Depth of Field Adapter on Steroids

petrochemist wrote:

ProfHankD wrote:

petrochemist wrote:

fferreres wrote:

Tons o Glass 0 Class wrote:

fferreres wrote:

Quick question to thread follows, can a bellows like this be a starting point for trying out the kind of thing in this thread?

https://www.ebay.com/sch/625/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=%28double%2C+dual%29+bellows&LH_TitleDesc=0

Of course, this is terribly expensive, but I am thinking more generically, starting with something that already has movement of rear, mid and front, and think a monorail setup could be good. I am thinking 4s5 would be best for experimenting as well.

That looks like a good way of doing it. Having bellows on both ends will allow using more than one lens (being rigid and of a fixed length, the DIY Perks rig will only work with one lens).

Similarly, Bosun Higgs mentioned putting two large format cameras back-to-back - a couple of leaky Omega 45s (patched with gaffer's tape maybe?) would be pretty attainable and worth experimenting with, but you probably won't be approaching the DIY Perks rig's DOF emulation of f/0.4 on a 4x5-based rig - you'd need a f/1.5 or f/1.6 lens for that, and I don't know that there are lenses that fast for the format, especially not cheap or readily available ones.

I missed Bosun's comment but was thinking the same thing. Maybe some monorail can be customized precisely without having to hack anything.

I've been planning on trying that, I already have a rail extension & a spare standard so mounting bellows either side of a screen should be easy.

As I mentioned elsewhere here, the Faboky project I'm writing up uses a Fresnel magnifier sheet cut to a 7" circle, giving around 290mm f/1.6 for under $3. It's a lousy lens, but what f/1.6 that covers 4x5 isn't lousy?

I've got a large fresnel ready for trying hypercentric imaging but so far my best result with it was taking someone else playing with it:

IIRC it's 200mm focal length, but 300mm diameter, I guess I rig that onto the monorail directly, but I'd lose a lot of surface area unless I make a custom set of bellows.

A 158mm lens board that is 100% lens, could be interesting.

Wow, that's a big baby crystal (plastic or glass). I will definitely be using a Faboky (I am on my second experiment with doing my own backs, looks great but it sucks! Will show pictures at some point, a silly idea), but what I really want is just the BACK of a Lafodis made for attaching to a graflok back) *BUT* made with more expensive camera module so the image quality would be dramatically better, though it seems the stitching algorithm still has to evolve.

Lafodis goes around scanning in a way that's scientifically challenging, I think in circles. Not sure if I am missing something that would prevent it from being used purely as a back.

I think the monorail is a good way to build something without much tinkering. Let me know if you figure out exactly what parts and how the parts should go. I often have to pause myself as to not end up with a lot of parts that do not, and cannot, do what I thought they could. Adapting a very compact 4x5 like my Wisner Expedition works somehow with the very light cambo rig and a chunky lens (balancing the camera) but unless in Reflex mode, the weight is just too much and acts as a lever. My second attempt showed me how impractical it is, but it works well if one has a tripod for the camera, actually, it works perfectly (as it should) and looks pretty. But it can't hold an A7R. And the closer I am to reduce this pull, the more vignetting, so it's self defeating as a self contained thing.