my attempt at the agus35...failed miserably. i have a GL1 and people who have the gl1/2 or have seen it knows that it's lense head is extremely big and odd shaped so it is harder for it to in the cd spindle and align it with the SLR lense with the cd motor being in the middle. i finally managed to get it somewhat aligned but my ground glass made everything blurry and you cant see anything. it is just extremely blurred. i used 400 grit sandpaper to sand it maybe that is why, but i saw a sample video of some1 who used 300 grit and it came out. so i took the ground glass out and just tried it without it. so my setup was SLR Lense -> Fresnel Lense -> Canon GL1 Lense

here is the video.
www.metafilms.net/upload_files/agus35failed.avi 3.5mb

my question is for Jim lafferty since he was succesful with making the agus35 with the gl1 or whoever can answer my questions. how would i fill the entire screen or most of it instead of that small round circle seen in the video? is that where the ground glass comes in? do i need to put the camera lense closer to the SLR lense? in the video, it was about 2.5 inches from the SLR lense. Jim, can post a good guide for making it for the GL1/2 and some good pictures? thx

Danny.

You might investigate using larger diameter sewer pipe caps for your CD disk enclosure. Use a smaller diameter plastic pipe (about 62mm OD) for a lens tube and make that one piece all the way through with a larger cutout where the lens tube is inside the CD enclosure to allow for the CD and space enough to move it around when mounting it so you don't scratch it. Unfortunately I don't know the US standards so can't give you any more detail. The riser/end caps I have chosen are wide enough that the lens tube will go right through without the need to cut the outer edge. This allows the thing to be stronger and for the front lens and camcorder lens centrelines to be kept lined up. For the Canon camcorder, you may be able to find in the hardware stores PVC pipe adapters which enable different diameter pipes to be joined. One of these may enable you to clear the outer diameter of your Canon lens.

To jig the thing for tests make the lens tube longer than you will eventually need and stuff your SLR lens down inside with a cut down sock or cardboard packing rolled up around it. Not all lenses are going to fit down there so you may have to use another mounting method. If the lens fits in the tube, you'll have to slide the lens back and forth to get focus as you won't be able to get at the focus ring until you refine things furthur down the track.

As for the 400 grit sandpaper, you may have already ruined your CD disk. You could try using some Ajax or Jif (Australian brands - white stuff as a liquid or dry powder) abrasive powder cleanser in water on a sheet of glass to rub it around on to dress it down a bit but the deep scratches will probably endure. You can get good results with a new disk with 600 grade aluminium oxide loose powder. You need to be exceptionally careful to keep the working surfaces clean from any other bits of dirt and to be very patient and not press down on the disk too hard. Keep the orbits very small when you move the disk over the glass. The outer rim of the disk is raised and you will find this has to wear down first before you get any finish on the rest of the surface.

An excessively opaque CD disk can also be re-stored a little by simply polishing for a few minutes on a flat surface covered by dry soft cloth.

To test if your camcorder lens can focus on the 35mm image, find a postage stamp or barcode on some groceries and see if you can get sharp focus and frame on that.

Just a quick note if anyone is making diaphragm or other compliant mountings for their CD spindle motors to deal with shimmer from the disks running out.

You will need to include some sort of limitation on the range of movement. I have discovered the CD acts like a gyro and moves off the focal plane momentarily if you get too athletic with the Agus35 if it is built this way.

I have sent to Chris some captioned .jpg files of the first tests with rotary groundglass (CD) including a comparison pair. The groundglass was a poor specimen with deep scratches in it.

Hopefully if there is time he may post them sometime soon.

Question
 

Is this home made adapter will also be good for the HD10U or it is a stupid question ?? I am still new...and learning...

A +7 achromatic diopter from Century Optics. I've found the fresnel unnecessary in my setup, and in fact prohibitive -- as with any of these projects, simplification is very important in making something simply functional.

