New Camera, Picture of Cory, Total Awesomeness

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

02/26/2013 10:28:14 PM · #1

The lens is a Kodak Type I Aero-Ektar f/2.5 309mm lens. The camera body is a cardboard box. The intermediate imaging surface is a sheet of parchment paper (the kind you bake with). The light-tight rear seal is a king sized black fuzzy blanket. The sensor is a Canon 1D mk IV with a 50mm f/1.2 L lens. Focus is achieved by taping the parchment paper inside the cardboard box to approximate focus, then scooting the box back and forth until it looks in focus. To take an image you then throw the blanket over yourself and box, readjust focus if necessary, and then take a picture of the light shining through the parchment paper.

Message edited by author 2013-02-26 22:35:10.

Lydia

Canon EOS-6D

02/26/2013 10:33:27 PM · #2

This is lovely!!

But... you should be informed that there is now digital photography. There is no need for all of this! All you have to do is... point, and... shoot!

2013

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, S21 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

02/26/2013 10:57:00 PM · #3

The funny thing is, he DID do digital photography! With a 1D mkIV no less. The rest of it is just an alternate form of filtering, basically :-)

Schlake, that's an awesome image! Love it! And it's good to see Cory looking like a normal human...

Yo_Spiff

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III

Olympus 12-100mm f/4.0 M.Zuiko ED IS PRO

02/26/2013 11:00:49 PM · #4

He looks so... corporate with that short haircut. I have my own photo of him in a forest looking like Sasquatch.

Message edited by author 2013-02-26 23:07:44.

Lydia

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM

02/26/2013 11:12:16 PM · #5

Originally posted by Bear_Music:

*agrees and shakes her head in wonder as... she supposes all of the people who have worked so hard to improve image resolution do, too*

MelonMusketeer

Nikon D7000

Nikon MF 50mm f/1.4

02/26/2013 11:36:57 PM · #6

That's my kind of stuff! I love making something that allows me to use the older glass. That Aero is a big chunk of lens.
I just snagged the 610, f5.6 on ebay for about $35. There are two parts to it, and ship weight was 9 lbs, for just the two glasses with the threaded brass mounts.

The idea of projecting to a "ground glass" from one lens and shooting the image with another has been done in order to get shallow DOF for shooting movies or video. Video cams with built in lenses rarely have large apertures, so using an f1.4 to project the image on the ground glass gives an image with the shallow DOF.
Wiki, DOF Adapter

You can also use the older medium or relatively short focal length large format camera or enlarger lenses on a standard bellows if you make a mount to hold the lens on the front of the bellows. I use a setup like that with an old Zeiss/B&L Tessar. If you take off the front element it's like a soft focus lens with the aperture controlling the softness.

A pinhole lens on a bellows makes a zoom pinhole. With a pinhole, there is no focal point/distance, so it stays in focus and changes magnification as you move the pinhole away from the sensor.

ETA, That's a nice shot of Cory, and I like how you achieved it.

Message edited by author 2013-02-26 23:42:23.

jaysonmc

Nikon D200

Nikon MF 105mm f/2.5 AIS

02/27/2013 12:32:58 AM · #7

It's a wonderful picture. Thanks for sharing.
Do you happen to have pics of your setup?

Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro

02/27/2013 01:26:49 AM · #8

Ok, so here's some more test shots - one of me and one of schlake

Pics of the setup would be less than useful at this point - it's really cardboard, zip-ties, and gaffers tape, and still isn't even close to functional.

I know I should have been working on DPL stuff instead, but this is a dream I've been wanting to work on for a while now.

Ann

Olympus OM-D E-M1

02/27/2013 01:50:32 AM · #9

I love it. Extra points for the use of the black fuzzy blanket.

Edit... Note that you have me thinking about doing this myself... How much light did it require?

Message edited by author 2013-02-27 01:53:04.

