DIY Lens Baby

I have been wanting to make a DIY Lens Baby for a while.   I found an article on the internet that provides information on how to build it.  Actually there are quite a few articles out there on how to build this but the one I've followed on this project is from this URL


The main material I've used in this project are:
* a Bronica Zenaznon-EII 75mm f2.8 (I got this from ebay)
* a M42 to EOS mount (to fit to my Canon camera body)
* M42 extension tube

* Cable Ties

 * Car Velocity Joint Boot

The instruction that I have followed has talked about the removing of the focusing ring off the lens.  However,  the Joint Boot that I've found happened to fit exactly on the end of this lens so I didn't remove the focusing ring off my lens.

I have to cut one end of the Joint Boot to shorten it's lens in order for me to be able to get the lens to a focusable distance.

 

I use cable ties to secure one end of the Joint Boot to the M42-EOS adapter (to fit my Canon camera)

 

I trimmed off the extra bit of the cable tie. 

 

The below shows how the finished lens fitted onto my camera.

Below are a few shots taken by this lens on a Canon 5D camera.  Manual focus (obviously) and taken in Manual mode.  I find the focusing very challenging

 

 

 

Good luck if you wish to attempt this project, it's not that hard.  Should you have any query, please feel free to contact me at :  Contact@ThatsTheshot.com.au

DIY Beauty Dish

A couple of years ago, I attempted to make a Beauty Dish to fit my Elinchrom strobes. I had my dad help me to hand made the Elinchrom mount adapter (how silly of me as later on I have found out that you can actually buy ready made Elinchrom mount adapters from the internet for very cheap price).

This picture below sort of summarised the making process, pretty much self explanatory.

I found the light produced from the above piece pretty harsh (obviously due to the shiny stainless steel salad bowl).

So I sprayed the dish/bowl with a matt white and changed the small stainless steel bowl in front of the flashtube to a piece of thin plastic chopping broad cut out.

As you can see, the light produced from the below version is a lot better.

I think the light produce will be a lot softer if I have a deffuser sock/material on it to cover the front.

I will attempt to look for other shape dish/bowls to see if I am make another one in the near future since now I've bought a couple of the Elinchrom mount adapters.

Update - 17-3-2011

I have found 2 more dish/bowls. One (picture on the left) is about the same size of the one above but different shape (an aluminum wok ocver -very light weight) and the other one which I am still trying to paint is a bigger version of the above (65cm in diameter).

Below is an image taken with the above (left) dish on an Elinchrom Style 600 strobe on an Innovatronix explorer XT (http://www.innovatronix.com/detailpage.asp?categoryid=42&productid=390&categoryname=Products%20and%20Services)

Update: 6/5/2011.  I have since painted the larger BD and also purchase a Honeycomb Grid off ebay which has about the same diameter as my larger BD.  I've asked my father to help me to design a mount mechanism so I can fit the Honeycomb Grid onto my DIY BD.  Below are the result:

The first 4 photos on this shoot was shot with the small DIY Beauty dish (no grid) on an Elinchrom Style 600        

/2011/05/location-shoot.html

( All images Copyright (C)  Melbourne Photographer - That's The Shot Photography )

Using LED Torch as fill light

I've read and seen photographers using video lights as fill lights for a while. I have purchased a Lowel ID light for sometime, I like it because it has adjustable power output and a zoomable head but I had only used it once because I do not normaly have an assistance (to help me to hold the light). I have been searching for a similar/alternative solution. After searching for a while on the net, I believed I've found an acceptable alternative that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Obviously this is not my original idea; I've seen a Youtube video about someone using the LED torch below in a Studio shoot. So here it is what I've put together:

I found that the liter milk bottle top/cap (Australia) above fits perfectly onto the LED LENSER P7 with no modification required : )

I used different intensity of orange color gel film in this example because I will be mainly using it as fill under tungsten lighting environment. There are many other color from the Resco sample pack.


In the test sample shot below, I was using my right hand on my camera and left hand holding the LED torch. I zoom the torch right out to give a large spread of light because I was standing quite close to the subject.

You can buy the LED LENSER torch or similiar light from camping stores or from ebay.

I hope someone may find this entry useful.

I will try to use this on my future wedding reception shoot or night light shoot and see how I go with this.

Update (17/5/2011):
Lately I've seen LED video lights that use 4x AA batteries or other video type of batteries from Sony or other brands of Video batteries.  These LED lights have an adjustment dial where you can adjust the output power of the light and I believe this may be a good option.  The mount of these lights are not very well made but for the price (about Aus $40 - $50 from ebay), I think it is well worth. 

Below is a shot captured using such light (on the bride).  The light used on the groom was the torch I've mentioned early in my post.

( All images Copyright (C)  Melbourne Photographer - That's The Shot Photography )