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bvalente
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Posts: 69
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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 Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:44 am Post subject: |
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Right now nothing is where a "bellows' should be - that is my next step. however, it's only about 1" at max, so I just need to craft a small bag bellow type of setup. Haven't yet decided how to do that.
Yes you can use pretty much any lens, limited only by the size of the lens itself (due to the height of the foot). I could easily use the 16mm fisheye. The 15mm f5.6 wide angle was too large diameter.
I'll post some more rig pics later today.
cheers
Brian
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Brian
Brian Valente
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Charles Krebs
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 4067
Location: Issaquah, WA USA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 9:46 am Post subject: |
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Brian,
Nice! I occasionally wondered if you were going to follow through with your plans.
It certainly is more feasible with the thinner, non-reflex bodies, although with a smaller sensor you need (as you have done) shorter focal length lenses than with 24x36mm.
Looks as if you may often need to suspend it all upside down to do horizontal images.
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bvalente
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Posts: 69
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 10:33 am Post subject: |
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Hi Charlie
The NEX 7 is APS-C, so I figure it's close enough to full frame  but you're right, ideally i'd want full frame but it may be a few years until a mirrorless full frame comes out. Plus, I can't tell you how many times I unassembled/reassembled that 20mm olympus!
here are a few more pictures of the rig. The lens mount is a cheap $30 mount off eBay, I looked for one with a lens foot that was somewhat closer to the lens side of things (a lot had them at the camera body). I had the mount cut in half at a local machine shop. You can see where I first tried a hacksaw, and quickly realized it was going in a bad way
What's left is I need to figure out a better solution for blackening the metal in the mount (i just used a black sharpie for now) and also the mini bag bellows. I tried a bit of duvetine but it was too thick and did not bag "out" so it got in the way of the bellows operation.
any suggestions welcome!
cheers
Brian
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Brian
Brian Valente
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Last edited by bvalente on Sun Apr 01, 2012 1:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Charles Krebs
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 4067
Location: Issaquah, WA USA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | any suggestions welcome! (for bellows) |
If you want "pleated" I would just troll around eBay camera "bellows" listings and find something really cheap and cut out a section the size needed, and attach it to an appropriate disk size to attach at each end.
You could easily make something up from two pieces of light-tight fabric as seen here (yours would be a miniature version... could be round as well.
http://www.foto-net.de/net/dyo/gross_ww.html
Some of my view camera bag bellows had a springy circular "coil" sewn in to spread the "bag" at its widest point (to prevent it from collapsing into the image path). It was simply sewn in with a couple of loops at several points to keep it in place. Perhaps a ring cut from a plastic bottle could be used for that internal "spring".
Certainly something could be found at McMaster-Carr:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#bellows-boots/=gwm0x3
A real "off the wall" thought would be a section of something like this (although likely too large and not flexible enough):
http://www.jackthehat.co.uk/collapsible-accordion-style-chemical-bottle-p-320.html
eBay 120535688609
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxSfOOJnLw8
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ChrisR
Joined: 14 Mar 2009
Posts: 3036
Location: Near London, UK
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 2:48 pm Post subject: |
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An old (or even new ) "Changing Bag" provides a lot of flexible material.
I made up several bellows way with that material with spray-starch, and ironing the folds into it.
Reds are innies, greens are outies:
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Craig Gerard
Joined: 01 May 2010
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Location: Australia
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bvalente
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Posts: 69
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:36 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for all the suggestions - great! i'll have to look into these.
Right now the space between the two halves of the lens mount is only a tiny fraction of an inch (maybe 1/32") so there isn't room for a bellows in between the halves and still maintain infinity.
I was originally thinking of taping/fastening something to the outside of the halves, but now that I think about it, I could also probably cut maybe 1/4" out of the middle of the lens mount and I could fit something in.
Cheers
Brian
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Brian
Brian Valente
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ChrisR
Joined: 14 Mar 2009
Posts: 3036
Location: Near London, UK
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 2:44 am Post subject: |
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Ah, well, bellows a bit over the top then?! 
I've been fiddling with a lash-up, with sticky black tape & paper .... |
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Charles Krebs
Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 4067
Location: Issaquah, WA USA
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:55 am Post subject: |
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I thought you would be fastening it to the outside "rounded" portion.
With a 20mm you probably do not need much extension to accomplish the task. I can't tell what the inside surface of the mount sections look like, and how much "room" you have inside, but instead of a bellows what about two blackened tubes, one attached to each side, that "sleeve" into each other.
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elf
Joined: 18 Nov 2007
Posts: 1104
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 11:51 am Post subject: |
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| bvalente wrote: | Thanks for all the suggestions - great! i'll have to look into these.
Right now the space between the two halves of the lens mount is only a tiny fraction of an inch (maybe 1/32") so there isn't room for a bellows in between the halves and still maintain infinity.
I was originally thinking of taping/fastening something to the outside of the halves, but now that I think about it, I could also probably cut maybe 1/4" out of the middle of the lens mount and I could fit something in.
Cheers
Brian |
1/32" is a lot  The simplest bag bellows to make is:
Cut two rings of blackout material. Make the ID small enough to fit over the lens (minus the clamping material) and the ID large enough to give you the opening length (plus seam allowance). Just sew around the outside diameter and cover the seam with silicone sealant (black). Attach to camera side adaptor and lens with hose clamp or glue.
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ChrisR
Joined: 14 Mar 2009
Posts: 3036
Location: Near London, UK
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| Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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Red and green are just folded black paper, stuck down with black pvc tape. That's black.
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bvalente
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Posts: 69
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks again - wow, diagrams and everything!
I have a couple more shots of the rig, and wanted to point out a couple really nice things about this lens/camera choice:
- lenses are detachable, so here I've put on a Nikon 14mm f2.8, which is the equivalent AOV of a full frame 21mm. That's about as wide as I want to get
- the NEX-7 has a fold out screen, so you can view it from above. Nice!
- the NEX-7 also has peaking for focus assist, so I can really tell where is the plane of focus
Charlie I haven't yet found a shot where it really required me to be on the ground, and therefore needing to shoot upside down. I find a little height allows me to get more of the background in the shot by angling down. Your original mushroom shoot worked extremely well, it looked like in part because it was up on a fallen tree(?) so maybe you had an added advantage of having the background fall below you.
Cheers
Brian
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Brian
Brian Valente
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ChrisR
Joined: 14 Mar 2009
Posts: 3036
Location: Near London, UK
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:11 pm Post subject: |
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| As luck would have it I found the perfect tool kit for lowering a tripod where you really need to get down - here. |
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bvalente
Joined: 18 Jan 2010
Posts: 69
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:32 pm Post subject: |
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| ChrisR wrote: | | As luck would have it I found the perfect tool kit for lowering a tripod where you really need to get down - here. |
heheh!
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Brian
Brian Valente
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DQE
Joined: 08 Jul 2008
Posts: 1434
Location: near Portland, Maine, USA
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| Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:34 pm Post subject: |
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Do you find that the height of the add-on components above the primary mounting surface of your tripod causes the rig to become top-heavy?
After adding on "just a few accessories" to my tripod, I'm finding that as little as 6 or so inches (15 cm) of extra height from add-on components tends to make the tripod somewhat less stable and top-heavy. While not a crisis, it has made me reconsider adding too many additional components between the camera and the tripod. Maybe I just need a heavier-duty tripod?
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