There was a site where the guys were making a short or feature. They were using a homemade optical lens adapter made out of a 35 mm SLR. Anyone have the link. I had it but lost my computer in a fire.

Thanks.

PS I know they were having trouble with dust etc. on the frosted glass but would like to know if they've done any more work on it.

Paul,

Was this it?
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7713

Brandt,

Thank you very much. Yes that thread led me to what I was what I was looking for.

http://www.pstechnik.de/datasheets/pics/digital/d_vdf_l.jpg

Check that out.. now that seems pretty awesome...

Agus,

This device, and ones like it, tend to run very expensive, on the order of several thousand dollars. This seems to be the primary reason people are trying to build devices that allow them to use 35mm lenses and give them the same depth of field (I think I've got that right) properties of motion picture cameras, rather than buying the existing hardware.

I designed my own box to try this, but abandoned it because I could not reduce the visible grain enough to satisfy me.

There should be a tutorial or guide for newbies like me to be able to build my box too... i can figure it in my mind of how to build it.. but still dont get a lot of things that a guide with pictures would help a lot.

Hm. There's really quite a bit to this. I'm not sure how P+S Technik gets their gear into such a small package, because the minimal focal length of most cameras is fairly long.

My box used mirrors to generate an artificial focal length in a unit that was 8" long, then had a standard SLR camera mounting plate on the front.

I designed in a rotating ground glass, but had difficulty in finding a fresnel of appropriate resolution...all that I looked at risked a moire effect. At that point, I ran out of "free time" to pursue it, so I abandoned it.

One other method you might look at is using an erecting lens and a condenser lens, which is a compound convex shaped lens. This would provide an image you could focus on. Sorry, I don't have any drawings, just formulas and a dense idea in my head of what needs to happen optically.

I just borrow a SLR camera, and i put my TRV18 in the viewfinder.. of course... i got the same image that you sould see in the photo camera viewfinder.. but the quality was allright....

i would love to get an old camera.. replace the ground glass.. and put the viewfinder in my video camera... and done...

let see what i can do...

in the meanwhile here is a test...

http://www.altoque.tv/jaguar35mmtest.wmv

Agus,

Your approach is in the right vein, but the heavy vignetting is one of the main problems with a home-built unit. The other issue is the grain from the ground glass that is visible in the image.

The manufacturers of the expensive units have overcome grain by vibrating or rotating the ground glass at high frequency.

I was able to overcome this, to a greater degree, but the problem I had was the fresnel, which is what provides even illumination when you are looking through the viewfinder.

The ground glass is the one that have the round circle tool that helps you to focus in the camera?

I didnt have too much grain really.. and the shadows or vigneting... was produce cause i just close the camera to the other camera viewfinder... in case i could remove the plastic in the SLR camera... i could close up more the DV camera to get a better image...


for sure that i didnt have too much grain... now i will try another shoots now that i have daylight

Agus,

The ground glass is the optical element that allows you to view the image. The circle you mention is the focusing aid...you can buy a replacement ground glass that does not have a focusing aid.

I'd be interested to see what the images look like after you've moved the camera closer to the ground glass, or zoom in tighter. I'm interested to see if you are able to get a clean image without hot spots or vignetting.

I made an attempt at converting a Pentax SLR about a year ago. I may make another go at it. You can simulate the effect by placing a piece of cellophane (envelope window) into the film guide of an empty camera, then locking open the shutter. This is the image that will hit your ground glass, unless you have some form of magnifier in place. These are often attached to the GG, but are far more often than not fresnel lenses. Fresnels cause vignetting in video.

You could try using a plano-convex lens in the place of the GG/fresnel. Put the flat side into the film plane. This will give you the proper critical distance between your lens and your resolving optical element. To make things simpler for photography, you might insert another double convex lens behind the plano-convex as an erecting lens, so your image is upright.

I need to look at all this again.

Agus,

I would be interested in seeing anything else you do on this to.

Brandt,

It sounds like you were getting close when you were at this last year. Hope you do take it up again. Keep us posted.

I assume that you must veiw the frosted glass from the side that the light strikes. I guess that is the reason for going through the veiw finder instead of out the back. You can't see (very well) through the frost can you?

The reason the ground glass in the viewfinder is used in these cases is that there is also a focusing lens that evens out illumination. I haven't worked out how to reproduce this in the film gate.

If you were to take a piece of frosted cellophane from a business envelope window and tape it into the film gate, you'll see that on the surface of the cellophane is the image from the lens, perfectly square (and upside down), but there is a round hotspot. It's a hard round hotspot...I'm not sure what kind of lens I need to eliminate the hotspot.

Perhaps someone has an idea?

<<you'll see that on the surface of the cellophane is the image from the lens, perfectly square (and upside down), but there is a round hotspot. It's a hard round hotspot>>

Under regular normal use of the SLR, why would the film not be affected by this?

Paul

Here's my idea on why the hotspot doesn't affect the film.

If you look at the projected image in the cellophane from an angle, it looks fine. There are no projected hotspots. However, if you look down the barrel, you will see the light source. Like with a film projector...looks fine on the screen, but if you look down the light stream towards the projector, there is a hotspot.

Beyond this, I'm not sure.

I own a DVX100. Also own a non-reflex Bolex16 that also has a telephoto lens that is separate from the bolex and you attach it to the lens mount.

I wonder if there is anyway to tinker with the bolex stuff to enhance my DVX?

Ok, i just finish up my box ...

in one side i got a 50mm lens from a minolta camera... in the other side i got the homemade ground glass... (with is made from a DV case with some scotch tape... just for testing) ... now when i test it... i found that i have too much vigneting and the light only is strong in the center of the ground glass... is there a way to correct this and light up all the ground glass... ?


i thought that if i put mirrors in all the interior faces that would help to light up a little.. but duno... any sugestions ?

This is what the fresnel does. You can get cheap ones at office supply stores. However, you are going to be able to see the rings. There is always a tradeoff.

Ok... we made the adapter... but we have problems cause even the ground glass works fine.. you still see the round shape light that comes up strong from the lens and that screw up the quality of the image.... we are still looking for the solution.. but now.. all i can said that it is all about the ground glass... if you get a good one... from there it is all piece of cake...

Angus: where did you get your ground glass?
Also just a general question... how do you figure out where to place the ground glass in relationship to the dvcamera and 35mm lense?

I made the ground glass using one of those fake cds check out this post... i am putting allt he news about the adapter here

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&postid=116622#post116622

OK... I've been following this pretty closely. (or trying to) I think to avoid the vignetting perhaps you can bounce the light to avoid the majority of the lens light... in this case using a mini CD in the existing spindle and funnel the light over it and then back onto it (shifting the mounting of the spindle up and connecting the additional lens slightly above the camera lens)... ((like the mini35)) this would mean closing off the center of the spindle (container) reducing the amount of "ambient" (I guess) light that causes the vignetting thus having a more detrimental effect on the available image light hence additional stop loss...
actually I am going to sleep on this and hopefully be more coherent in the morning. Very interesting Agus.

I have no vigneting at all with my adapter...

sorry... saw your jaguar spot and was wondering if the vignetting there was just a zoom issue.... the spot spot looked great - how'd you fix it?

Josh

That video is really the old, that is the first test... check on this link

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17195