DVD-Labs DOF Machine, I'm building one

Well, it's done! I can't post footage apparently, some rules on the college's internet and students not being allowed to upload more than 5mb at a time, if I tried my connection would be reset. But I'll shoot some shots and grab a few stills if I can and post those on my Yahoo album in the morning. My only problem is that I need to build some sort of support for this thing, I don't think 15mm rods can lower far enough so buying the RedRockMicro brand 15mm rod support system wouldn't help. I'll have to find a Home Depot somewhere and fashion some wooden plank support setup. It works handheld but I worry about the threads, I can support it with my hand by setting focus first but that would lose usefulness after a while when the threads go out =P. I can see that I'd need to light this thing like a mother to get everything less fuzzy (side affect of the frosted CD I'm assuming). I have to close the iris to about 2.8 for decent results indoors, but it should be better outside. No ghosting (after adjustments) or vignetting. Just need some support for it first!
 
Well, bad news. Apparently this didn't turn out as nicely as I had suspected. I need to make some major adjustments. I've built some support for it that works, but I need a stronger tripod for this thing, it weighs in at about 9.8 pounds with the wood support:thumbdown . The wood I bought was just thin 1/4" wood bars, I don't need to bust out some 4" thick 2x4's here or anything but I need to work on the box part, the frosted CD isn't close enough to the camera lens and my massive +14 combined macro stack doesn't help matters.

$67 for supplies from Home Depot
$60 for Radioshack supplies
$20 for sound dampening foam
$9 for clipboards
$130 for Hoya macro sets (1x 58mm and 1x 72mm)
$60 for internet orders ($40 was a waste on useless Adorama screw mounts, pic showed reverse, screw mount on the outside, they're actually on the inside with external Nikon F mount, worthless)
$30 for misc. supplies
$80 used for buying CD-Rs looking for correct frosted CD

$456 for the adapter, plus $70 for lens, coming out to about $526, rounded to $530 for safety net. I'm 3/4 away from an M2 :cry:. Well, if it doesn't work out, then I'll just save up my money and buy one versus DIY. But I haven't given up hope, I've built the thing, now I've got to try and make it work right. Thread's dead to me for the time being. Sorry for the waste of space.

BTW, if my calculations are right, then I'll have to get another set of 72mm macros and a new tripod (heavy duty one), meaning another $80 and something somewhere in the $200+ range.
 
the point is more that by building something yourself you get more of an understanding about the whole film issue,then just buying the finished thing in a box.. so i think your time is not wasted....plus there are more sites with people doing the same thing and sharing the expierence...soo keep going
laurenz
 
laurenz said:
the point is more that by building something yourself you get more of an understanding about the whole film issue,then just buying the finished thing in a box.. so i think your time is not wasted....plus there are more sites with people doing the same thing and sharing the expierence...soo keep going
laurenz
Click to expand...


I agree
 
robo3687 said:
eep.....that's nasty......

could've pretty much bought a micro35 for that......
Click to expand...

Yup, I know!:(


Thanks for the support guys, I'll keep at it and let you know how it goes. I mean, it works and I can get that film DOF look, but it's just not as smooth as I'd like it, I barely have to turn the focus wheel to switch focus between things. It's also not too sharp, it doesn't have ghosting but it's quite soft in the middle, around the edges of the screen I can understand but it's not up to my high standards:beer:! But yeah, I'll keep at it and see what I get.
 
Hey, guys, thanks for the support. The adapter works now and is about 98% sharp =), I had the distance wrong between the frosted CD and the lens! Because the box is so much larger than the one used in the guide, the distance was off a lot, so instead of using three boards, I'm using two at opposite ends of the box. Only problem is that frame mode is kind of wonky sometimes depending on light reflections off of things, it looks like sparkly candle flames instead of bright light beams. But that's before I made this last adjustment, so frame mode could be perfectly fine now for all I know. The DOF is pretty good, but I'm using too short of a lens and I'd have to be in somebody's face to get things looking right. More like narrow DOF rather than shallow, I could be wrong though, I've so far only tested in my dorm room but I intend to get some outside shots eventually. I'll post some stills when I get the chance. When you see pics of my setup, you'll see that this particular adapter isn't very practical, so I'm still in the market for a M2 or G35, heck maybe even a Mini35 if my financiers will go for it (*cough* mom and dad *cough* *cough*). But we'll see. Anyhow, I think I'll first try getting a telephoto zoom lens first before shooting any of my projects with it.
 
Could u share the dimensions that worked for ya? I hope to built one too but I'm not sure of the interface to the camcorder.. my camcorder is using a 27mm ring(Sony PC1000e)!! I dun know what I can use as the Sony ring size seems to have limited choices of interfaces.
 
