Pla Lens

Sorry to be too casual — Pla was a shorten of Plastic magnifier. I don’t remember how and when I got it. As I was looking for a lens which is large enough to accommodate a lens of one-time use camera kind, I just found it on a corner of my desk.

Pla on NZ7

Yet another fuzzy photo was a result of the newly created homemade lens, out of plastic magnifier and a one-time use camera. —– I have tested 1/2 lens, 1/4 lens kind though, they were the lens combined the out side of each other. = So, how about to try “Concentric two lenses” !

Godo on NZ7

(Incidentally, this photo was taken by a bit more ordinary (?) lens = Godo Lens.) —– You might say, when one lens can produce the image like this, why do we need yet another lens ?

The situation was more complicated = TO accommodate the other lens in concentric mean, I need to put another lens in the centre of a lens = It’s need to curve a hole in the centre. —– So, I improvised some tools to make a mini bench drill.

I just carried out the work = 10mm hole was drilled on the centre of Pla lens and a one-time use camera lens was inserted into the hole. Then the lens all together was mounted to the camera. It was mounted to the depth where one-time lens can make the focus = but too short to the Pla lens = hence, the resulting image was like the photo right.

(Ring shaped Bokeh was made by the Pla lens’s so-called “Ring Bokeh” caused by too out of focus lens. — it’s mean, even the “Bokeh lens” has to have about near focal length = out of focus may makes nice bokeh, but “too” out of focus may be too bad. 😀 )

So, this image was the worst among my homemade lenses ! 😀

A night sky —– anyway, we may not need much of details.

So, how about this ?

M m m m. —– It may need some improvement (I need to find the lens which can make softer Bokeh ! ) still, I like their paintary effects.

I can’t resist loving the image like this.

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W Lens-B

Thanks to the advancement of the technology and the use of the image recognition system etc, alongside the advancement of the optical design x optical plastic = we may find many usable aspherical lens in many devices.

So, I got a plastic lens and I made yet another W lens for my camera. —– using the same idea of 2 cutted half lenses put together.

The effect was more or less the same to W Lens-A but the bokeh is a bit more prominent.

Basically those lenses were designed for omnifocus, yet still a close-up extension ring works well. (omnifocus works only within a limit) 😀

Whether you like them or not I don’t care. I’m quite happy with them because, I feel that the image is much closer to what I’m living with. 😀

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Instamatic lens Re-try

Since, previous attempt to adopt Kodak Instamatic 304 lens had failed with my mistake, I tried it again while getting one more Instamatic Camera (still, it costed me only another £5 = somebody’s equivalent of a packet of cigaret)   😀

On the previous try, I spoiled the plastic lens, wiping with alcohol.  So, try again.  This half century old camera’s lens consists three lenses. — against to this, today’s many cheap cameras, such as one time use camera was made with just one plastic lens. (my homemade “Koda-Fun lens” etc  got all only one plastic lens. —– But, without having today’s  aspherical optical design, it needed to use three lenses then.  In deed, we came quite far. 

Though, it seems, even with three lens design, quality of the image wasn’t very good.  Somewhat acceptable was only in the center — rest of area was full of coma aberration.  (Is this, really the quality of “Kodak” camera with three lenses ?)

I think, this is something wrong.   😦

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Junk Lens — How to recycle ?

After digital revolution,  analogue age old lenses become almost a junk. 

Simply,  the camera  and the lens today are too different from their predecessor.

As the lens has to work with the camera which got so many functions therefore

the lens also needs to function such as auto focus, electronically position controlled

F-aperture, distance-coded focus not mention high zoom ratio, of which the zoom

position was also electronically coded. (Those code were used to control Flash-light)

= In order to deal with all those electronics, the lens having its own microchip and

able to communicate with camera’s main CPU.  

Without having those electronics, lens couldn’t be used on the camera —– except 

Canon EOS   (It can take any lens include a Pinhole in AV-Mode,  of course with

manual mode as well.  — But,  Nikon couldn’t make even a single image out of pinhole,  

without giving quite  complicated procedure to set-up the camera side. )  

Though, don’t misunderstand,  even today,  the optics is still optics, it works on the 

same principal,  hence  if you get a convex lens and concave lens scavenged out of old

camera lens, it would make a telescope for a kids to experiment.  Or use them to project

an image or focus LED light etc etc. 

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The lens design has also changed a lot such as the use of aspherical lens  (in fact most

of them are a so-called Compound lens,  aspherically moulded plastic was stacked on

a glass lens) —– nevertheless, I admit, today’s lens is very well designed in deed.

(Though, why they became so big and heavy ? — considering, how compact camera

became so small and light, while able to take more or less the same picture.    😀 ) 

In those aspects,  may be there is no point to give a damn to the old lens though, still,

such as  F-aperture diaphragm has changed almost nothing (only driving mechanism

may have changed to motor etc.   And the front lens is still, good achromatic lens.  

Not mention the focusing helicoid which is impossible to make by ourselves,  still

having lots of use, not only in the photography.

= We can scavenge a lots out of such old lens.  —– As a matter of fact, good old 

non-plastic lens is far easier to disassemble and Re-use.   (Plastic built lenses were

NOT designed to be serviced as they were built by snap fit or heat-weld.)  

(Lens above is a Canon TV lens, it must had a price of many thousands of pounds. )

The best thing is,  we can find those old lens in a camera shop’s junk box,

with a price of couple of pounds, if not free. 

 To disassemble those lens, there may not need to have more than small

+ AND – screw drivers.  (but need to use the brain a lot = it is a puzzling game) 

In coming posts, I’ll show you what I’m going to do with those “Components”

saved from old lens.

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