I think you're referring to what connects the rear of the adapter to the front of my GL1's macro lens? If that's correct, I'm using half of a rubber coupling from Home Depot. This is what Bob mentions for connecting two lengths of PVC together -- at Home Depot they've got them as rubber tubing, in different diameters, surrounded by metal and adjustable metal straps.

I just separated the rubber from the metal on a "3 inch to 3 inch" coupler and cut it down to size with garden shears (cutting it in half along its depth, and shaving off about three inches from its circumference).

I also had to place a notch in the rubber to allow it to pass over the rear of my CD motor at the back of the spindle.

It's mounted to the CD spindle with epoxy, but notice that when you do this, a small bit of light can spill through where the epoxy rests between the spindle and the rubber tubing, so you will need to paint over it.

I used matte-black, quick-dry spray paint for my adapter -- I first sanded down both sides of the spindle and applied two coats of paint on both the inside and outside.

A rubber cup is a good choice for some reasons, a poor choice for others -- namely, it will allow your adapter some unwanted freedom of movement, and without a rail system your images will look shakey. For this reason, I'd recommend looking for some sort of solid ring setup, but I didn't know it at the time that I made mine and so I'm working on a rail system to offset the shakes.

You've got you flange focal length wrong, most likely. A proper FFL is the distance between the rear of your film lens, and the focal plane the image needs to be suspended on (in our case, the spinning, frosted CD). Without it, you will never be able to get focus.

Proper focal length can be gotten a variety of ways -- go back to the camera you got your lens from and measure the distance from where the lens mount is, and where the exposed film rests; or, thanks to Helen, just check the chart she linked to a few pages back (do a search above for her name and/or "flange focal")

Once you've determined proper FFL, you must then establish this exact distance between your lens and frosted CD. For example, the proper FFL for a Nikon F series lens is 1.83 inches.

You need to attach a macro lens or filter to your GL1 of at least a +7 power. Make sure it's zoom-through capable. Century Optics +7 achromatic diopter works great, but is costly ($210).

I'm working on it, along with working a fulltime job and seeking filmmaking grants -- it should be up, honestly, in about two weeks :)

- jim

That's actually a tough question Gabor. Since the HD10U has higher resolution, you'll probably need a more grainless ground glass. Everyone so far, as far as I know, has been using standard definition/resolution cameras. Spinning the ground glass causes the grain to "disappear" but may not work as easily with yours.
Currently on this thread http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...5&pagenumber=5 we are discussing how to make a ground glass that doesn't have to spin. Vendible has gone all the way down to 3 micron ground glass (the equivalent to 8,000 grit!) and the grain is still visible, so I'm sure that would look bad on yours... but its certainly worth experimenting. Right Vendible is experimenting with a coating that hopefully will allow grainless glass and might work great with your camera.

Agus -

Have you/ can you use a zoom lens with the adapter... and what kind of f stop have you tried, and has it hurt you in light levels?

Peter

hey
 

why u people ignore my adaptor?

it worked great, without any grain, etc. no spining cd or else.

i will adapt it for my new HD10u

and it will work.

vendi is trying to make his gg by himself.

i just got a zenit GG from an old photo cam. theres no grain in it.

and i think it will work better with the jvc hdv camcorder.

ciao

(to daniel moloko) not ignoring zenit GG
 

Daniel,

i think that no one is ignoring your GG. simply. it's hard to find.
you "promised" to tell us from which model this grainless GG is taken, but - no info. a few days ago i went to huge secondhand photo market here in warsaw, but i didn't find zenit with proper GG. i tested many zenits: zenit E. zenit B. zenit 11, zenit 12, zenit 122, zenit ET, zenit TTL... but no luck.
i know that not all of them are old, but i just tested it to see is it MAYBE proper GG in it.

my suspicion is that is should be on zenit 3B, which IS really old (from 60s), but i didn't find one. (maybe because of hollydays and new year)
so if you can - please give us a clue from WHICH zenit your exellent GG is taken, so we can also test that (if we are lucky enough to find one).

filip

p.s.
you should show us more nice girls captured with your DANIELZenit35 adapter :)

Yeah...

