Agus <let me tell you that i was really disapointed when i saw the diagram of the design and below it says "copywrite>

A copyright mark on drawing, crummy as it may be, is not a patent! I wasn't trying to take anything away from you and what you have done or the others before you. If you notice I have links to all of the threads dealing with this subject.

I really didn't think much about it, it is just something I do when I make a drawing. I was just trying to help others and myself picture what is being discussed and have links to information on other sites.

Paul

Paul. I guess Agus misunderstood. Although I knew you were refering to the drawing itself but to others it might be taken for the design as Agus pointed out.
BTW, nice work. I always prefered illustion to just thousand of words used to descibe something.

I've used a 25 cd spindle box, and a 50mm lens. But when I have the lens focus all the way in, I need the ground glass to be as far from the lens inside the spindle box as it can to focus on anything thats about 2-3 metres away. Anything closer than that and I can't focus.

Any ideas?

Thanks

That you Charles King. The last thing I meant to do was to offend anyone. Your point is well taken. I will go back and add "Illustation" before the notice.

I certainly want Agus and all the others; Nicolai Wolfe, Matthias Fleischer, Cosmin Rotaru, Brandt Wilson, and others, to get credit for getting us to this point. That is why I linked to all the sites on this subject. It's pretty much all there as it happened.

Anyway, enough of this back to work.

Paul

Sources of Fresnel Lenses
 

For those looking for Fresnel lenses - they're often sold at book stores, gas/petrol stations and drug stores as reading magnifiers. I've seen credit card sized ones that fit in a wallet that would be perfect.

Ive just done another test with mine, and can see the rings of the fresnel lens. Also getting vignetting and don't know how to get rid of it

I experienced something similar, and it's one of the trials of experimentaion. If you look at Agus's design, you'll note that there's an extender between the front of the adapter and the back of his 50mm lens -- bringing the rear of his 50mm lens about a half to three-quarters-inch away from the adapter's surface.

Likewise, his motor is mounted at the front of the adapter, with the spindle facing back toward the DV camera -- with the CD mounted at the tip of the motor's spindle, placed very close to his macro lens.

I did a quick-n-dirty mockup last night with a 9v battery hooked up to an on/off button and my motor and ran tests with the GG within a half-inch of my 50mm lens, and then as far away as I could get it inside of the CD case -- in order to get focus on the GG, your film lens must be placed 3-4 inches away. Maybe slightly more. Experimentation will find your answer.

- jim

Jim, about the distance from the lens to the GG
 

I measured my SLR camera from the front of the body where the lens mounts to the film plane, the distance came out 46mm, I adjusted my box so the distance matched to the GG. I still haven't tried any video yet, I haven't made mine light tight yet, too much to do and never enough time!

Tom

Can you translate that into inches for those reading from America? :)

Has anyone made one of these sucessfully for the gl1? If so which macro filter are you using and what are the distances between the macro filter and the gg and the fresenel lense and the 35mm lense?

Wow, 450 posts! This is the longest thread we've ever had. I've got an idea -- I was thinking about making a copy of this thread and boiling the copy down to the technical essentials, which would make it a little easier to read that way. You'd still have this one to reply to. I can update the copy with important info as it comes up. Let me know what you think,

I have been working in trying to flip up the image, but i still dont have any good results.. btw Paul, your designs wont work, i tried them and they are no good.

chris, great idea, i've been an interested observer of this thread since day one, and there sure are a lot of the same questions getting asked over and over again.

jim, about 25mm/inch.

agus, i don't think paul was trying to pull a fast one, besides, copywrites (which only cost about $50, btw) aren't given to works in progress, and a patent would cost you about USD 15 000 (at least) if any of us had that laying around, we could just buy a p&s mini35. anyways, looking forward to your commercial version. way to go man.

happy holidays

I can answer your questions with partial confidence, as I'm about 85% done my GL1 adapter.

The macro power should be +7 or greater -- this allows you to move your camera in close enough to the surface of the GG and still zoom in to avoid vignetting.

I've got probably a half inch between the surface of my Century Optics +7 macro ("achromatic diopter") and the GG. I'm working on having about two inches between the GG and the rear of my 50mm lens.

If you've got a macro, you'll likely not need a fresnel.

