Bret (and others): I am working on one of these devices for my Canon GL2. My aluminum oxide is expected to arrive today and my uv filter is waiting.

As far as I understand from reading these posts, I want to take the projected image from the ground glass and have it fill the entire frame of the camera, by enlarging the projected image via a separate magnifier and/or zooming in on the image.


For the GL2 in particular, with a 58mm filter thread, what would you recommend in the way of a diopter/achromat/magnifier?


Currently, all I have for my GL2 is the WD58h Wide Angle lens, which I don't think would be of any use for this project.

Any help from you guys would be really appreciated!


,Frank

Each camera's stock lens has different characteristics so you may or may not need such a powerful diopter. Trial and error is going to be the best way for you any anyone else that wants to find out what power diopter they need for their particular camera.

The easiest way to do it will be to go down to your local camera shop that has thoughs cheap single element diopters (often in a three pack of +1, +3, +5) and start stacking them until you can fill the frame with a square measuring 24mm by 18mm. When you find the perfect combination add up all the filter powers and thats the power that you'll need to find in a achromat (two element)diopter.

Brett Erskine
Director of Photography
Premiere Visions
1761 W. La Palma Ave., Suite #302
Anaheim, CA 92801
www.CinematographerReels.com
BErskine@CinematographerReels.com

Heres another option for a macro lens. Its a double element thats aprox. +16.7 in power and the beauty is you only need one of these. The glass itself measures 40mm and woud need to be fitted into a aftermarket filter ring. You can find it here:

http://www.edmundoptics.com//IOD/Dis...productid=1749

Stock Number: NT45-218

Brett Erskine
Director of Photography
Premiere Visions
1761 W. La Palma Ave., Suite #302
Anaheim, CA 92801
www.CinematographerReels.com
BErskine@CinematographerReels.com

Alain how is the hot spot issue with this static solution?

How are people resolving this issue?

Alain good progress!
Couple questions for Brett and Alain.
Brett how is the Chinese idea going?
Alain what is that lcd maximizer you are using? Does it help out a lot?
Seems like your adapter is the what i am going for in a way.

Brett: Thanks! If that one is the only piece I would need, then I'd be willing to spend that for it.

I appreciate your research and input!


,Frank

Dmitri take another look at the past post. I don't have anything to do with that idea. It would be nice if it ends up working out though.

On a side note we have a hell of alot more people reading versus contributing to this thread. More of us need to get involved and less of us should be just waiting in the shadows while everyone else does all the work for them. Want this project finished faster/better? I cant under rate the importance of getting involved. To everyone else great job!

I am looking for an adapter that will let me clip in my 50mm lens to my device, any ideas?

Thanks

Alain's got new (and improved!) footage up:

http://ideaspora.net/aldu35/newclip.wmv

(right-click, save-as)

- jim

My order of 120 and 240 grit Al. Ox. has arrived. I have to wait 4 weeks for 600 grit. Has anyone found 500 or 600 grit that is not on back order? Thanks

Todd:
I got my 600 grit from here:
http://www.sisweb.com/ms/sis/alumoxid.htm

Cost me under $15 for a 4oz bottle + shipping. Ordered it last week (Thursday) and it is in now.

Very friendly people on the phone. I recommend them.

,Frank

Found another place for aluminum oxide.

http://www.rocks4u.com/

It's a rock polishing company. I called them and have all sorts different grits of aluminum oxide. He even mentioned some sort of diamon dust stuff that they have up to like 100,000

Anyways they seemed pretty cheap and shipping is only going to be a couple of days.

<<<-- Originally posted by Frank Ladner : Todd:
I got my 600 grit from here:
http://www.sisweb.com/ms/sis/alumoxid.htm

Cost me under $15 for a 4oz bottle + shipping. Ordered it last week (Thursday) and it is in now.

Very friendly people on the phone. I recommend them.


,Frank -->>>

whats up with the extra $10 'handling fee'?, makes the total $25 plus s/h = $30+ , I wouldnt pay that out of sheer principle.

Dont forget the issue with the hot spot. Hot spots on the ground glass are due to both your cameras viewing angle and the angle at which the 35mm image is being projected at. The greater its off axis from the camera the worse the light fall off on the edges. And dont just zoom in past it. That a cheap way around that will make alot of other things worse (DOF, grain, FOV, exposure, etc.).

How do you fix it properly?

Just look at a SLR viewfinder for the answers. Right before the light hits the ground glass in a still camera's viewfinder it goes through a small lens thats job is to redirect the image coming from the 35mm lens and send all angles straight at the ground glass. Thats why their arent any hot spots in you still camera viewfinder. It also makes the whole system more light effecient. Alot of people dont seem to be including this lens in their design and choosing to just zoom past it all. For everyone the lens I talking about is called a condensor and come in two types (fresnel and a regular lens). I highly recommend that you dont choose the fresnel type because the ridges of its design will project themselves on your ground glass and will be viewable to your video camera.

Brett Erskine
Director of Photography
Premiere Visions
1761 W. La Palma Ave., Suite #302
Anaheim, CA 92801
www.CinematographerReels.com
BErskine@CinematographerReels.com

John: Sorry, I forgot to mention. Since I called the order in, the guy said they wouldn't charge that handling fee. May sound wierd, but apparently they charge that for internet orders.

,Frank