Using proprietary, rare parts goes a long way to undermining the whole spirit of Agus's original design, which is to use parts that are cheap and readily available.

Also, Agus has produced the most visceral footage with his design...

january 5 i will go to the same store and will tell you the model of the zenit.

by the way, what u mean with viceral footage?

anyone have a place where i can upload the video i made for the first ray of sun light from 2004?

very pretty.

beach, girls, djs playing in the sand, etc...

ciao

Daniel you can send video to me I will put on my site for you.

taylor@moorefilms.com

Video from our finished mini-50
 

Spencer Houck and I have finished our final version of the mini-50 (with a ton of help from his dad, thanks Mr. Houck!). After closely watching this thread since it was a mere 2 pages we've been able to research and test various methods to find what we think is the best. Spence built a version without ground glass, but there were some problems with distortion, so we reverted back to the frosted cd model. Here's how our version works:

GL1 > +10 macro lens > pre-frosted > fresnel > olympus 50mm lens

It's an ordeal getting it mounted to the baseplate, but once it's on it's a snap to setup and shoot. If you'd like to see some pics of the inside of the box, just ask and we can post. We used a radio shack project box to house the optics, a U shaped piece of particle board mounted inside (you can see the 4 mounting screws on the front), and a cd motor. There are some problems with vignetting, but that's an issue with our macro lens, not the light. We're really happy with our results and are looking forward to putting it to good use.

http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_wide.JPG
http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_button.JPG
http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_front.JPG
http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_base.JPG

The video was shot on my GL1 in 30i, cc'd in premiere pro, then converted to 30p before compression. It's on the following page http://www.par-t-com.net/media.html entitled "Completed Mini50 with (w/ ground glass)". Enjoy!

Great job Devin,
Do you have any more interior construction photo's.
It would be great if you could put up a construction from A-Z on this. I want to create this for my DVX 100.
If you don't have the time but you have all the images, i would be more than willing to create the website for this...and we can define the construction copy to help liberate the Agus35/Mini35 camera.

Cheers

Taylor

Daniel,

I have chatted with you personally and i really love the footage, there is some grain in your footage, because the TRV18 produces grain, cause it has only 1 chip, and it is only 680k effective... Same as mine, cause is teh same camera.

So, when you are picking in a dv camera with 3chips, well, you will get now the real grain from the GG... rememeber that most of us are quality freaks, if we see tiny really tiny grain... it is still grain, and the process is incorrect.

So... another issue is to find more of those groudn glass... which seens imposible to most of us. and second is the most important thing.

the agus35 uses mobile parts, only from a 25-50 spindle.. that is the basic concept, now we are improving that first baby step which produces no grain at all to make a close enogh perfect adapater for 100 times less the price of the Mini35.

For everybody, we are still designing the commercial version. Now i am waiting for my pentaprism and i just ordered the allumuniun Oxide to make a 3micron GG (that will still rotate, cant believe the movietube produces zero grain...).

One another really tricky part is the les adapter mount, we are still working a particular part, that will let any adapter to be mounted or we will provide the mounts for each type.

We are resuming the work maybe in the 5th or 10th of the month, cause we have also many other projects coming along.

Thanks to all for the support.

Agus casse


Ah...

BTW...Devin Doyle

Some credit for the adapter would be really nice and welcome :)

I just want that the Agus35 name be settled to this kind of homemade adapter.

I just watch the footage and i notice that are having the same problem taht i did... the macro lens is starting to deform the image... make a test...just pan from one side to the other and shoot one subject in, you will notice that in the left and right side, the image is stretched.

You can solve this by putting the macro lens more near the dv camera, and closer to the ground glass... in that way you now need to zoom less with the dv camera.

That is a common problem with the macro lens... using a frenel lens the image comes the same, but is corrected so you dont get that effect.

