Making lenses for non-lens DV camera at DVinfo.net

Leo Mandy · December 28th, 2004, 10:14 AM

I am starting to realize what an undertaking this is and that there is alot of science behind it.
I found a Ektanar Zoom Lens at a charity shop and went to see if that would help getting rid of Vinetting that I experience with a makeshift lens holder that I built. Didn't do the trick. So what do I need? A macro lens to pull the image closer? Would one of those Single Slide projector (with the BIG plexiglass lens at the front and the light shining in the back) do the trick? I am assuming the slide is projector larger because of the Macro lens on this thing, so maybe it would work the same?

Any other ideas, I would appreciate. I am developing quite a collection of lenses and paraphenallia from my searches - just want to put them to go use!

Using the Panasonic PV -DV852 with a Wide Angle Kenko lens.

Thanks in advance!

Aaron Shaw · December 28th, 2004, 01:02 PM

I'm not entirely sure what your problem is or what you are trying to do. Can you explain what you are trying to accomplish and how you are currently doing it in more detail?

Leo Mandy · December 28th, 2004, 04:15 PM

Ok, thanks for the response.
I have a 52mm Vivitar Skylight and a Polarized lens from a different video camera that DOES NOT fit my camera, so I am trying to make a holder for this lenses on the cheap. No, I have created a pringle-can like design, but I get alot of vinnetting (tunnel vision) when zoom out. So, I am trying to find a way of getting rid of this tunnel vision (again on the cheap) using old lenses, macro lenses from single slide projectors etc. I guess that is what I am asking for is a way of doing just that - no more tunnel vision!

Bob Hart · December 29th, 2004, 07:39 AM

The following comment is only meaningful if you are trying to use your camcorder lens to look through another lens. If you are replacing your camcorder lens entirely with another lens, then ignore what follows.

This is not an easy or simple task and is best left to engineers and designers who know what they are doing unlike myself who must guess and bluff my way through most of it. that said here follows some comments which I hope help.

Unless you have a relay lens, in other words an eyepiece lens just like you would use to look through the main lens with your own eye, your camera may only see what your eye sees without one, the mount-end of the lens with a hole through the middle. You might get an image through it but chances are it won't be all that good.

You may therefore need a close-up lens or macro lens to attach on front of your camcorder. This will enable your camcorder lens to look through the lens you want to attach and enable the zoom to enlarge the image enough that you won't see the edge of the lens in front.

There is a lot of messing around trying to find the correct distance for the new lens to sit away from your camcorder with its close-up lens attached.

To do all this half-properly, you will need a piece of timber or thick plywood to bolt your camcorder onto. From the front of the macro lens on your camcorder you need to draw a centerline which is true to the center axis of your camcorder's lens. The tripod mount on some camcorders is not dead center. Some camcorder lenses do not sit central over the camcorder CCD chip. The best you can do is get another piece of wood or cardboard. Cut it dead square. Draw a vertical line on it in dead center. Draw two more vertical lines an equal distance either side of the first one. These you will use as viewed edges against the viewed sides of your viewfinder frame to enable you to keep it centered.

Place or get somebody else to hold it upright, facing the camera as far along the flat plywood your camcorder is mounted on as you can get it away, mark the flat plywood where the upright center line touches. Move it closer and make more marks until you are as close as you can get to the camera. Then join all the marks with a line. This will give you a rough center line to work to as long as you don't unbolt the camera off the plywood.

Then you will need some blockwood scraps to cut vee shapes into for rest your lens on so that you can move it about easily. You will need some other thin playwood scraps and thin cardboard scraps to sit flat under the vee shaped blocks to get the center up the lens high enough so it lines up with the center axis of your camcorder lens.

Once you have that all done, you can move the lens back and forward along that centerline until you find the best position, then design your mounts and adaptors around those distances between the lens and camcorder.

December 28th, 2004, 10:14 AM	#1
Leo Mandy Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 749	Making lenses for non-lens DV camera I am starting to realize what an undertaking this is and that there is alot of science behind it. I found a Ektanar Zoom Lens at a charity shop and went to see if that would help getting rid of Vinetting that I experience with a makeshift lens holder that I built. Didn't do the trick. So what do I need? A macro lens to pull the image closer? Would one of those Single Slide projector (with the BIG plexiglass lens at the front and the light shining in the back) do the trick? I am assuming the slide is projector larger because of the Macro lens on this thing, so maybe it would work the same? Any other ideas, I would appreciate. I am developing quite a collection of lenses and paraphenallia from my searches - just want to put them to go use! Using the Panasonic PV -DV852 with a Wide Angle Kenko lens. Thanks in advance!

December 28th, 2004, 01:02 PM	#2
Aaron Shaw Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 587	I'm not entirely sure what your problem is or what you are trying to do. Can you explain what you are trying to accomplish and how you are currently doing it in more detail?

December 28th, 2004, 04:15 PM	#3
Leo Mandy Major Player Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 749	Ok, thanks for the response. I have a 52mm Vivitar Skylight and a Polarized lens from a different video camera that DOES NOT fit my camera, so I am trying to make a holder for this lenses on the cheap. No, I have created a pringle-can like design, but I get alot of vinnetting (tunnel vision) when zoom out. So, I am trying to find a way of getting rid of this tunnel vision (again on the cheap) using old lenses, macro lenses from single slide projectors etc. I guess that is what I am asking for is a way of doing just that - no more tunnel vision!

December 29th, 2004, 07:39 AM	#4
Bob Hart Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: PERTH. W.A. AUSTRALIA. Posts: 4,476	The following comment is only meaningful if you are trying to use your camcorder lens to look through another lens. If you are replacing your camcorder lens entirely with another lens, then ignore what follows. This is not an easy or simple task and is best left to engineers and designers who know what they are doing unlike myself who must guess and bluff my way through most of it. that said here follows some comments which I hope help. Unless you have a relay lens, in other words an eyepiece lens just like you would use to look through the main lens with your own eye, your camera may only see what your eye sees without one, the mount-end of the lens with a hole through the middle. You might get an image through it but chances are it won't be all that good. You may therefore need a close-up lens or macro lens to attach on front of your camcorder. This will enable your camcorder lens to look through the lens you want to attach and enable the zoom to enlarge the image enough that you won't see the edge of the lens in front. There is a lot of messing around trying to find the correct distance for the new lens to sit away from your camcorder with its close-up lens attached. To do all this half-properly, you will need a piece of timber or thick plywood to bolt your camcorder onto. From the front of the macro lens on your camcorder you need to draw a centerline which is true to the center axis of your camcorder's lens. The tripod mount on some camcorders is not dead center. Some camcorder lenses do not sit central over the camcorder CCD chip. The best you can do is get another piece of wood or cardboard. Cut it dead square. Draw a vertical line on it in dead center. Draw two more vertical lines an equal distance either side of the first one. These you will use as viewed edges against the viewed sides of your viewfinder frame to enable you to keep it centered. Place or get somebody else to hold it upright, facing the camera as far along the flat plywood your camcorder is mounted on as you can get it away, mark the flat plywood where the upright center line touches. Move it closer and make more marks until you are as close as you can get to the camera. Then join all the marks with a line. This will give you a rough center line to work to as long as you don't unbolt the camera off the plywood. Then you will need some blockwood scraps to cut vee shapes into for rest your lens on so that you can move it about easily. You will need some other thin playwood scraps and thin cardboard scraps to sit flat under the vee shaped blocks to get the center up the lens high enough so it lines up with the center axis of your camcorder lens. Once you have that all done, you can move the lens back and forward along that centerline until you find the best position, then design your mounts and adaptors around those distances between the lens and camcorder.