#instaxhack Prototype 1 of Instax Wide 300 lens hack - and...vignetting
It was a little bit wild these last twelve hours.
I couldn't sleep and banged away at starting at 5:40 AM. Which is not good because I'm supposed to be writing my second book instead of this blog. Oh well.
Looks great, right?
But there's vignetting. I took these pictures this morning. In the landscape orientation, the running track on which the lens sits, can be seen on the top left and bottom right corners. At the top right and bottom left, is the extended lens barrel. Don't mind the messy dining table. And admire the authentic Thonet dining chair.
The cause of the vignetting can possibly be fixed.
The lens section has a lens housing (conical part) and a lens barrel (the cylindrical part).
The lens is cannibalized from my Balda Baldalux (sniff) has a back focal length of 99.3 millimetres. How do I know this? Because some German optical engineer wrote so on the back of the lens board about 60 years ago! Thank you my friend.
I mention this because the original lens was longer. To set the new lens at infinity, I had to shorten the extension of the barrel. Because, I'm testing I didn't want to cut my precious Fuji Instax Wide 300 barrel unless I had to.
The cylindrical lens barrel is not fully extended. The running track on which the lens barrel pins slide along were only halfway rotated. Both barrel and track are impinging on the projected image on the way to the Instax film. Here's a sketch of how it was set up when shot.
The light and image has to get to the film plane without striking the lens barrel or any bits of lens housing.
My next move will be to SAW the lens barrel short enough (from the front end) so that I can fully extend the lens barrel. That may do the trick for the barrel vignetting, and the runners will also go to their proper shooting position (tucked at the top and bottom of the frame instead of in the corners).
Also my last blog post about wiring...well, I threw that out the window. I got rid of the main circuit board. The only thing the shutter release does it run the motor and ejection/development process.
No indicator or on-off. I worried I wouldn't be able to guestimate when the ejector returned to its start position but it was easier than I thought.
Just stop pushing the shutter when the exposed Instax film comes out...it works, that at least.
I will share how I wired it soon. I did that a few pictures this morning - but I want to focus on some lens barrel cutting FIRST.
I couldn't sleep and banged away at starting at 5:40 AM. Which is not good because I'm supposed to be writing my second book instead of this blog. Oh well.
Looks great, right?
But there's vignetting. I took these pictures this morning. In the landscape orientation, the running track on which the lens sits, can be seen on the top left and bottom right corners. At the top right and bottom left, is the extended lens barrel. Don't mind the messy dining table. And admire the authentic Thonet dining chair.
The cause of the vignetting can possibly be fixed.
The lens section has a lens housing (conical part) and a lens barrel (the cylindrical part).
The lens is cannibalized from my Balda Baldalux (sniff) has a back focal length of 99.3 millimetres. How do I know this? Because some German optical engineer wrote so on the back of the lens board about 60 years ago! Thank you my friend.
I mention this because the original lens was longer. To set the new lens at infinity, I had to shorten the extension of the barrel. Because, I'm testing I didn't want to cut my precious Fuji Instax Wide 300 barrel unless I had to.
The cylindrical lens barrel is not fully extended. The running track on which the lens barrel pins slide along were only halfway rotated. Both barrel and track are impinging on the projected image on the way to the Instax film. Here's a sketch of how it was set up when shot.
The light and image has to get to the film plane without striking the lens barrel or any bits of lens housing.
My next move will be to SAW the lens barrel short enough (from the front end) so that I can fully extend the lens barrel. That may do the trick for the barrel vignetting, and the runners will also go to their proper shooting position (tucked at the top and bottom of the frame instead of in the corners).
Also my last blog post about wiring...well, I threw that out the window. I got rid of the main circuit board. The only thing the shutter release does it run the motor and ejection/development process.
No indicator or on-off. I worried I wouldn't be able to guestimate when the ejector returned to its start position but it was easier than I thought.
Just stop pushing the shutter when the exposed Instax film comes out...it works, that at least.
I will share how I wired it soon. I did that a few pictures this morning - but I want to focus on some lens barrel cutting FIRST.
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