As promised -- a new clip for your viewing pleasure. And only one hour late, at that :)

- jim

agus...
 

youre right.

i dont know how it will work on a 3ccd camera or hd.

i just have the trv18.

but i think it will be great too. even if i got some grain.

anyway, super35mm theres grain in it, from the film cam gg.

even photo has grain, the tinies one.

doesnt matter.

i think that the grain will improve the footage from the hd10u, cause the cam has so much definition that i isnt that nice as a raw, its to vivid, ...

anyway, im looking foward to buy yours adaptor...

thanks
ciao

I am a TRV18 user, and the Agus35 make this camera to now beat the ass to any 2k camera, just because of the DOF... audio, and video noise are another story to tell.

Agus,

Devin and I are very happy with the adapter so far. Yeah, we're getting a little bit of blurry distortion around the corners, but we may switch to a +7 macro to reduce it (as long as it still allows us to fill the frame with the image).

In regards to credit, I will be glad to thank you for re-instilling my hope for a homebuilt mini35..or 50, as it may be. But I regret to inform you that I had been following prototype building of these adapters much earlier than when this post arrived, closer to March of 2003. The people over here: http://www.kopfrauschen.de/view_en.php?page=dv35m had shoved a little miniDV'er right into a medium format camera, and Cosmin Rotaru from DVinfo's boards begun with talk of using frosted CDs as GG. I feel you share in the credit with many others from this board, but to specifically request credit in our evolved adapter seems a little too bold.

This post is truly meant as a community effort, and it surely has been. My adapter was built from a picking and choosing of the whole of the group's input. We used the project box pioneered by Jim Lafferty, in combination with an adjustment system much like Tom Jensen's, and added a lot of our own ideas, again with the help of my dad.

I feel that this whole "hey, don't forget to put agus35 on it", "hey, don't put copyright on your images," type of talk is destructive to the feeling that this board is trying to perpetuate. Sure everyone wants to "make a buck", it's the way of the world, and I understand that, but you came on with high hopes of helping others and I've still, almost 50 pages later, not seen the detailed instructions promised since page number 1. Taylor Moore seems to share my opinion on the necessity of detailed plans being made available. We'll try our best in our spare time to help achieve a higher level of understanding amongst the community.

I'm not trying to burst anyone’s bubble, and I don't mean to be "flaming" anyone, it's just something that’s been on my mind as this post gets bigger and bigger, and I felt it needed to be said.

Thanks again for everyone that contributed to this post,
We'll keep you up to date on our adapter's evolution.

Sincerely,
Spencer Houck

Well, the thread is abuot the agus35 like it was named the idea of putting a fake CD as a ground glass to eleminate the grain.

The credit... well... nowdays anyone have invented everything, right ? this is not about who invented it.

I just love teh agus35 name, and it was a great brainstorming in making and building the adapter... and it was really but really hard to make it sooo simple to build.

But let me tell you something.

Neither if i had started this thread or keep the original design for my own, the goal is to bring this kind of adapters that cost really a fortune, to the masses and for the indie filmakers, i am a pioneer on this and i am very proud... of course that many many people made the experimentation of building a camera obscura and putting the dv camera... that is not new... but the use of a fake cd and rotate it so it will cost you pennies to build it... sorry kid i made it first and it work and i share it to all of you..

But it even if it wasnt my original idea... if you have really read more about this adapters you know of who i am talking about. He just shoot an idea to the air and i just catch it.. and yes.. this is all teamwork...

and it is the largest thread in dvinfo.net ... isnt that great ?

well, i dont want to insult anyone.. i am going to sleep cause i am very tired.

i will post some pics of the comercial version as soon as i can have the best results.

