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Enclosure finish

Working in CAD is a cushy job, warm feet and stuff...but now it is the screwdriver time again.

Not a big problem for a handy man.

The lens board will go to the first enclosure part.	Here it is attached with screws, the hole was created in plastic and the hollow lens cap is attached and glued if needed.	Silence is golden. To isolate the motor noise inside the box I added a foam - this is from a craft store, they have it in many colors. Kids use this for art projects.
I added foam also under the motor board.	Here is the macro board attached to the other half of the project box also with foam.	Closed all together. I put the battery box (RadioShack) outside the box for better access. Since all I need is one AA battery - I could put it inside.
Another view. Plain and simple. Very sturdy.	The view of the switch. I added a low voltage LED (I use one 1.5 V battery so you need LED that runs below 2V)	Now attached to the TRV900 camera.

The first test
I really overdid the foam part and the thing is whisper quiet. In fact if I have no LED I wouldn't know it is running.
The first tests were quite great. Apart the fact that everything is upside down... the camera can now produce really sallow DOF. I used the inexpensive Canon F1.8/50mm and the F1.8 does really show. Now when autofocus is out the way, it does require some training especially to get the grip and to remember which way to turn the focus wheel :-).

Here are the first observations:

• the DOF is now really as I am used to from my SLR
• the rotating ground glass has also some subtle diffusion effect which soften the contrast and the footage looks actually more film-like
• having camera taking upside down pictures is not much fun - you really don't know how to follow the scene
• it takes time to learn how to follow focus
• I can now actually use pattern filters such as Pro Mist and they do (finally) work. They didn't previously work on the video camera unless you really zoom-in to blur the filter pattern.

A nice rack! (focus).

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The next step (I didn't do this yet)
The next step is probably to attach securely both the camera and the device on some kind of rail (blue on picture below) that can be mounted on tripod so it is not joined just by the lens which is a very fragile way.

What with the rotated image upside down on your LCD?
I think instead of figuring out how to rotate the image from lens to camera (mirror and a pentaprism - expensive!) the easiest way is to add a normal mirror and a small hood to LCD so we can at least see it feet down (still left-right will be reversed) and then simply rotate it (flip & mirror) in post-production.

I will post some more shots as soon as I made them.

The final word (for now)
OK, after spending about 4 hours in total on the DOF device and about $18 CAD for the project box and LED (everything else was found in my basement), I think it does work pretty good. One thing for sure, it is not for ENG or anywhere you need fast action. But a guerrilla film-maker may really benefit by using such device and adequate lens for each scene. The image after flipping and mirroring looks much more film-like, one would be surprised how much the 35mm lens changes the whole feel and how the rotating ground glass softens the image in a good way.