Topic: Bendy Lens

[Dave_M]

I seem to have gone equipment crazy at the moment. In the past couple of months I've got a Bronica S2a and had to return it (fault). Then I got a digital SLR and intanstly regretted it. That got sold. Then I got a 5x4 speed graphic from the states and have been pretty indifferent about it. So feeling pretty disgruntled really.

Last weekend I lashed together a homemade lens from a drilled body cap, photo bag, electrical tape and an enlarging lens. This was to go on a spare film SLR (I've sold my lenses).  I spent the weekend taking a few test rolls and it was a stack of fun. Hell, I may even get a few of them printed in the darkroom...

[This-is-damion]

lovely stuff, i love the effect you get with such set ups,  i had a similar set up involving a broken moskva 5 lens  -couldnt work out how to get anything focussed beyond a couple of feet!

fun though and well worth the effort

[Francois]

Dave: Is you lens hard to focus?
I've done the same thing with a magnifier that has a focal length of 180mm and keeping anything into relative focus takes nerves of steel...

[Dave_M]

It is a little tricky to focus but it is even more difficult when the kids are moving around! The 'Sweet spot' looks a bit soft but I can run a few more test rolls..

[outofcontxt]

Yeah, baby! Now THAT's what I'm talkin' about! Nice work. Welcome to the wonderful world of homebrews, Dave!   

[outofcontxt]

Oh, forgot to mention. If you really truly decide to keep up with this, see if you can pick up a dead Polaroid Land or small folding camera and use the bellows. It will definitely last a whole lot longer than the bag from personal experience. If you can find a short extension tube in a Canon mount, you can replace the body cap with that. Just tape the bellows to the lens on one end and the short extension tube to the other -- I recommend gaffer's tape; less messy in the summer months -- and, voila!, instant shift-tilt! Have fun!

[astrobeck]

Don't forget the local home improvement store's plumbing dept. for bendy pipes and tubes, etc.
A lot of my camera parts come from Home Depot!

'Specially tape and epoxy!

[db]

Similar story here- I hunted through the 'bits and pieces' box in a camera shop, bought an old macro bellows and freed it from it's focus rails. My lens is a kids magnifying glass which has a long enough focal length to let me get out to infinity on a 35mm body.

[Andrea.]

Brilliant stuff. I played with one myself made from an old Praktica SLR, bellows from a trashed folder and lens from another old Kiev 60. Great fum. Now you mention it I must resurrect the thing. see here for examples http://boxesbellows.blogspot.com/2006_07_01_archive.html.
oops; Just noticed it was the Zenit house brick, not the Praktica

[Janet_P]

Dave! What a gorgeous photo, that bendy lens is really working for you. Keep us posted with your updates. I may need to build one for myself now...

Janet

[Francois]

On mine, instead of using a bellows, I used a pair of thermal socks
One inside the other so the fuzzy stuff is stuck in between the layers (and not in my camera).
But the toe side and used the sewing machine with the zig-zag stitch to prevent fraying.
Makes a darn fine bellows for 1$

[Janet_P]

Dave. can I ask a stupid question... what's the drilled body cap for? Is it for an aperture? In which case I guess it's fixed - what size did you drill it?

Thanks

Janet

p.s. LOVE your thermal sock idea Agent Orange.

[Dave_M]

Thanks for the advice and kind words.

Janet_P - I needed the body cap to tape the photo bag (ie bellows) to. I guess an extension tube would have been better but it was only needed so that I did not have to tape the bellows directly to the camera. The drilled hole was about 2 inches in diameter and very very messy (I'm not a natural DIY kinda-person  ) but only needed to let the entire image through.