A little help
 

Taylor, I'll be glad to help out as much as I can. Here are some more photos of our mini-50 adapter:

http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_ring.JPG
http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_guts.JPG
http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_fresnel.JPG
http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_frost.JPG
http://www.par-t-com.net/mini50_macro.JPG

As far as construction goes - we just went with what worked. Both Spencer and I have made simpler versions via trial and error - that and frequenting this thread. We decided to go with the project box for the sheer fact that it had space to work, could easily house the spinning cd, and was light tight. That idea can be chalked up to Jim Lafferty, I believe. I'd say that finding a nice sturdy enclosure is half the battle here. My first version was a 30 pack like Agus used, but I found it to be too flimsy - that and there wasn't an easy way to install an adjustable cd motor. For those of us using larger cameras (esp. with your DVX's 72mm threads) the place to mount the motor on the center of the cd spindle is taken up by the lens. At least that's the way it was on my 58mm GL1. Anyways, the dimensions on the project box are 8"x6"x3", it can be had for $7 at radio shack. While you’re there be sure to pick up a AAA battery enclosure and a toggle switch. The 3 volts provided by the batt. pack is perfect for running the cd. The switch is a nice touch too.

The particle board with the opening for light to pass through helps a ton. Because it rides on those 4 bolts you're able to easily adjust it to the focal point of your lens - this is done by simply adjusting the nuts that hold it in place on either side. The fresnel resides right below the spinning cd and helps punch up the light level. I had a tough time finding a "fresnel" at office max, but all it really is is a pocket magnifier. It shouldn't cost anymore than $2 and is usually located around the magnifying glasses and books at Office Max or any of those office type stores. I believe others have found them at Walgreens.

Our +10 macro is a bit much and introduces some distortion at the edges, so we're going to take it down a notch to a +7. The distortion could also be attributed to the fact that our macro's glass doesn't take up the whole of the ring diameter, the glass is really only about 45mm of the 58mm lens, you can see that in the pic above. You can stack multiple macros to achieve more magnification, IE stack a +1, +2, and +4 to get +7 - but then you've got some vignetting from the stacked glass. I also tend to want to keep the glass in front of my lens to a minimum (except for a UV), so a single glass element is always my first choice.

We used a pre frosted cd....not much else to say about it. Spence just found it in a stack of old cds. We tried using fine sandpaper, but it was too grainy. We also tried a form of sandblasting with fine glass grain at Spencer's dad's machine shop - but that yielded the same, grainy results. The pre-frosted cds work best in my opinion. Jim Lafferty found that Maxell's 48x/700mb 50 spindle contains pre-frosted cds. http://ideaspora.net/agus35/frosted.jpg.

For the portion where the camera actually attaches to the box we used a flanged piece of PVC from lowes, it's actually called a "2" fitting cleanout body". We then used the clamping end of a "flexible drain + trap connector" to actually seal the macro lens light tight. Once again, Jim used the same material. As far as connecting the 50mm lens - I was lucky enough to find parts for the Olympus OM-10 camera on ebay, specifically the ring where the lens snaps into place. What stinks is that this ring isn't universal for all makes of lenses, each company creates their own adapter rings that only work with their lenses, thus forcing you to buy glass from them. If you want you can use a back lens cap for whatever lens you're using and cut off the back. The lens will easily lock into it, but it won't be a tight fit, and the lens will easily fall out. Regardless, it can be had for $5 at your local camera store.

The support - we designed it so that the camera would film the bottom of the spinning cd and would allow us to use a straight piece of aluminum to support the box. This bar provides all the support for the rig, the portion where the DV cam's lens and the adapter meet only acts as a light-tight coupling.

Precision played a large role in this, and many parts of our adapter. Luckily Spencer's father is an engineer-type and left no stone unturned when it came down to brass tacks. We also had Spencer's dad's machine shop at our disposal. This allowed us to perform some precision tasks such as cutting holes in the project box to exact dimensions. This is a distinct advantage that many don't have. BTW - We used expoxy to glue everything together, it should be at your local hardware store.