However, and this goes back to my comment about partial confidence:

I put together a mock-up of my final adapter design last night and I couldn't pull focus accurately. I'm making an educated guess that this is because of the distance between the 50mm lens and the GG, which I figure was too short. I'm now extending the distance with a rubber ring between the F-mount and the front of the adapter.

Also -- I haven't actually shot anything yet, only looked through the viewfinder while holding my adapter up to the camera. No telling if my guesses, educated or ingorant, will prove to make for a functional adapter.

I will be done tomorrow, and plan to have footage up by Sunday. Check for it at http://ideaspora.net then...

- jim

I don't know whether anyone has already posted this link to a diagram and explanation of the Agus35 CD + spindle concept.

Not exactly a rave endorsement; nice schematic though. And check out the Fresnel link while you're there.

here is a new video made with a beta version of the adapter
like you can see.. there is no vigneting.

http://altoque.tv/35mmAdapter/35mmtestBETA.wmv

Now we are working on fliping the image for perfect control and making all the pieces to look pretty and profesional, as well as making a pro rod system and baseplate. as well as a matte box.

Of course it's not a rave endorsement. The footage still isn't perfect because the device is still in development. But even if it were done like the Mini35, it's still harder to focus, blurry (because the background is in focus), darker (this adapter doesn't create light, you know), and we're doing it to try to make it look more like film.

Of course, I meant that ending line rather tongue-in-cheek anyway (yes, you linked to my website. Thanks. :) ). When I have the time, I want to make one of these adapters myself. And thanks about the schematic. I haven't put the macro lens nor any flipping scheme into it yet. Actually. I'll do that now.

Edit: Wow. Agus, that footage looks amazing. I had some doubts after some of your earlier footage, but that last clip really does look wonderful.

Edit 2: Near the 3:30 mark on that footage and onward, I could start to make out the edge of the hotspot on the edges of the frame. I assume this was because the sun was setting so you didn't have the same light, but how bright was it at the time, and how much light should we expect to have to work with as you have your adapter right now?

I promised I wouldn't contribute anymore to this already gigantor thread, but after reading about someone else (Jim Lafferty) building their own mini-50mm for a GL1, I had to post a question!

Ever since the beginning of this thread several weeks ago I was under the impression that the fresnel between the SLR lens and the GG was solely there to focus the image onto the GG - even in my own "beta" version of the mini-50mm the fresnel performed this action. Jim , I noticed you said "If you've got a macro, you'll likely not need a fresnel." I must be missing something here, or maybe your adapter is built a little differently than mine - but I can't see why you wouldn't benefit from having both a fresnel lens to focus your image onto the GG and having a macro to allow you film something up close. Can you shed some light on this? Also...

You said you use a century optics +7 achromatic diopter. If I had the cash to squander, you'd be certain that'd be my "macro" lens of choice. However, I'm a cheap college student on a tight budget. I remember reading that the century achromatic diopters allow for zoom thru to a certain extent. Regular macros don't pull that off as well, correct? So in essence if you fail to get a powerful enough macro lens to get you close enough to the GG to fill the frame and avoid "vignetting," you wouldn't be able to zoom in and pull sharp focus would you? I guess in this case it's better to overkill and get a +10 macro lens - better to be closer than further?

Anyways, Jim I'm very interested in seeing how your set up looks/works as a fellow GL1 owner. Unfortunately my cam is in the shop for a faulty LCD and so I haven't gotten a chance to test things out, so I'm living vicariously through this thread!

Lovely pre-sanded GG (from CD spindle)
 

I have followed this thread from the beginning, and was thrilled to rush into buliding mine. I collected all the materials, except lens, and was worried to find that I could not locate a clear CD. All of the ones I had were already frosted. I went through about 5 or 6 of them until I finally found a clear one, I was quite relieved. I should have just tried the frosted to see if it would work, now I'm glad to see that they are preferred. (I hope I didn't throw those frosted ones away...) As far as where to get them from I'm not sure. I know that most of them came from 100 pack spindles, gotten for free after rebate (boy was that a hassle) on the day after Thanksgiving. I don't know if its a feature of the higher count spindles or what. The Discs are old ones, so I'm not certain, but I think there is a decent chance they came from KHypermedia or Memorex. I'm not sure on this, but if your desperately against grinding the CD yourself, it could give you a start.

