. for the guide...

Kyle, can I quote you on that? ("First off, wow! that looks great! Looks like true 35mm.")

Thanks again for the comments!

Can't wait for the guide.

Dude.

I want one.

Count me in to buy the guide or buy the apparatus.

Thanks!

Dillon

"It's not bulky at all."

You say that and yet I don't see many pictures with it on your shoulder :)

Good luck -- congrats on the quality of the footage -- it's superb.

- jim

So its rotating - not oscillating? Hows the noise? RPMS? Again great job. Just trying to figure out if I should get my check book out.

Sure you can quote me! lol

Count me in. When will the guide be ready?

lilbowrabi@hotmail.com

Hey Brett,
It is completly silent with zero vibration!

Thanks again guys!

Hello everyone! This is my first post.

James,

will your guide be useful for European people like me? I mean, does it describe dimensions in metric system as well as in inches? Also does Micro35 contain parts that cannot be obtained outside the US?

Thanks for such an amazing device! I'm already on your list.

Mateusz

If those issues are a problem, James also mentioned he could build one for you. Might be a bit more, but can save you the hassle.


Any ETA on the guide James?

Hey, this is my first post as well.

James, I'm wondering if you'd be able to tell me if your adapter can fit a GL-2, and not only a DVX100A. Is there some sort of simply modifcation I can make to have it fit?

Also would it work on the XL2?

Cant get a look at the .jpeg's and .mov cause the links are down.

yes, link's down.. :(

Hey Guys,
Sorry about the server going down! I've had an incredible amount of interests, enough that my server couldn't handle them...

All is good though. Yes, I can put the drawings in metric. It will work with the XL2 and the GL-2. I'm trying to obtain mechanical drawings to make sure the fit just right. The way the device is designed, it really comes down to having a macro fit for the threads. If you guys looking for other cameras besides the dvx could email me your thread sizes, it may save me some time...

I will certainly be available to assemble these for you guys that are ready to shoot! Its really easy, as you guys already know, to get side-tracked on this kind of stuff instead of out there making the next big indie film!

Thanks again!

i really liked the footage.

are you going to be selling the guide on how to make it or will it be free? what part of texas are you in?

I'll be selling the guide to try to recoup some of my expenses over the last year and a half of developing this. I'm hoping it will be around $30. My intent is to provide a guide that explains how to make it for less than the price of the guide! So far, so good!

I'll be spending the rest of the week finalizing the guide and should have it off to the printers by early next week.

Thanks for all the responses!

(DFW)

Perhaps you could make a pdf version or ebook? But I'd understand if that is a bit more difficult to keep secure...

$30 sounds great...count me in.

Just saw the footage and it looks great! I just bought a Canon XM-2 and would love to use your Micro35, so count me in for a guide .. or better a pre build Micro35.

Eric,
Thanks! I'm working on getting my hands on an XL1/XL2. I'm sure it would work today, but I'm trying to get it to work without the big lens that comes with the canon.

Make sure you're on the List!

www.micro35.com

Thanks again,

James

<<<-- Originally posted by James Hurd : Eric,
Thanks! I'm working on getting my hands on an XL1/XL2. I'm sure it would work today, but I'm trying to get it to work without the big lens that comes with the canon.

Make sure you're on the List!

www.micro35.com

Thanks again,

James -->>>


I'm allready on the list... first thing I did when I read this thread. :-)

Oh and my cam is the Pal version of the Canon GL-2.. wish I had the XL-2 though.

GL-2 Will work too!

Boy, your footage looks great. I'm impressed. I'd like to see the uncompressed version.

Last year, I made a half-hearted attempt to duplicate the Agus35 gadget. It worked, but my samples didn't look nearly as good as some others I saw. Then everybody took their designs in all sorts of directions. With the many variations that started showing up on the threads, I shelved the idea and decided to see what design would win out in the end.

It's nice to finally see that someone is willing to take the bull by the horns (or maybe in your instance, the horse by the reins) and put together something that people can understand and use.

I've added my name to your list and look forward to making a second attempt when I purchase your guide. Now that I'm a year wiser, I'm hoping that my experience and an improved design will result in much better footage.

For me, that would rock!!

Hi James

I'd be keen if it will fit the Panasonic GS400
Also I'm interested in an ebook version if you can figure some way of doing that.

Can you detail how much equipment you'd need to make the device i.e. Do you need engineering equipment such as a lathe etc? Feel free to point me to another thread if this has already been answered

Cheers
Mark

For those who email me inquiring about my adapter, I can now give them solid advice. I'll send them to you!

Good work James.


