Another 35mm Adapter Tutorial

Marlene is using an AOL cd case as her focus screen....the image from her 35mm lens is displayed on the translucent white piece of plastic...and the DVX records that image.

The key to a good focus screen is to allow the right amount of light through, without showing too much grain. Marlene found that an inexpensive plastic CD case works as good as some of the expensive alternatives.

-Kevin
 
insanityfw said:
Thanks Marlene!!! What a great thing you've done. I don't care for the term (overused), but in this case it fits...."you rock!!!".

Thank you! This site gives me so much, any little bit I can give back is a pleasure. I've never been much of a forum person but this forum has got the greatest members in the world in it.
 
Sacksnack said:
Marlene is using an AOL cd case as her focus screen....the image from her 35mm lens is displayed on the translucent white piece of plastic...and the DVX records that image.

The key to a good focus screen is to allow the right amount of light through, without showing too much grain. Marlene found that an inexpensive plastic CD case works as good as some of the expensive alternatives.

-Kevin

That about sums it up. But, when looking for alternative focus screens, always seek one that is uniform. A while back someone suggested using a plastic beer cup so I checked one out and the biggest problem was that it wasn't uniform in density, it was also very thin and would probably deteriate in a short time.
 
Your footage speaks volumes... you gotta' be really far up the list of valuable forum members. If I could buy stock in you personally I would.
 
MattinSTL said:
Your footage speaks volumes... you gotta' be really far up the list of valuable forum members. If I could buy stock in you personally I would.

Wow.....what a compliment! I think you made me blush.
 
just a question. i am planning to build an adapter, and i've read that when you look at the viewfinder, it will be upside down. is this true? if so, would putting a little mirror in the adapter help solve the problem?
 
faceless1 said:
just a question. i am planning to build an adapter, and i've read that when you look at the viewfinder, it will be upside down. is this true? if so, would putting a little mirror in the adapter help solve the problem?

Yes, the image is upside down as that's how the lens projects the image on the gg. As for the mirror technology.....you'd have to ask Queyen Le how he accomplished that in his Letus Flip
 
I believe it's a prism, then a mirror. This is what will bring the image back to normal, but you'll lose 1.5- 2.0 stops of light.
 
i took apart an older camera...that's why i thought of it. one had a mirror, the other a prism. i didn't know you would lose stops of light. so what's the magnet thing i hear about?
 
You place a small magnet on the flip-out LCD, near the hinge. This flips the image vertically so that your picture is right side up. This only changes the display, not what is being recorded on tape. But it allows you to get your framing right. When you capture your footage you can just flip it horizontally & vertically and you're ready. There's an awesome plugin for Vegas that does this really well. I've read that other NLE's can do this as well, so it shouldn't be a problem.
 
I never tried the magnet trick but it seems that it would flip the image so you're not looking at it upside down but left would be right and right would be left.
 
Actually it flips it vertically. You can handle the left/right flip by turning off the MIRROR option in the camera setup. Works really well actually.
 
so the dvx has no problem around magnets? i know some electrical devices do not recommend it, i'm just curious.
 
ovjamaica said:
Actually it flips it vertically. You can handle the left/right flip by turning off the MIRROR option in the camera setup. Works really well actually.
what camera does that? If You talking about magnet trick wich enables so called self shooting mode then it will be flipped vertically an horizontally. Or better explained the picture on FV will be rotated 180degrees.
 
Cool. Try this!

Cool. Try this!

I was toying around with the parts I got from ebay and Lowes. I have a nikon D focus screen, but I am still waiting on the step up rings. In the mean time I tried something out of curiousity, and was surpised by the results which I will post later. I used SCOTCH TAPE as my focusing screen, and it does a pretty good job. I had to used letter box mode to hide the seams, but it work out nicely. Somebody try this and tell me what you think.
 
the tape and all sort of other types of material like tape has
been tried to death over at DVinfo. Alain has done tests on
just about everything like that.
 
hpd said:
what camera does that? If You talking about magnet trick wich enables so called self shooting mode then it will be flipped vertically an horizontally. Or better explained the picture on FV will be rotated 180degrees.

The DVX does that. Try it and you'll understand.
 
The magnet trick doesn't work on the 100B because it has a plastic switch inside (yes, I looked).
:eek:
The same is true with the HVX. Here is a post about how to open it up and flip it (if you dare).

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=53456&highlight=adapter+flip+open

Really all you are doing is removing the small plastic cover where the lcd attaches to the cam and then pushing the switch up with a small zip tie or other non conductive item. I drilled a tiny hole in the plastic cover so that it could go back on. I used a very small piece of a zip tie so that the lcd would still close. There are drawbacks of doing this (breaking warranty), but what can I say, it works great. Look at the post above about the HVX to see more. My DVX worked the same way.

Good luck and be gentle.
:)
 
Back
Top