HD100 Lens Adapter

[Bruce Meyers]

I know there's the cinemek, red rock micro, and the p+s technik all of which are very costly and impratical/unavailable right now March 2006... I remember reading somewhere on this website a response to a post indicating that there exists a cheap lens adapter for the HD100 that enables one to use special photo lens in conjunction with the camera, I've searched extensively for that information, I wish I had taken it done previously... Does anyone know of any lens adapter used for getting more shallow cinematic depth of field? I know someone on this website mentioned it within the past few weeks, I don't know if it's secret trade secret stuff and it got deleted or what... but does anyone know of a 1000 dollar or less shallow depth of field getting option for the HD100 that is not the unavailable/immobile cinemek the questionable red rock micro or the cost prohibitive PandS Technik... surely it exists, could someone please remind us what it is? Lots of people make their own adapters I know... where could one buy one of these?

[Tim Dashwood]

Bruce, We have a forum dedicated to 35mm adapters.
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=70

You will find every kind you can imagine in there. There are numerous "home-builts" that have started selling plans or products online. Many are under $1000 and most should be compatible with the HD100's stock lens in macro mode.
I've even built my own design with a F3 "D" Focusing Screen and T2 mount.

[Joe Russ]

Tim, have you done any tests with your design (frame grabs?)? it looks tiny, I'd love to know what that costs to build and if the image is any good (I'm still waiting for the Letus adapter, but, who knows if that will happen any time soon).

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Joe Russ

Tim, have you done any tests with your design (frame grabs?)? it looks tiny, I'd love to know what that costs to build and if the image is any good (I'm still waiting for the Letus adapter, but, who knows if that will happen any time soon).

Well, conceptually it works. Actually, it is perfect for my original intent which was to emulate the very early silent films. You can see in this test frame grab that I have heavy vignetting and the current ground glass I have has some marks on it.
I will need to add some additional optics (achromatics) to overcome those problems.
My design is as simple as can be: a single focusing screen pushed against the front element of the stock 16x lens, attached to some M42 screw spacers I bought at a camera store, and an old 50mm lens from a broken Practika camera. I used a cardboard slide holder to sandwich the focusing screen and glue to the M42 spacer. I'm using the plastic mount from a Noma flood light, which fits snugly over the 55mm outer dimensions of the stock lens. My total cost so far is about $20.

This is just a hobby project for me for now, but I will ask for members' help in the Alternative Imaging forum when I have some time to sit down actually try to make this thing work.