I am loving this thread! This is the funnest little project to work on, and impress your friends with. My following of this post here has been kind of sparratic, I just got to previewing Aguss's newest beta posting. BEAUTIFUL! I'm about 90% done on mine, 90% as far as consturuction goes. I think I'll have a lot of tweaking to do, so maybe only 30% as far as complete finalization. I've got to run to the local pawn shop and see if I can't find me a 35 mm now...

Chris,

Please, please, please extract pertinent information and post to an Agus35 information thread. I think that would help us all! It would definite help me, because I can't find anything when I need it...

...on that note...I have completed stage one and wanted to offer what I have done and ask a question.

For connecting the box to the camera, I bought a UV filter, drilled a hole that size and super-glued it in. That way, you just screw the box onto the camera (just make sure you have it so when screwed all the way on it is straight! I didn't...learn from my mistake!) Also, you can then screw the macro right into the front of the filter due to their similar thread size! I have been using super-glue with good results...I got hot glue and super glue and decided to use super glue. It has worked great so far. The lens cap that goes on the back was used for the front to connect the lens. Thank you to whomever posted about that idea!

I have recorded footage without the fresnel lens (by the way, thanks Ryan for confirming that the fresnel lens is the same as a reading magnifier...I bought one in hopes that it was) or the spinning glass and it just seems to be darker. I haven't tried it in the day yet or on close ups. I also didn't notice a huge difference in the DOF as compared to footage without the Agus35 on. I hope (and know someone has stated it before, am too busy to read through 450 posts - another reason Chris!) that someone can tell me that the GG and fresnel will give me the DOF Agus is getting??? Please tell me this is what is missing for the DOF! If so, that's what tomorrow will be...a quest for DOF. Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance from my fellow Agus35er's.

Clay

Hey Agus, great shots. Love the look. Can't wait for the commercial one. I'll be your first customer.

BTW, what is the humming sound in the background? Is it coming from the spinning of the CD?

Hey, I've been following this thread and im scheming out my own little project...

We're mostly all using 35mm SLR lenses right? There should then be no need to put a fresnel in between that lens and the GG, as long as the GG is the same distance away as the film plane for that lens (there was a post on this maybe two or three pages back). If anything, I would think the fresnel would be just like the macro lens (but cheaper)...

Im not sure if I missed something, but what is the order of elements in your device, Agus? Seems like you've got the vignetting problem mostly solved. Does any vingetting become visible when the 35mm lens is stopped down, or filming in low light?

Another thing... Im worried that the box and the relatively heavy lens will pull down slightly, warping the image. Or the whole thing move as I'm filming...
Is there any place I can go to find out how to make a rail mount system, or where I can find specs/dementions of the real ones?

Agus, that new footage looks superb. What lenses are you using to get rid of the vignetting?

Flange Focal Distance / Depth / Length; Support Rods
 

Here is a link that gives FFDs for various lens mounts.
http://www.gregssandbox.com/gtech/filmfacts/flange.htm
There are also tables in the likes of the American Cinematographer's Manual and David Samuelson's Hands On manual - but these are biased towards movie camera mounts.

The FFD is the distance between the mating surface of the body/lens (not the bayonet lugs, screw thread or whatever) and the image plane.

One inch is 25.40 mm.

If your lens isn't there do a search: just use 'flange focal minolta' or whatever because of the various names used for this.

If you want an upscale alternative to using a rear lens cap as your mount, look around for second-hand bellows adaptors. These are the mounts made for using lenses on bellows for close-up work. Try http://www.srbfilm.co.uk/ They also make custom parts very cheaply compared to movie industry places. They export.

Standard 'lightweight' Arri support rods (also used by everyone else for DV cameras) are 15 mm diameter, 60 mm centre to centre. These dimensions have to be very accurate for some standard equipment to fit. The rod axis is 85 mm vertically below the lens axis and the rods are equidistant from the lens axis (at least they are on my Petroff matte box). Some adjustment is usually possible for the exact lens axis / rod axis alignment. Plenty of people offer rod adapters as standard items. They aren't terribly expensive even when custom made.

