I have been trying to make this work with a 35mm lens and I can't seem for the life of me to get a good image that is not croped. I zoom but my camera (pd150) can't keep the focus

You'll likely need a close-focus diopter on the front of your lens.

man o man, I cant wait for this tutorial!

in the meantime what do you guys recommend for a Film Lens? 35mm ..50mm? Brand?

I will have the footage of the ad as soon as i finish it adding the 3d animation.

Thanks you all for the interest in this adapter, it is a great thing indeed... i have been working all this week, and the results have been superb so far. I want to make the better ground glass next week.


Peter Sciretta, i solve it using an magnifying glass from a wide conversion lens that i have, the first piece will manify the image without ruining it.

John Gaspain, my best advice would ask for photographer about it, but i found that 50mm lens doesnt actually make closer or farther the image, the 35mm will make it a little up wider, me for example i am using a 50mm minolta lens, but i want to try up 35mm... once you build the adaptor, try to find photographer that let you try some type of lens, then you choose which you preffer.

I reckon I can get one of these on to an XL1s..

Ages ago I got a cokin P-series adapter, which I've not used a great deal as I've since got some tiffen screw-in filters that meet most of my needs. Anyway, the cokin set came with a 72mm adapter designed so that you could slot the P series mount over the top. They do a whole range of them, which step up whatever screwthread you have to the P-mount slot size.

If you were to make a 72mm diameter hole in the cd-spindle then you could put the cokin adapter ring on the other side and then screw it into the camera, holding your adapter firmly in place. The only problem is that you need something larger in diameter than your average cd spindle in order to be able to have a motor spinning at the centre point... However, a cd should be just about the right size to project the image on to.. If you're using something other than an XL1s, this would probably be the best, cheapest way to secure the adapter to the camera, and you can get these rings from camera stores for about £5..

I'm going to have a go at making one when i get back home from Uni..

A couple of questions for you Agus, could you take a still of what the projected image looks like with no zoom on the camera? Also, have you tried mounting the lens at various distances from the "ground glass", how does that affect the quality of the projection? and last of all, did you get the motor out of a dreamcast vibration thing? it's just I'm sure I've got a N64 rumble pak lying around somewhere that would probably make a good motor...

Thanks,
Kieran

PS
A link to explain the cokin adapter thing (I'm suggesting that at stage one in the diagram you put Agus' wonderful device between the camera and the ring, and then secre it to the camera via the ring through the whole in the cd spindle):

http://www.cokin.com/ico1-p2.html

and a chart for getting adapter rings:

http://www.cokin.com/ico2-p3.html

The motor was actually from a cheap toy, i found it very useful cause i also remove the batery compartiment, and the on/off switch from it.

There are several ways to make the adapter, i think using a 25 spindle, will be the best one, cause the spindle have all the exact measures, and you only need to paint it so the light wont contaminate the image built in the ground glass. Also you only have to drill hole in the center, which almost all electric motors found in cheap china toys will center almos perfectly... that is why i choose it... also you have the choice to unmount the cap, in case you need to change the ground glass... it is very practical, easy to build, and useful..

I have been working on a Xmas ad, and i have to tell that for the first experience it was great, but i loose too many light steps and my cheap trv18, make a lot of video noise, i am workin now on remove it, but dont be scare, cause in daylight or in a very illuminated scene, with 4 steps down from the max exposure, you get perfectly video noise clean image... something really great.


Kieran, i would definitely, insist in building it with a 25 cds spindle.

How would these plans adapt to larger lenses (on the DV Camera side). Like the 58mm on the Sony VX2000 or the 72mm on the Panasonic AG-DVX100?

Also, where did you put the fresnel/magnifying glass? Between the lens and ground glass or between the ground glass and the DV camera?

Sorry for all the question, I was able to make the ground glass with spinning mechanism and also able to mount the lens, but I don't know where to mount the fresnel/magnifying glass. Thanks for all your help!

between the ground glass and the DV camera,

Show some pictures of the adapter built !!!

i would love to see the second mini35 Homemade Adapter.

It's not finished yet, still testing focal lengths and what not. Unfortunately I don't have a fresnel lens that fits so I am going to hunt for it sometime this week. Here is what I have so far

Ghetto35 Digital Adapter on the VX2000 :)
http://infrastructuredv.com/g35d/

Thanks again for all your work, Agus!

WAY too cool !!!

i am going to be famous !!!! :)


hey dude... put some creditin the adapter... make it with a knife... hehehe j/k

I am sooo glad that it worked for you and those pictures looks really great... !!!!