Pentax DA 18-135mm F3.5-5.6ED AL [IF] WR DC

02/27/2013 01:50:36 AM · #10

Also, I'd like to point out that the lens we are using is apparently rather radioactive... :)

tnun

Ricoh GR III

02/27/2013 01:58:30 AM · #11

like em.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

02/27/2013 03:01:42 AM · #12

Originally posted by Ann:

I love it. Extra points for the use of the black fuzzy blanket.

Edit... Note that you have me thinking about doing this myself... How much light did it require?

With an f/2.5 lens? Not much. You're looking at a room lit by 8 CFL bulbs, each about 80W equivalent, and they are not optimized to actually light anything other than the workspace.

So, effectively, we were shooting in a poorly lit room, my camera needed f/2-ISO 400 to get a 1/160 shutter speed when shooting the setup, but once we were shooting the imaging plane, the sensor needed ISO 800 - f/2 @ 1/6 to get an image that was under-exposed by 1 1/3 stops.

Here's an image of the beast, clearly a VERY alpha build test. Frankly the results are far better than anticipated.

(Note the size of this lens, it is simply HUGE, and weighs something like 11lbs)

Message edited by author 2013-02-27 03:57:11.

spiritualspatula

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

02/27/2013 03:20:26 AM · #13

Why did you choose to try this with that lens, in particular?

02/27/2013 03:26:42 AM · #14

Originally posted by spiritualspatula:

Why did you choose to try this with that lens, in particular?

The only thing that really kinda sucks is the weight, as this is not a light lens by any stretch of the imagination, so it's pretty difficult to work with, especially when using cardboard to test the design. The image above is only 1/2 the lens.

So, of course I'm still looking for further lens suggestions, this isn't intended to be a one-lens box ya know. ;)

Message edited by author 2013-02-27 03:57:41.

Panasonic LUMIX DMC-LX100

02/27/2013 03:42:23 AM · #15

Ok... Think I might have figured out some editing tricks here.

Can't wait to get to the beta version. :)

spiritualspatula

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

02/27/2013 04:15:33 AM · #16

Originally posted by Cory:

Several reasons, not the least of which was availability, as Schlake really did just happen to have this laying around irradiating his house.

Otherwise though, the large image circle is great, as it provides detail even on crappy surfaces like we were using, and should show extremely fine detail on a better surface.

Of course, there's the whole "cool" factor - military air-observation lens, huge, very unique character, radioactive.. Heck, when I start to list the reasons, my real question would be "why NOT this lens, it's a super cool choice!"..

The only thing that really kinda sucks is the weight, as this is not a light lens by any stretch of the imagination, so it's pretty difficult to work with, especially when using cardboard to test the design. The image above is only 1/2 the lens.

So, of course I'm still looking for further lens suggestions, this isn't intended to be a one-lens box ya know. ;)

Just having it around makes a lot of sense, but it seemed like an odd thing one would just have sitting around, which is why I asked. You might consider some of the MF medium format lenses out there. They have a relatively large image circle and are also very high quality, plus are of a reasonable price. You could also use them for free lensing and building your own tilt/shift lens, so they'd have more useability, nor are the terribly hard to get your hands on.

02/27/2013 06:36:24 PM · #17

Ok, I've just picked up a few different sheets of glass - guess it's time for me to break out the 600grit diamond paste and get to work. :)

02/27/2013 06:47:36 PM · #18

Hurry up. In a couple of hours I'm going to attempt to photograph a man dying of a brain tumor. Having better resolution than what I can get from a baking supply would be awesome.

02/27/2013 07:00:56 PM · #19

Originally posted by schlake:

Hurry up. In a couple of hours I'm going to attempt to photograph a man dying of a brain tumor. Having better resolution than what I can get from a baking supply would be awesome.

Come by on your way, perhaps I'll have something useable.

02/27/2013 07:13:01 PM · #20

My cats had their way with the parchment paper we were using as ground glass.

02/28/2013 12:45:44 AM · #21

After remaking the parchment paper "ground glass" I photographed Jason, who is dying of a brain tumor, with his wife, Heather.