Okay then, here's the pics of the adapter

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=9656.jpg&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=e5bc.jpg&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=3713.jpg&.src=ph

Here's a pic of some footage taken with the frosted CD not moving, notice the dirtiness of the CD on the right:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=f25f.jpg&.src=ph

Here's an example of the DOF I get, compression messed these photos up a bit, the footage isn't as soft as it looks, but they're the best I've got ATM:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=114f.jpg&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=d71b.jpg&.src=ph

Here's my first set of outside shots, they're not terribly good or show too much of the adapter's effects (plus one of the macros was dirty, yes the CD is moving, focus was just messed up a little and showed a little bit of the dirt particles), but they do show how the footage is changed to a more gritty film-like look. I turned the shutter down a bit and closed the iris to about 4.0, should have gone down a bit more, this is bright early morning and the sun was shining right into the practically lens:thumbdown . These mostly show how the adapter changes the camera's response to light.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=94f8.jpg&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=a421.jpg&.src=ph
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/zack_birlew/detail?.dir=/5ebc&.dnm=53f7.jpg&.src=ph

More pictures to come when I get the time. Also, forgive some of the blurred edges in the photos, I was shooting in 60i so I couldn't get an accurate still. Frame mode definitely works but I was trying 60i out first.
 
Jack, werent you aware since the beginning what the final price of the DIY adapter would be? Most people who build one can't afford an M2, so the DIY is an alternative -- I assume that maybe you didn't do your calculations on what it would cost in the end? I'm just trying to figure out what happened, so that if I need an adapter, I wouldn't make the same mistake, and build an expensive DIY.
 
I'm in the process of building one and so far have spent:

$0.00 for ground glass (already had several CD-R and DVD-R spindles around the office
$3.00 for 600 grit sandpaper (to turn the clear CD-R blank into GG)
$6.00 for a busted CD walkman (for the motor)
$5.00 for a +10 macro attachment for my camera (I'm using a consumer camera, not the DVX)
$5.00 for a UV filter (to make a way for the unit to attach to my camera
$0.00 for a 35mm lens (stole from my old 35mm SLR collecting dust in the closet)

I still need to buy something to put all this in (e.g. project box) and that's about it... so it doesn't have to be expensive, it depends on how much you want to put into it.

Of course, as I work to improve the quality/feature-set the price will go up. But as long as I manage it from the outset it shouldn't be "over-the-top" expensive.

Just my $0.01 9/10
 
Well, I was thinking about everything being cheap to begin with, but then I had to improvise with some things, the project box for example was like $12-20 versus the $8 the guide uses. Things just added up since I had to build the support, bought extra in case I messed up and for experimenting. In terms of man hours, take into account that I don't have a car, I walk all over Las Vegas to places and it took three hours to walk to a Home Depot for the support pieces and I'm a full time student to boot, so this was a little harder for me to pull off in a timely fashion. Unlike Larry, I don't have a 35mm SLR I can rip a lens off of, so I had to buy one (now going to be two for a telephoto one) and I don't have the confidence in my sanding ability to grind my own collection of blank CD's and I'm using a prosumer camera so I needed a higher end macro, had to go with two sets of them. So, the cost is mostly based on the factors of chance. If you have the parts lying around, these DIY adapters can come out pretty cheap but if you're like me and you don't, then things could get expensive. My advice is to just buy one outright. There's enough choices now for you to make a decision on what you want out of a 35mm adapter and don't be fooled by all these success stories, some folks are just lucky and get away with one on the cheap.

Heck, if need be I can buy an M2 by tommorow, but I needed something quickly for my final class project, so I had to resort to DIY. Though this did cost me a pretty penny or two for all the trouble I've gone through, I did learn a lot about these DV 35mm adapters and how a film camera works in terms of creating an image and what it takes to work with it. The biggest lesson I learned is that you need, and nothing is more important than lighting, lighting, lighting! Most don't need a 35mm adapter, it's nice but not necessary, just light everything up nicely and make your movie. For specific effects, the loss of light could come in handy and you do get a filmic look out of it in terms of the way the camera responds to light.

Final Answer: Buy a premade one or learn to work without it in the meantime.
 
I need to apologize, I just realized that my previous post may have had the wrong effect. I wasn't speaking against your results Jack, rather I was replying the earlier comment about why make instead of buy if costs the same. I was showing that it is possible to put one together on the cheap if you "scrounge".

But the reality is, I haven't finished mine and may run into a big expense somewhere along the way. Especially since I intend to experiment with the image erection system described in another post.

The bottom line is, if you want to know how they work and want to have more control over experimenting with the device...build one. If you just want a working device and don't care how it works or about trying to "tweak" it, by all means buy one of the existing professional units. There are several, high-quality, affordable models.

Larry
 
LOL! Larry, I was actually thinking about the same thing with my response to your response post, sounds kind of tense there. Not my intention either! =D

You're just a good example of what I was talking about for my point on DIY versus buying one outright, for some that have the parts lying around things could be cheaper, but if not, then it seems like you'd have to spend a bit more than the other guy.
 
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