Best,
Helen

To Chris: The condensing of the thread. Good idea. Soon enough we will be beginning to see thread deja-vu otherwise.

To All: A useless and unproductive curiosity question?

Has anyone added controlled lighting onto the groundglass to achieve an effect similar to that of pre-fogging motion film. It might be interesting in situations where the contrast exceeds the workable range of the DV camera. It might be interesting creatively if different colours were used, even more so if a known colour temperature offset was used and the lighting then adjusted back in post., ie., an effect perhaps similar to using an 81EF filter at sundown with tungsten balanced film.

Devin,

Well, maybe you're right -- I thought I'd read something in one of the earlier posts where Agus discarded his fresnel after installing the macro. Now I see, going over the old threads that this wasn't necessarily the case. My mistake, sorry. And so I have to ask -- is everyone using a fresnel and are they helpful?

Agus -- is the fresnel in your latest version of the adapter?

I think this is all correct. I'd go with a more powerful macro either way you slice it.

I'll definitely keep you posted,

- jim

frosted cd - chemical method?
 

hello there,

as far as i can see - there is no info about manufacturer of frosted fake cds.
i have suggestion that anyone who knows the manufacturer who is definitelly NOT producing frosted/sanded CDs - to put it on the list, so we will be closer to that real one.

second thougt - does anyone knows how to make CD frosted with some chemicals? maybe this is much simpler than making it "mechanically"

filip

Just picked up a cheap fresnel and it doesn't help me -- at least, not yet.

I'm convinced my focusing problems are a flange focal length issue, but I've yet to find the proper distance between my lens and the focal plane (the GG). It's better, but still not acceptable.

When/if all else fails -- is a longer distance between the lens and the focal plane the best solution?

Incidently, I've got a Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens, part # 3958069. If anyone has the info that Google doesn't seem to turn up for me, I'd love to know...


edit: Helen -- the link you posted was down when I first clicked on it -- the link now works and I see that the distance for a Nikon SLR lens is 1.83 inches. Thank you for the info!!

- jim

The focal plane for the 50mm lens are 50mm away from the lens. That's the distance from the middle of the mirror to the focal point. On the lens it usually says something like f=50mm. If it doesn't say that, I would assume that because it's very common. If you measure the thickness of the camera, it gives a good approximation of where your GG should be.

Thanks. It's just that I don't have a Nikon at hand...

Got it working, however :D

- jim

Muchos gracias for your response Jim. Good luck, I'm looking forward to seeing some pics + footage. Chris, I definately think this thread needs to be compressed - way too hard to find info in here!

HD DVX100 !
 

Greetings

Someone over at dvxuser.com posted that he was able to uprez his DVX footage using S-Spline Pro (Software) - and to tell you the truth - the footage looks just about as sharp as the footage captured at HD rez. Unbelievable.

How about it? Agus35 + DVX100 + S-Spline Pro = 24p HD w/ DOF!

I'm in heaven. Now if only I could afford it!

Dillon

Look here for his experiment and clips (comparisons)
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX/YaBB.cgi?board=news;action=display;num=1071560094


quote:
what about the jvc hd10
can you tell me if theres any problem if someone makes a
agus35 on the JVC HDV CAMCORDER?
i THINK THIS WOULD BE A WONDERFUL THING!!
think about it
the resolution of HDV and the DOF
great
someone please try it.
ciao
end quote:

Anyone find out where the pre-frosted CD's come from? So far from the thread this is what I have:

CD Packs that do not offer Frosted CD's:
Imitation
Fugifilm
Philips
100 pack $20 at Best Buy

Possibly have it:
Khypermedia
Memorex

Please let us know and add to the list so we can find out which pack it is...and then run out and buy their stock because you know they will be selling a hell of a lot of them!

Agus,
That beta footage is awesome! Do you have any recent pics of your new design so we can start drooling for the commercial version? Thanks.

i just checked Memorex 10s and 25s (at least in Poland) - they are clear ones.
but, tomorrow in the morning (polish time) i have a meeting with the guy who is selling huge ammount of CDs. he got ONE frosted cd - but no name on it - he found it in the shop somewhere, but at least i will know what CD manufacturers to ignore...

