A Fisheye for Large Format?

Hi,

I see there are many cheap fisheye adapters on ebay for 35mm and digital
compact cameras... I'm aware that most of them are crap. But I'm thinking to
buy one for my digital camera just for fun. However, I own also a Mamiya 6x7
and a Graflex 4x5" camera. I wonder if any of those adapter lenses can be
placed in front of a medium format or a large
format lens. I know that probably quality will suck, but recently I'm
looking for some "holga" style pictures with a very wide angle effect.
Usually these lenses have series VII mounting and are sold with adapter
rings ranging from 37mm to 77mm... My MF and LF lenses filter threads range
from 67mm to 77mm. So, I guess I can attach the adapter to any lens I own.
Question is: will they work on lenses producing an image circle larger than
35mm?

thank you

Perhaps the easiest way to get those Holga style photos is to get an actual
Holga (not trying to be a smart ass...just seems like the most cost-effective
and simple way).
Other than that, you might just try a pinhole. Many pinhole shots have a sort
of fish-eye effect foing for them. You can get body caps for various cameras
and mount a pinhole in them...just establish a good exposure time and go to
town. You could conceivably get a blank lens board for a press graphic type
camera and mount a pinhole in that.
It all depends on how much "surgery" you want to engage in: The entire lens
assembly from a Holga could be cut off and mounted on a lensboard for a 4X5
camera...I doubt that it would cover an entire sheet of 4X5 but the fall-off
may make for an interesting efect.
Check out pinhole.org for some reference...search on pinhole and see if any of
these look like what you're after. I found one site where a fella took a cheap
wooden box from a craft store and converted it to a really neat pinhole camera
that took 8X10 film holders on the back.

http://www.creativegalleries.com/duc...ter-8x10.shtml

As far as auxilliary lenses go, there was a company called "spiratone" that
used to sell all kinds of them...you might check Porter's website and see if
they have anything. Sounds like all you need is the right adapter (step-up or
step-down ring)...even if the aux lens is physically smaller than the front
element of the lens it's mounted on and that causes some vignetting it seems to
me that it would enhance the "Holga" effect.

I'd love to find an old Kenner Give-a-show projector at the junk store and
mount the lens from that on a board....quality cheap plastic optics and use the
old "armstrong shutter" to get some funky effects.

Actually, I got the aux wide angle lens for my Oly E-10 and an adapter to fit
it on the 45mm lens on my Pentax 645. Haven't shot any film with this
combination but it does work (at least through the viewfinder)...but it weighs
a ton and the whole thing is very front heavy...feel like I must handle the
whole thing very carefully lest something snap off.

best

argon

"Ronin" (debris)@(email).(it) wrote

medium format or a large
format lens. I know that probably quality will suck, but recently I'm
looking for some "holga" style pictures with a very wide angle effect.

Holgas are not wide angle: 75mm for 6x6 is normal.

For the plastic lens look I would try removing the back cell
of a triplet or Tessar. Or mate a Grandagon 65mm front with a
Sinaron 150mm rear.

Or remove the front and rear cells and tape on a few close-up lenses.
Shoot wide-open.

There is a book called 'Primitive Photography' that goes into detail
about how to get a mid 1800's look - real large format Holga photography.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Consulting Engineer: Electronics; Informatics; Photonics.
Remove spaces etc. to reply: n o lindan at net com dot com
psst.. want to buy an f-stop timer? nolindan.com/da/fstop/

On 08 Oct 2004 18:08:00 GMT, Argon3 wrote:
Other than that, you might just try a pinhole. Many pinhole shots have a sort
of fish-eye effect foing for them. You can get body caps for various cameras
and mount a pinhole in them...just establish a good exposure time and go to
town. You could conceivably get a blank lens board for a press graphic type
camera and mount a pinhole in that.
It all depends on how much "surgery" you want to engage in: The entire lens
assembly from a Holga could be cut off and mounted on a lensboard for a 4X5
camera...I doubt that it would cover an entire sheet of 4X5 but the fall-off
may make for an interesting efect.
Check out pinhole.org for some reference...search on pinhole and see if any of
these look like what you're after.

Most pinhole photos on the net are so small that it is impossible to get
any realistic idea about the quality achievable with a decent 6x6 pinhole
camera. I've uploaded a gallery of my recent test photos (730x730) and
three 1575x1575 demo photos to

http://pinhole.galactinus.org/vilva/

My camera has a 25mm film to pinhole distance, f/138, the angle of view
is 97 degrees both horizontally and vertically, 130 degrees diagonally,
vignetting is rather minimal when using TMax100, DOF from a couple of
inches to infinity (blurring is minimal even at half an inch).

