Corey

The idea about the plastic was great. As soon as I read that I went looking through my old photos and found some to try. The image did look great on the plastic, nice and bright and sharp. But even with my little Sony TRV-11 I could definitely see grain and imperfections in the plastic.

Great idea though.

also we want to try and stay away from plastic as a GG because its not very good at light transmition, like the plastic GG's in the Agus35. I had to turn the gain almost all the way up for a 'normal' image, u just loose too many stops.

Glass is BETTER!! the Alain35 is proof of that.

Actually...

Knight Optics claims their plastic diffusers are better transmitters than glass.

I've written them an extensive email inquiring about the plastic diffusion screen's optical properties. Here's to hoping it's worthwhile.

- jim

I'd like to compile a gallery of everyones projects for quick reference.

So if you need your images hosted somewhere and you'd like to add to this compilation please go to the galleria

http://www.visionengine.com/galleria

Everyone interested in having a static adapter built--

I've contacted a Chinese optics company about having these built once an 'official' prototype has been nailed down. If we can put together all of the detailed requirements, they will more than likely be able to build a quanity of them (they're waiting for the details and quanity). So . . .if you're interested in getting in on this for the cost of having them built, shoot me an e-mail with your name and camera type. I'll keep a tally and let everyone know the price they give me once everything is finalized. I'm not looking to make a profit on these at all, I just want something built professionally as I'm sure most of you want as well, and we can get the price down the more we order.

I'll also need an official specification. Whovever wants to provide that can send it to the company directly. Just let me know and I'll provide the e-mail. That way, whoever provides the spec can work with the company with whatever questions they might have. Alain-- if you end up being the one to provide the spec, let me know and I'll help you clean up your english. :)

Any thoughts on this? Feedback would be appreciated.

Oh, a couple of issues that I just remembered, is there a way we can make pretty much the whole adapter standardized for different camera types (except for attachment rings)? Also, do we want to include a 35mm lens in the orders, or do we want to be able to add our own? If we go the "add our own" route, what ring adapters should be included?

I think the 35mm lens should be left out as many of us already have one we could add. Having one in the price would greatly increase the cost. Stepping rings are again something that can be cheaply added seperately. I think just having the base unit made to a good standard would be enough. More importantly is some kind of supprt/rail system for it.

Todd,

as people reply to you they should be sure and mention for what camera they want it for and I guess maybe you should have a tally of what cameras are and the numbers of each.

Good idea, Kevin. Please be sure to include camera type in your e-mails.

Simon, I tend to agree. The only reason I mentioned the 35mm lens was because this company already manufactures them and I think they are pretty cheap. I'll get a price with/without just in case someone needs one.

Rods/rails will be very important for this and we'll want to inlcude rods support in the official design.

Ah well, if they do good lenses it might be worth it depending on the cost. Further to my email to you, I use a Canon XM1 (GL1)

Well the simpler the design the better and the cheaper to make. Perhaps we should pick one lens mount (I vote Nikon F mount) and just allow the back of the system to have a big hole you can point the DV camera lens into. We add our own macro lenses, ect. Give the unit a tripod threading at the bottom and we can find our own ways to mount the unit and the DV camera together.

Sort of a half built project when we get it and then we adapt it for our own cameras. I think that would be the best way to ensure it works with everyones camera no matter how big or small they are.

Just my opinion

Mike I think this is a great idea, as each camera will require it's own rail and macro lens system.

Here is what I built in the meantime, its a rods system for my cam.

Now I need a matte box and a finished Alain35!

http://www.aequantum.com/images/rail5.JPG

I think that the part where the camera goes in needs to be able to have, for example, a 58mm (or whatever the largest camera size there is) thread that we can screw our own step down ring to. Otherwise if the camera is just sticking through the hole a load of light is allowed to leak in ruining the picture quality.

Simon, the possible problem with that is the DVX100 has a 72mm lens diamater.