Did someone say easy?

P

Park Edwards

Veteran
First off, this design isn't mine. Over at DVINFO they have this but with no pictures. I'm going to provide pictures, links to where I got my items and basically a how to.
This is by far the easiest way to make an adapter. After looking and looking and looking I came across so many and found a basic way to make one. So here goes nothing. A big thanks from Jim Lafferty, Jimmy Herdberg and all of the other guys here and over at DVINFO.

First off Here are the parts you need in order to make this adapter to work. On the thorlabs pages, the parts are higlighted in yellow making it easy to see which ones you need to order.

Tube from thorlabs:
http://thorlabs.com/NewGroupPage9.cfm?Category_ID=25&ObjectGroup_ID=1521&PN=SM2L20

Retainer Rings: It already comes with one. Incase you don't use the D screen, you may need more.
http://thorlabs.com/NewGroupPage9.cfm?Category_ID=25&ObjectGroup_ID=1535&PN=SM2RR

Nikon D screen:Ha Ha (Diffuser, you can use basically anything that's not over 50mm in diameter.) Try Jim's.
bklyndv said:
Hey...

Since everyone seems to be bashing their heads in trying to find a good screen, I have an idea: I'm 99.9999% sure I can hand make a more efficient ground glass screen than the Nikon F3. I say this because I purchased an F3 screen a while back and, after comparing it to my best hand ground efforts, I found my own work to be better.

I will do a short run of five units if anyone here shows interest, and I'm willing to sell the first five for $50 + shipping. The reason the cost would be that high for now is that I have a bulk glass order on its way but optical grade, scratchless glass in quantities of 100 or so takes about 3 weeks from time of order to delivery. Once the order arrives, the material cost goes down, and I would lower the price to $38 per unit.

For now I would have to purchase Hoya filters and pay myself above the material cost for the time it takes me to go get them, and then grind them.

I would give purchasers a week to fool with the glass and see if it's to their satisfaction. If not, send it back and I'll refund you the $50, less any PayPal charges. Glass would be 49mm in diameter (just under two inches). Note: there would not be a condensor component to this glass.

PM me if you're interested -- I'd look for a $25 deposit, and then the rest just prior to shipping.

FYI -- this will be the same grade glass as in my Go35 Standard. I have high res footage with a GL1/Go35 Standard prototype that shows the grain and focus characteristics of this glass (my apologies about the dust) here.

- jim
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Nikon Br3 Macro Adapter:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=NIBR3&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=37172

And any standard 10x macro's. I got mine off of ebay. I'm not sure how well they are, but they aren't Asian, they're another brand Opteka. So probably just as bad, but they'll do I suppose.


Using the thorlabs tube, you put the D screen in the retainer ring

Tube.jpg


Dscreen.jpg


Dscreeninring.jpg


You can super glue it in there pretty good.

The retainer ring easily screws into the thorlabs tube. I would suggest a spanner wrench for this. 3mm heads will be fine. Also you are going to need a depth probe(digital caliper). I got mine off of ebay for $15. This is to easily measure the "Flange Distance". Here you can see how many mm's the Diffuser has to be from the camera mount

http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/mounts-by-register.html

Jim Lafferty also found a digital caliper out there on the net for pretty cheap. Heres the link to that.

http://www.mini-lathe.com/Mini_lathe/Reviews/HF_digital_caliper/caliper.htm

You will need a male/male adapter ring like this to put on the female end. It's 52mm in diamter and perfect for the Nikon Br-3mount. Screw it in and then

MaletoMale.jpg


Screw on the Br-3 shown here.

Mount.jpg


It goes together like this.

Instructions.jpg


So there you have it. This is a simple as it gets. You just screw the parts in.
Now hassle with sanding, or cutting or painting. On my version, I took the macro's out of their ring and placed them directly in the tube. It's best to probably have a 3inch tube, you can get that also from Thorlabs. The prices are pretty good also.
All together the adapter will set you back without screen around $70.45.
The price here is for *1)thorlabs tube *1)br-3 mount and *1)retainer ring. It doesn't include the macro's, diffuser or shipping costs.

And here is the final piece.

FinalTube.jpg


Hope you all enjoy my tutorial. You can use any screen you want. I'm working
on using a wax screen. Sorry I don't have any footage to post, because I don't
have a good camera yet. Sorry if my pictures are out of focus or not in order. I'm trying to preview and sometimes the pictures don't come up.




 
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I agree that this is an easy concept. The design I am following is extremely similar. I'm going to try a different configuration as soon as I get the GG to test my current setup. If all goes well, I should be able to provide plans that (excluding GG and lens) should come in below $100. And it is all made from readily available parts on eBay and other online retailers. And I mean available parts. Buy It Now type auctions, not the crappy sit-online-for-the-last-10-minutes-in-a-desperate-attempt-to-win-the-BR3-adapter sort of auction. I know no one likes to hear unvalidated claims, but I wanted to make this known. So sit tight and I should have some new plans up in the next couple of weeks.
 
"You better get that working with the FX1 mother f..cker"

I would say yes, if you had a suitable diffuser. Otherwise it's best to look into dynamic adapters for any HD cams out there.

Check out Jims upcoming HD or the Brevis.

RH.
 
Car3o said:
"You better get that working with the FX1 mother f..cker"
Click to expand...

Best quote of the day. Had me laughing so hard I was getting stares from my co-workers. :D Love that clip. All hail Steev!
 
ovjamaica said:
Best quote of the day. Had me laughing so hard I was getting stares from my co-workers. :D Love that clip. All hail Steev!
Click to expand...
ROFL does anyone have that holyzoo video? I watched that a ton of times when it first came out. Funny stuff :)

I can't wait to give this design a whirl. :dankk2::dankk2:
 
That... was... AWESOME!

Seriously... who did that video... that rocks. I LOVE that. I feel like that guy a lot of times.
 
What does Car3o mean when he says, "it's best to probably have a 3 inch tube"? Does he mean 3" long? How could the 2" tube work if a 3" tube will also work? is this to give extra range to zoom down to the screen? This would be important for me since I have the original DVX... or would it?

Also... did anybody else notice the rings with the fat bottom and the little bar sticking out of them? That looks like a pretty slick way to support the DOF adapter off a set of rails, no? Well that's what I'm going to do with MINE.

So what's up with the 3" comment? I want to order this stuff right now and I need to know 2" or 3".
 
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