View My DIY Diffusion Filter & Sample Movie Pg 1

[andybiz_2005]

Dear all,

I've decided to make my own diffusion filter using light-brown stocking (nylon I think).

I found a plastic lid cover & recycled it into a lens cap that can hold the nylon diffusor & fasten it to my DVX100A.

Here are some of the pictures :

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183954885.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183954951.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183954978.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183955006.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183955039.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183955075.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183955103.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183955133.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183955156.jpg


I'm uploading the video I shot with my home-made diffussor on. Will provide the link when the video has been uploaded.

Meanwhile, I invite your comments. Thanks in advance,

Andrew

[andybiz_2005]

Hi all,

Here's the video link to some test shots with my diffussion filter :

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1336995832976808720&pr=goog-sl

[andybiz_2005]

More pictures of my DIY soft-filter plus make-shift lens hood threaded on. :

http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183977668.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183977694.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183977723.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/8455/1183977752.jpg

I plan to spray paint the "lid" that holds the soft filter chrome on the outside & matte black on the inside. Same with the make-shift lens hood; chrome on the outside & matte black on the inside. I chose chrome because it's reflective & can reflect the sun's strong rays away from the hood keeping the lens cool inside.

Besides, the plastic lenshood & "lid" that holds the soft diffussion filter is very light, so it wouldn't add any extra weight on the front of my DVX100A. Does it look like a Poor man's Panavision to you? Comments invited. Thanks in advance.

[matt s.]

you would probably be better off using a white sheer silk material or something that doesnt have the "texture" of the nylon stocking. to my eyes it made everything muddy looking and flat not diffused and on most of your shots you could see the texture pattern of the nylon. plus it seemed you were losing a lot of light as some of those outside shots you were wide open with no ND. honestly i would shoot normal and diffuse in post you will so much more control over it.

[tbanucci]

Oh man, I'm sorry to tell you this, but that looked terrible.

[brokenjack]

Footage didn't look good, BUT I love the cap on the front. I wonder if you could cut a slot in the top to accept some homemade glass filter. I've created some neat bellows effects by painting some "lip smackers" on a piece of 4" x 4" glass in various places, and stuck it in my mattebox. Also you need to make that thing is black...flat black. Light reflecting back into the lens from that white will help wash out the image. Where'd you get that cap? I really like what you got going on here, just lose the granny panties, and try the very sheerest of the sheer nylon you can find. I shoot with a net behind the lens at work sometimes, but of course that's a removable lens. I also think this look is a bit outdated, but your rig has some potential to do some other things.....one other thing just came to mind. What would happen if you mounted some L.E.D.s around that thing...could be pretty cool.

Let me know where to get one of those lids...I'm here in th USA

Whoops sorry...you were already planning on painting it black...I jumped the gun

[andybiz_2005]

Thanks brokenjack for your suggestions & comments. The lid can be found on this website : http://www.shopnewzealand.co.nz/en/p/Colostrum_Milka_Shake_250g_Morlife

It looks similar to mine. Anyway, initially I had planned on making an LED ringlight & mount the lights on a round "board" that can be fixed to this cap.

After consulting an electronics & electrical expert (Stan Gibilisco) he told me it's almost impossible to mount enough batteries in series to make the LEDs bright enough to be usable. It would be too dim. I would require a large & cumbersome battery(24volt car battery) to carry around with the ringlight. If I had 70 LEDs on the ringlight, I would also need to connect 70 resistors in parallel together with the LEDs to limit the current since LEDs consume very little current. I would have to hardwire it myself, which could be messy & the contraption would be too big & bulky. Unless I could get an electronics company to convert my circuit design into a board (something like a motherboard of a PC with resistors on it, etc) the ringlight would be very messy with wires & bulky too. Ideally, my DIY cap can serve as a diffusion filter & as a ringlight as well, dual purposes, but the ringlight is a challenge to build. Anyone have experience successfully building their own battery-powered ringlight?

Andrew

[brokenjack]

Thanks brokenjack for your suggestions & comments.

After consulting an electronics & electrical expert (Stan Gibilisco) he told me it's almost impossible to mount enough batteries in series to make the LEDs bright enough to be usable. It would be too dim. I would require a large & cumbersome battery(24volt car battery) to carry around with the ringlight. If I had 70 LEDs on the ringlight, I would also need to connect 70 resistors in parallel together with the LEDs to limit the current since LEDs consume very little current. I would have to hardwire it myself, which could be messy & the contraption would be too big & bulky. Unless I could get an electronics company to convert my circuit design into a board (something like a motherboard of a PC with resistors on it, etc) the ringlight would be very messy with wires & bulky too. Ideally, my DIY cap can serve as a diffusion filter & as a ringlight as well, dual purposes, but the ringlight is a challenge to build. Anyone have experience successfully building their own battery-powered ringlight?

Andrew

Dude...the electronics expert is wrong or maybe he didn't know what you wanted to do exactly. I built an array of 100 ultrabright L.E.D.s that run on an 18volt wall wart. Look up wall wart (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_wart) if you don't know what that is. I used 20 small resistors to limit current. It pulls 400 milliamps which means I could probably run it off 2 9v batteries. This thing is way bright, brighter than what you would ever need for simple eyelight or close flat key light. It's a really simple circuit. You could do it with the help of this (http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz) calculator. Read the other sections of the site to get some basic knowledge. I ordered my L.E.D.s from here (http://www.besthongkong.com/) Maybe I'll build one.

This DIY forum is becoming my favorite place to visit. One day I'll post my dolly that tracks through one car window and out the other.

[Kdawg]

Yeah, thats crazy, I have seen tons of ringlights being used, and not one bad back yet from carrying the battery. Someone has their wires crossed.