Anyways, I would have to suppose that the reason exacting details/schematics for this thing don't exist is due to the fact that there are too many variables. My Olympus OM-10 50mm SLR lens would yield a diff. focal point than your Canon 35mm (for example), and each of our DV cams have various differences: focal abilities, lens sizes, macro abilities. I hope this post has helped you on your way to contructing your own adapter. If you decide to create that website and want to use any of my post, feel free. Our adapter is a "melting pot" of everyone's ideas and experiences around here, and it comes together to yield quite a neat little tool to have in the kit. This is a community, and we can all benefit from each other's experiences, I hope ours will help. Thanks, and good shooting in the new year!

I was under the impression that a fresnal lens was not needed? can someone please explain?

For those who might be thinking of ornamentation there is a quick and dirty "Agus 35--" logo at ---- www.dvinfo.net/media/hart/ --- as a .pdf file. The web address is here at this site.

There's also a few .jpg images captured as the local flavour of the Agus 35-- has improved and evolved and a few which demonstrate the raw relationship between the front lens and the disk.

The most recent are the "agusroto" series of images which were captured via the path :-

SUBJECT >> FUJINON 50MM SLR LENS >> GROUNDGLASS @ 1500RPM >> 4X +2X +1X 58MM CLOSE UP LENSES >> PD150P CAMCORDER >> FIREWIRE TO ADOBE PREMIERE 6.1 (FRAME EXPORT TO .BMP FILE) >> ULEAD PHOTOPLUS 4 (CONVERSION TO .JPG FILE >> .

The chain from Adobe Premiere introduces about a 2 stop darkening of the image.

On some of the still images you will observe some interlace artifacts. There was a fair bit of wind blowing and leaves were moving. - but, there is also artifact on some shots where there was no movement which leads me to think there is still some shimmer caused by the rotating groundglass.

There is some apparent "grain" on brighter images with the spinning groundglass which cannot be blamed on low-light noise. I have upped the disk speed to about 3200RPM. This hopefully will deal with the disk motion being "frozen" by the camcorder but introduces another problem if a compliant motor mount or disk-to-spindle mount has been used to try to keep the disk image from shivering. Quick pans or tilts are not good. The disk moves off the focal plane momentarily due to gyro effect, with softening mostly on the outer (lower) edge of the recovered image. - In my specimen, the disk centre axis is directly below the lens centre axis.

Of the clear CDs which might be used to make a groundglass, there are some from Sony which appear to be incomplete CD-Rs. They have guide tracks on them but no silver or top layer. These may have been diverted from production, a sensible alternative to molding disks just for packaging purposes. As genuine CD material they should be optically superior and should run true. Some of the clear CDs used for packaging are not optically true and some have obvious casting marks on them. If you use these for a home-made groundglass you will never get them to run true and stay on the focal plane and you may also get a shivery image when the molding marks pass by.

How can Premiere introduce a 2 stop darkening of the image?

2-stop darkening of image? I wish I knew why and that it would go away for purposes of authentically representing test results. There may be settings which do this but I haven't found them yet.

As stills the pictures actually look the better for it. I'm using de-interlace when saving frames to .bmp files which might have something to do with it.

I've chosen not to re-adjust the images for brightness so that they stay closer to genuine.

I just returned from Home Depot to pick up parts for a rod system, and came across a steel 2.5" conduit hub -- it fits perfectly over the Century Optics achromatic diopter and, in fact, "clips" onto the bayonet tabs on the front of my GL1. The diopter then fits very snugly inside the ring at the other end of the hub. I will be using this as a replacement for the rubber ring I'd fashioned to fit over the diopter originally, which allowed too much movement. It will be potentially useful for those of you with a GL1 with or without the diopter. The trouble now will be milling out a notch for my CD motor at the back of the adapter...

Here are pics:

http://ideaspora.net/agus35/hub1.jpg
http://ideaspora.net/agus35/hub2.jpg
http://ideaspora.net/agus35/hub3.jpg
http://ideaspora.net/agus35/hub4.jpg

- jim

In earlier post I referred to putting a fullstop after the web address for the .jpg files Chris posted. I was confused. The address as quoted should be used without the full stop.