Chemical means of achieving frosted surface on disk!!

Those chemicals might be a little dangerous.
There may be some solutions but it would be irresponsible to post them here.

It could render me and the host of this service possibly liable for suit should tiny vexations like chronic dermatitis, blindness, chronic obstructive airway disorder and death emerge as collatoral consequences.

This is one area I would commend anyone not qualified to avoid like the plague. If you don't know it or can't do it, don't try. Chemicals are very socially enlightened. They don't discriminate. They just drop everybody. Seek help from somebody who has accreditation in this very specialised industry.

So you are going to go for it anyway. Whatever chemical you choose to experiment with, be extremely careful, avoid the vapors and don't leave the stuff lying around for little bro or sis to encounter. And for heaven's sake read the Hazmat notes, know what to do beforehand if it all goes wrong. Devise your personal or household counter-disaster plan if you have not already.

I don't think you will achieve by chemical means, anything you can't do with a lot less risk or hassle with graded silicon carbide grit or wet and dry silicon carbide grit papers or jobbing the task out to somebody who can gritblast with graded grits. That final 5% to perfection everybody looks for might only be achieved by experienced practitioners of specialised crafts.

The frosted CD disks people have been mentioning here?? Are they "frosted" right through the thickness of the disk or only on one surface??

If the "frosted" feature goes right through the full thickness of the disk, you will likely get inferior resolution, a halation effect into neighbouring image from pinpoint highlights and lower light transmission.

If the disk is only lightly translucent, your camcorder is going to also see through it into the front lens and you will get a hotspot in the centre of your recovered image.

There were two versions of the small "Pringles Chips" container press-on caps. One cap which originated from Belgium was a clear plastic with a frosted finish applied to one surface. These containers made excellent pinhole cameras for kids. The US cap was made of a translucent plastic which did not work as an image plane.

Another solution might be to do what they do to make ground glass. It may also work on the clear CD's...just another thought...

Check out this website:
http://www.phototechmag.com/previous...kas/dokas.html

I am sure there are others, but may be another option.

Bob,

Agus has stated, after using the frosted CDs, that his resolution increased and there weren't any problems. In fact, by his latest footage, I would say he pretty much got it right! Don't know about where it is frosted as I can't seem to find one of these bloody things:( Will let you know if I can ever find one.

Agus Casse <btw Paul, your designs wont work, i tried them and they are no good.>

You are absolutely right! The one or two mirror versions do flip the image vertically but not horizontally. Back to the drawing board. Looks like the only way is to copy the SLR in as far as the light path through the viewfinder.

Paul

For what it is worth - In the past, I have had clear pieces of glass turned into frosted pieces very nicely via sandblasting. I didn't do the sandblasting though, it was done by an ordinary local glass & window service company. The pieces were very consistent with each other and it only took the shop an hour to perform the job.

- don

I have one frosted CD that came in a spindle but I forgot which brand it came i in. It could be Maxell or Primaris. They are definitely not from Fujifilm... :]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...e/fa3e9a51.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...b/fa3e9a4e.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...0/fa3e9a54.jpg

trying...
 

hello there!!!

i have a trv18, just like Agus.

ive made some footage with the agus35, i did one exactly like the pic he put on the web.

and yeah, everything went out okey, just like the first exemple (the video of his father) he upload to the forum.

except the my footage has more vignette (? the spolight of the image and the black around it ?)

maybe its the distance from the 35mm lens and the ground glass. i will check it out (i just did it yesterday my first try)

anyway. but i found something really nice.

when i was pulling the 35mm lens from the PHOTOGRAFIC CAM (nikon), i just looked inside the cam.

i think its possible to make a 35minidv adaptor with the same GLASSES and LENS that we have on those usual photo cams.

i will try to make a black rubber box, with the lens adaptors connectors (the camcorder and 35m),and inside this box well
have all the glasses and lens we have on the photo cams.

the question is, maybe i have to re-size the glasses, re-made based on the photocam model?

or maybe isnt necessery, i just have to go downtown, to a used photo cams store, vampirize some cameras, get the glasses
and the lens from it, adapt it to the box and have fun?

what do you people think about it?

would we get the same 35mm image project inside the black box? is it possible?


ciao