James Webb
LIFE AGAINST MEMORY
Director/DP
Enormous Apparatus Films
www.enormousapparatus.com

OK I'm am currently working on making an agus adapter and am a bit fristrated... so Please Hurry on the plans... thanks

I'll be emailing out an update this weekend to everyone on the list.

I made a HUGE step for everyone making this adapter. It involves a Hi-res GG, Laser, and a cheaper price!

Get on the List!

www.micro35.com

James, Great stuff.
I'm also concerned about finding the parts here in Italy. I guess I'll have to wait to see the plans, or order one from you.
Ciao!

I'll have the parts available if you have any problems finding them.
And as I make advances on the project and find lower pricing, I'll be sharing that with you as well.

j

James, could you elaborate a bit? What role does a laser play in your gadget?

If "GG" means "ground glass, " how is one higher-resolution than another?

JS

I'll leave the laser question for James but regarding resolution:

The finer the grind on a glass the more detail you can theoretically capture. What these adapters try to do is disperse light. Any light that goes straight through the ground glass does not contribute to the overall resolution captured on the glass. Finer grain disperses more giving you a rise in resolution that the glass can actually capture.

I'm having ground glass "gg" being made by a company that's using several machines including a laser to insure uniformity and very very fine grit.

Well said Aaron.

I Love the work you are doin james.
AS soon as you get yur new gg, will you be posting some new video?

Got it. Thanks.

I'm new to this subject (ground-glass dispersion). Have you fellows, in your travels, come across some way of quantifying this implied ratio of texture-to-dispersion?

I ask because there's been so much speculation & experimenting (on this site, at least) about schemes for improving just that aspect of the ground-glass components in these gadgets.

JS

Yea, but it might take a bit longer with all the guide stuff going on. Either way, I'll have the new ggs available for everyone building the device.

Thank you James! Happy to be of service.

John,

No worries! It's a topic which has so many facets!

I don't think anyone has actually quantified the ratio. That would be a very interesting test to try! Mostly people have been focusing on getting smaller and smaller grain. Some of the others may have done this though so I don't speak for everyone :).

Ha!

James, you're intrepid. I signed up at your webpage for updates, etc. I'm especially interested in any tests you do with your assembly attached to Canon's 14x manual lens &/or their 16x manual.

JS

James Hurd,

Any chance we'll be seeing samples of the new GG in action soon?

Thanks,

- jim

so are you still sticking true to the whole costing around 30$ to make the adapter? or is the GG going to knock the price up some??? just curious... we need a sample of this guide...

is this a rotating CD-rom style adaptor?

Well if you look at the video you can tell it is a spinning GG... With NO hole... Look at the video with the horse and the sky background. The sky has a circler pattern on each side of the horses head... Indicating that we are looking at the center of the ground glass and see an up motion on the left and a down motion on the right... So if I was to guess we are looking straight at the center of the GG... NOW maybe this is a bad compression... Maybe the contrast doesn't need to be this much from the horse/subject and the sky... To keep the GG moving the GG would have to rest on a rubber wheel/motor... YEP although it's been fun working on building the one I am just finishing WILL I buy... PLUS mine in freaking huge... Thanks

Hey guys, I'm in the middle of a all-day guide writing fest!

Looks like we're around $45 for parts... I'm going to try and get this down some more...

I don't know if the new ggs will affect the price.

Stay tuned!

james

James where did you ever hear about laser etched gg...? ;-)

A little credit here. You know I never could find out where you could get pieces that didnt have frame markings on it like Canon's laser etched focusing screens. Sounds like you did so thank you for that. This is real good news because laser etched screens are the finest grained screens I've ever tested. But not all are the same quality. Some of them are etched in a fine patern that is "too perfectly uniform". What sometimes happens with these is a strange moire effect. I believe Nikon corrected many years back when they started doing laser etch screens with a "random" etch. I'm not going to ask where you got them but Im curious if the ones you found are focusing screens as well (meaning they have their own lens built into the back side) or just flat laser GG?

Craig-
I wouldnt think it rotates this way. First of all James said it didnt move at all. But if it did rotate like this without a center hub and the device looks straight into the center then that could mean bad news because the grain in the very center isnt really moving that much (if at all) and could result in a visable spot in the middle of the image. But this is in theory. Perhaps it will work. They make bearings that look like empty filter rings that would be perfect for this. I would post a link to them if I had it. Try a google search - "ring bearings" maybe.

yep I didn't think about the center really not moving BUT with the video that has been shown.. you can see the circler pattern with the compression the way it is.. hopefully the DV video isn't like this.. Thanks