Out of curiosity, I cut out a 35mm 1.85:1 gate from a piece of paper and framed my camcorder on that. Compared to the image I have been framing in the Agus35 it is a lot smaller.

Given this smaller target size, I tried the modified telescope eyepiece again and found it will frame the 35mm widescreen gate with the PD150 in 16:9 setting. This adaptor screws straight in to the PD150 filter thread.

For those who are into roll-your-own optics and machining, the lens set comes from a no-name 42mm eyepiece for Tasco 2" scopes and has a handwritten part number "SW5042". I believe it is sourced from China.

An equivalent "Maxview" eyepiece has a 58mm thread already built on but how it performs in this application I do not know.

(For those who cannot get their hands on a widescreen gate, the open end of a Ventolin puffer cap is close enough in size on the side of larger, for a rough assessment target.)

A bit is cropped off top and bottom of the image in standard 4:3 frame and there is vignetting and too much of the widescreen gate area is lost zooming in to get rid of it.

If there is any advantage to using eyepiece optics it might be in closer coupling to the camcorder with the gg 52mm from the front of the camcorder. The lens set might couple even closer however my adaptor has metal on the front which prevents this.

The stack of Hoya 58mm close-up lenses (1x +2x +4x) will also frame the 35mm widescreen gate with the gg 127mm from the front of the camcorder.

See all of Bob's images from the list at www.dvinfo.net/media/hart -- hope this helps!

Hey guys.. the original logo to put it anywhere that you want is here....

http://altoque.tv/35mmAdapter/agus35.tga

in IE will look bad... try opening in photoshop or after

Spencer Houck & Devin Doyle,

I would be honored to put your info and photos on my page:
www.thecountrybulletin.com/dv_dof.htm soon to be under the domain name: www.dvdof.com

Really like the simple but effective answer to a mounting bracket. Please let me know.
Thanks,

Paul

colonia35 zenit
 

my footage from january 01.

look

http://www.moorefilms.com/dtest.htm

to me it looked GREAT.

the best i can get from a trv18 with the 35mm adaptor.

ciao

Paul, i just saw your last design and it is so very similar to ours, only that we are using a smaller GG now smalller....

The macro lens wont be necesary now using that design. as the image now comes up corrected and bigger from the source thanks to the fresnel lens.

Agus:"i just saw your last design and it is so very similar to ours"

Really it is just a copy of the light path to the viewfinder in an SLR. Will work as shown or inverted depending on how it is to be mounted. Hard part is finding a prism large enough that wouldn't cost $1000. Have you had any luck? I have duplicated the prism with mirrors and it can be done, but it's not easy.

Paul

thecountrybulletin.com/dv_dof.htm

Yeah, i think the same, copying the same way a SLR camera will do trick. I think you will have some problems when making the adapter, because of its size and teh camera... i am making all the model in 3dsmax to test in a 3d world.

"new" sort of GG
 

i just bougth the proper self adhesive frosted foil for home use (for windows, screens, panels etc.), and it looks almost the same as Frosted MAxell CD.

just sent my pictures to TAYLOR (thanks), and when he uploads it on his site - you can compare it. i can bet thay you cannot see the difference. it is frosted in the similar way as MAXELL, same opacity, same look. i also took a picture for comparition with MAXELL CD and FOIL frosted CD side by side.
hope this can help someone. when you find proper gradient of this foil it tooks 2 minutes to prepare your own evenly frosted fake CD.
i tested it with my agus35 and for me it looks absolutelly ok

good luck.

filip

Daniel,

I think that one of the fundamental points of the Agus35 design is that Agus came up with parts and plans using household equipment, such that we could all take a shot at building one of our own.

Your design may work great, and a fixed GG is an exciting development, but until you can help me to copy your design (by posting parts and plans that I can utilize), it holds less interest (for me anyway) than the existing design which I can build right now with $20 in parts and tools.