No noise at all...


Cool man... really cool ...

i loved this part "This adapter is a modified version of the ORIGINAL made by Agus Casse."

HEHEHE ok dudes... i will post this tutorial next week with full plans !!!

BTW did you get too much noise from the motor, also, who is the vibration doing, i had to use some homemade pieces from the motor to the ground glass, but let me tell you this tip...

It is almost imposible to make it Zero vibration, try puting a tape in the center of the ground glass cd, and then put in the motor, this way, if the cd is kinda of loose, the self spining force will center it with no vibration and reduce increible the video noise.

I am really glad that you well able to made it, and it worked for you... now we are two owner of a Mini35 adapters for less than 10 bucks !!!!

ISNT that GREEEAAAT ??

Tomorow i will put my adapter to the task, i will shoot a Gokarts race. that will be exciting.

Hey Jun,

What was the thing mounted between the camera lens and the cd spindle?

My problem with making one of these for the XL1s will be having to create some distance between the lens and the spindle and then zooming (which may require the addition of some sort of magnifier to help focus). The (stock) canon lens has a diameter of around 8.5cm and the cd spindle is only 12cm in diameter.. However, most of the 8.5cm is just housing, the lens itself is only using a small amount of that diameter.. The problem is mounting the motor at the centre point, when the lens' housing overlaps that centre point.

I'll probably have a go at doing this in about half a month though, so there's still some time to see the next generations of the Agus-35 and see how they deal with it :-)

Kieran

mmm Seens like the mini35 real adapter have the same problems, if you see it, they use another lens to the XL1s, from the box to the camera... perhaps that's the relay lens...

Try to find a really old canon lens from a SLR camera, you should be able to fit it in the XL1s, and then get the image from the ground glass.

J. Clayton, Yeah all I was going on was what Agus had posted about this. Definately try it out if you have the parts handy. Once I get a better fresnel I'll try to make a more permanent and durable version.

Agus, There was some vibration at first, but what I did was lay the cd on a flat surface and filled the center with hot glue and found the exact center (or close), poked a hole, pushed the motor in and hot glued in place... But yeah, it's tough to get little to zero vibration.

Kieran, between the 35mm lens and the spindle? What I used to mount the lenses was the lens cap for the opposite end of the lens that i just cut the top out of, that way I could just screw in Canon EF lenses. On the DV camera side it was a standard UV filter and a macro lens (cause I didn't have the right fresnel) stacked.

This is history in the making, once these get perfected, P+S technik has some serious competition that will surely drive their prices down. Thanks again Agus! (I'm going to say it until I sound like an infomercial! haha)

Not to put a damper on the whole commercialism of this awesome idea, but I would imagine that P+S has some sort of protection (patent or otherwise) on the ideas that are being used here, seeing as how Agus said he read the Mini35 manual and just replicated that using common household items (how mad scientist-sounding).

While I agree this could easily drive their prices down (that is... if the footage is good enough and the information is spread wide enough, of course. If no one knows, P+S won't care), I don't think the "homemade" version could be sold commercially.

That said, I've been trying to get my roommate to lend me his 80mm-200mm lens so I can try some of this stuff out. <g> Keep up the good work.

I just shoot a Go karts racing event, the footage is really awesome, i will make a video, showing a demo footage.

about the comercial stuff, well, actually, i dont really think that P+S have invented something new... the tech is the same from SLR cameras, they only make the ground glass to spin, which is not a big discovering. WHat i have to admit is that their product is top noch, it is really pro, you can adapt all kind of lens, they have adjustable GG (ground glass) speed, and you can use the camera batery power to operate it.

They will never loose their clients because of this homemade device, i think it is all the way around... this device will show everybody why they should use it !!! because it is a homemade version, you will never the the perfect picture as the mini35, but you will get the same DOF.

As for a comercial Adapter, yes, i am currently working on building one, what i am pretending to sell, but keep in mind, that this is for poor people, (like me, who make it from the first thing i saw), and it will never be as good as the P+S mini35... i really doubt it... still... For all we indie filmaker, that we only own a miniDV camera, now we can have awesome shoots, for really no money, and in a way train ourself to handle profesional DOF, so if the oportunity comes, we will be able to handle a 35mm camera with no trouble.

Have fun, and the plans will be ready for next week, until then... i will be editing this footage and upload it as soon as i get it.


Thanks everybody for their support, also i want to thank to all the ones that were before me, explaining the theory of the adapter. and how it should be built.