I was thinking of doing a little project of making my own bellows lens for some vintage fun and a sort of art project in itself. I don't know how feasible this is. Googling around shows some people doing this, as well as some bellows for tilt sift as well as macro lenses commercially available. All are really really expensive, some even cost more than my jeep. o.0
I thought it would be fun to pick up a vintage 150mm lens from a portable antique, since you can get those for cheap. Many have a bulb ability, which you could use to keep the mechanical shutter open while the dslr does it's own shutter thing. I was thinking also the bellows can be reused from the donor if it's in good enough shape, although I have found diagrams in the internets to fold your own.
So anyways I think a 150mm lens will give me about a 3-7 inch bellows length? The closer the lens slides towards the camera, the more zoomed in the image will be, since only a portion of the image is projected onto the sensor. Am I understanding focal length correctly? Or would this have to be a prime distance, not actually zoom? I can reuse a sliding track from an existing donor camera, but i think to get tilt shift I would have to mount the lens in a frame inside a frame, with each using a bolt and wingnuts to allow for x and y axis tilting.
On the other end of the bellows, I was thinking of using a canon adapter/tube extension also mounted on a board. This board will have to be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the camera. i can then use any mount adapter to fit the canon adapter to anything else, including my pentax. It would also have to be light leak proof. Is there darkroom paint for the innards of such a thing?
I have also thought that I could also low ball it pretty hackishly using an aluminum drier vent hose, PVC pipe adapters, hose clamps, and some technics LEGO parts for the slider and frame. The great thing about a drier tube and pvc is the pvc can be adapted down until the lens radius and adapter radius are relatively close.
Obviously this would be for artistic, and fairly sloppy pictures no matter how it's done, but it sort of hinges on the focal length understanding.
I thought this thread could be used for any such discussion.
Prime distance only on focal length, not zoom. BUT - you will be able to do UBER macro stuff, if you get long enough bellows. (to zoom, you would have to be able to adjust the optical formula to move the lenses focal distance, not just physically moving the lens in relation to the camera).
Extension tube is a great way to connect the other side of the bellows.
Innards, I would just use a flat black spray paint... or the kind of spray flocking you can get for telescope tubes. Getting it really light tight, is going to be annoying... but I don't think you'll have too much trouble with it, even if it leaks some. Unlike with film, you have some leeway.
I don't know that lego parts will be stable enough for the weight of one of those lenses, if you go that route.
yeah I saw that in my googling. Again, if I understand correctly, he needs a bellows of 3.5 feet to handle that 1132mm lens at its sweet spot, and then he's going to have to bring it in some to paint the entire negative. And he'll have to bring it in even further to do something like portraits. that is if i get how a single element lens works.
I have read of others using old dark room enlarger, lens and bellows. Further still I have read of people not caring about any tilt shift and simply attaching a tube adapter to the back of an antique camera just to see what results a cheapo antique kodak will do.
Hey Persisto - just received this message from a friend of mine
My friend is actually putting together her own 8x10 view camera. Building the body and then she bought a schneider lens on eBay. I don't know if they ship internationally but KEH.com has a great selection of used equipment. I bought 2 excellent lenses from them, highly recommended!
If you like, I can ask him for his friend's details and maybe you could exchange ideas/experiences/whatever?
Edit - my friend just sent these through for you:
Here are some quick links : http://home.online.no/~gjon/jgcam.htmhttp://home.online.no/~gjon/camerabuilders.htmhttp://www.feelingnegative.com/camerabag/diy-large-format-camera-back
This is the site where I get almost all of my camera accessories. I bought one of my lenses there for $100! Very affordable! http://www.keh.com/Camera/format-Large-Format/system-Large-Format?s=1&bc=43&bcode=LF&bco=522
excellent links, thanks!
i guess the buggest difference is iam trying to use a cmos rather than film. I dont know how much of a purist your friend is, but any info is be helpful.
and voila. a 1917 Kodak lens haxored onto the pentax.
Getting light leak. This first attempt was more research than doing anything specific. I need to make a new plan, as these small cheaper lens are about 30 mm from the sensor for landscape, an really pushing the lens far beyond its ability. As Rogue I think predicted it's fairly fabulous at macro maybe 100 mm from the sensor.
t's frustrating without a light meter and I rly need a f-ing tripod.
I have a collapseaable Slik tripod that's really versatile. You should be able to get a new one for about $100.
yeah, i been twiddling my thumbs but this frankenstein of a setup really needs one. I'll look at those.
another
frankencamera love
not bad for 16 bucks.
great shots persist, love the colour and tone they have.
How about a pic of the Frankenstein rig?
Elastics and basswood were good enough to test it out. It's time to order an adapter ring from ebay 
awesome rig!
Glue on some gears and it's all steampunky.
good idea though, I heartily approve of this line of experimentation.
:thumbsup:
Can't take credit for the idea, as there's some precedent here. The difference here is i shopped for a antique camera frame that would fit without modifications. THis is a very tiny "vest pocket" folding camera, relative to it's regular counterparts it's about 70% sized. The series three also has fstops and shutter modes.
but thanks! I heartily recommend anyone try it. It's cumbersome and difficult. You have to chimp constantly, but it is a lot of fun.
BTW you can see the pollen in the original
large image:http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6045/5891793557_318edb753a_o.jpg
once i get a process down to clean up the image, this should be a great macro lens. The flowers are tiny wild flowers.
great stuff persist, fascinating really.
I'll post more pics made with it when i have em.
I returned to a spot to retake one of my favorite photos:
Here's the antique kodak lens, RAW adjustments only
and the 18-55 kit lens with photoshopped dof
I don't think i prefer one over the other.
this is all very cool and I'm impressed how well the experiment turned out, as well as the attention it's received on the blogosphere et cetera - nice work.
on a only-slightly-related note, Have you seenhttp://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/iphone-slr-mount/ ?
haha!
I just came in to post that!
It's so nice. It has me wondering if I should switch to an iphone. XD