Most of the first test photos were scanned from 20cm x 20cm prints with
a rather mediogre scanner, and the quality leaves something to be desired.
The rest were scanned at the photo lab (Fuji Frontier Digital Lab System)
directly from the negatives (slightly cropped, file size = 3260x3260), and
the quality is much better. I've varied the contrast of the test photos
afterwards to check the effect when printed. 1575x1575 prints at 300dpi
are quite sharp, 3260x3260 prints at 254dpi are soft but in a nice way,
which people seem to like.

Veijo

--
Veijo Vilva
Dept. Animal Science http://www.animal.helsinki.fi/vilva.html
P.O.Box 28 PGP public key available on ./vvpgp.html
FI-00014 University of Helsinki Tel. +358 9 19158584 | key ID = 6511C0AD

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
link.net...
"Ronin" (debris)@(email).(it) wrote

medium format or a large
format lens. I know that probably quality will suck, but recently I'm
looking for some "holga" style pictures with a very wide angle effect.

Holgas are not wide angle: 75mm for 6x6 is normal.


But Holgas are 60mm.

Simon.

mr. chip wrote:

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
link.net...

"Ronin" (debris)@(email).(it) wrote


medium format or a large
format lens. I know that probably quality will suck, but recently I'm
looking for some "holga" style pictures with a very wide angle effect.

Holgas are not wide angle: 75mm for 6x6 is normal.



But Holgas are 60mm.

And in any case, either size is very wide angle for a large format camera...

--
I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!
-- E. J. Fudd, 1954

Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer
Lathe Building Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/HomebuiltLathe.htm
Speedway 7x12 Lathe Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/my7x12.htm

Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.

I bought a 65mm lens from KEH few months ago. It is really good for very
wide angle in large format.

"Donald Qualls" ???
. com ???...
mr. chip wrote:

"Nicholas O. Lindan" wrote in message
link.net...

"Ronin" (debris)@(email).(it) wrote


medium format or a large
format lens. I know that probably quality will suck, but recently I'm
looking for some "holga" style pictures with a very wide angle effect.

Holgas are not wide angle: 75mm for 6x6 is normal.



But Holgas are 60mm.

And in any case, either size is very wide angle for a large format
camera...

--
I may be a scwewy wabbit, but I'm not going to Alcatwaz!
-- E. J. Fudd, 1954

Donald Qualls, aka The Silent Observer
Lathe Building Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/HomebuiltLathe.htm
Speedway 7x12 Lathe Pages http://silent1.home.netcom.com/my7x12.htm

Opinions expressed are my own -- take them for what they're worth
and don't expect them to be perfect.

"Camera" wrote in message
u...
I bought a 65mm lens from KEH few months ago. It is really good for very
wide angle in large format.

But it is not a fish-eye, is it?

no it is not fish eye.

"jjs" ¦b¶l¥ó ¤¤¼¶¼g
....
"Camera" wrote in message
u...
I bought a 65mm lens from KEH few months ago. It is really good for very
wide angle in large format.

But it is not a fish-eye, is it?

You can get one of the Arsat 30mm fisheye lenses for the German Cameras
for relatively cheap, US about $200 I think.

I've got one, had to perform surgery to remove the lens hood and got
S.K. Grimes to machine an adaptor to replace the rear mounting bayonet
part and screw it into a Copal #3.

Works a treat, though I haven't used it in ages.

Another smaller option is to use a Sigma 15MM fisheye in shutter, Copal
#3 or something moderately smaller, though I din't think Copal #1 has a
sufficiently large aperture. A reasonably sized compound would probably
be adequate.
Have an adaptor machined to attach the camera bayonet (insert Brand) to
the shuter by S.K grimes.

I'm actually having this done very soon, but not for only fisheye stuff

Glenn

Ronin wrote:

Hi,

I see there are many cheap fisheye adapters on ebay for 35mm and digital
compact cameras... I'm aware that most of them are crap. But I'm thinking to
buy one for my digital camera just for fun. However, I own also a Mamiya 6x7
and a Graflex 4x5" camera. I wonder if any of those adapter lenses can be
placed in front of a medium format or a large
format lens. I know that probably quality will suck, but recently I'm
looking for some "holga" style pictures with a very wide angle effect.
Usually these lenses have series VII mounting and are sold with adapter
rings ranging from 37mm to 77mm... My MF and LF lenses filter threads range
from 67mm to 77mm. So, I guess I can attach the adapter to any lens I own.
Question is: will they work on lenses producing an image circle larger than
35mm?

thank you