Any research you can do to find out how I (or anyone else here) can find the pieces you used will go a long way towards validating your results (along with some plans/detailed photos of the device.) Until then, don't get upset if people "ignore your adapter" - first help us to build one of our own, and then excitement will follow! :-)

paulb

Here are Fillip's pictures of the foil material
Looks good

www.moorefilms.com/filip.htm

"just sent my pictures to TAYLOR (thanks), and when he uploads it on his site - you can compare it. i can bet thay you cannot see the difference. it is frosted in the similar way as MAXELL, same opacity, same look. i also took a picture for comparition with MAXELL CD and FOIL frosted CD side by side.
hope this can help someone. when you find proper gradient of this foil it tooks 2 minutes to prepare your own evenly frosted fake CD.
i tested it with my agus35 and for me it looks absolutelly ok"

my adaptor was all homemade, and has a good advice for everyone in here:

try to find a GG from old photo cams. i think every big city in this planet has a place with used photo cams. i live in brazil, and a find one of these stores here.

ciao

An idea for moving a smaller groundglass in an orbital motion without cranks and links. Try fixing a groundglass, CD spindle motor onto a common plate. Suspend the plate with several small tension springs on the focal plane. Make a guide track for the plate to stop it drifting off the focal plane. Fit an offcentre weight on the CD motor spindle. Make sure this weight is mounted central to the centre of the plate's thickness. The plate itself might be the mount for the motor and carry holes for the springs if it is a piece of frosted CD cut down. There may have to be experimentation to just where the weight should be to balance the opposing mass of the motor across the centre. Put the power to it and there hopefully should be a random orbit with no stationary centre, little vibration conducted to the frame and no wearing parts except for the motor itself and the guideframe faces.. Just a thought.

I've sent some construction pics to Chris of the PVC plumbing parts version of the Agus 35-- > I had promised not to burden him with more .jpg files but I think I might have lied.

Parts list for the hardware bits in Australia follows :-

End caps 165mm OD "Iplex Pipeline D105150 (9311381153157)".

Inner alignment sleeve for removable cover. Any PVC pipe which fits the caps or a piece of thin plastic trimmer bent to fit and glued in place. The sleeve must but against the motor mount retainer ring to hold it place unless this is itself glued in place.

Mount plate retainer (ring only used from an assembled part) "Iplex UVPC 100mm DO99100A DWV
Registered Design No. 110042 127.100A - Casting number on the ring itself is DO99100C".

Lens tube. Any manufacturer ID 63mm approx. OD 68mm approx.

Spindle motor mount plate. "Decor Australia Pot plant saucer Registered Design No. 78935 *610".

(The motor mount method I have used does not allow for backfocus adjustment by moving the groundglass. I may change from a compliant mount to a simple firm perspex plate, long screws with compression springs and washers so that the plate can be moved for back focus, or make provision for this on the final front lens mount which might be simpler. )

GG and NO GG tests
 

i wish to send to someone's server (talyor? louis feng?) my tests with GG and no GG.

i shooted one night WITH GG on agus35, and the next WITHOUT. the pictures ARE different of course, and my deepest appologies to all of you who are talking about that there are different. and there is no use to shoot WITHOUT GG. (i was sceptical, but at least i tested it).

no GG solution is subjectivelly better than normal "old" video shooting, probably because of zooming into 35mm lens, but it gives video impression all the time. my first tests are kind of extreme colse ups, so i thought that there is no difference between agus and NO GG solution. in wider shots, difference is obvious. AGUS 35 RULES!!!!

please send me your thoughts which compression is the best (the file is 2:30 minutes long) to send to server and to acheive the smallest size with proper quality. i tryed vith virtual dub, but anyhow file is so huge that is useless to send it.
i have access to avid dv, premiere and virtual dub.

any thougts?
(if anyone is interested of course)
filip