Building a Tilt/Shift Lens

I like to experiment with photography and I also like the idea of being able to take tilt/shift style photos. I decide to combine those two things and experiment with creating my own budget tilt/shift lens.

There are a few guides online features the various ways in which such a lens can be assembled but I went with the simple bicycle inner tube ‘free-lens’ type. It is cheap, effective and does not require a degree in engineering to build.

Parts required:

• ·       A section of bicycle inner tube
• ·       Some long cable ties
• ·       A lens body cap
• ·       A suitable donor lens

That’s everything required. You’ll also need some fairly standard tools like scissors, a sharp knife and screwdrivers then you’re good to go. So far, so cheap!

Step 1 – The Body Cap

In order to mount the lens to your camera body you’re going to need to obtain a body cap in the correct mount for your brand of camera. Being a Pentax user I purchased a generic hard plastic ‘K’ mount cap from eBay for the grand sum of £1.99.

Once you have your lens cap you need to carve out the centre hole leaving just the outer ring mount. I found the easiest way to do this was to melt/cut it with a soldering iron but a heated sharp knife should have the same effect. Once the hole was made I used a sharp craft knife to cut away any sharp pointy bits.

Step 2 – The Inner Tube

You need a wide inner tube to act as the flexible part of the lens. A typical 26” MTB inner tube should suffice with a minimum width of 1.95” but ideally the wider the better. Once you have your tube cut approximately 5cm of length from it stretch it around the modified body cap. Once in place secure with a cable tie.

Step 3 – The Lens

Lens choice is going to be important here. On an APS-C sized sensor camera you’re going to need at least a 35mm full-frame lens. To allow an even greater freedom of movement when you tilt and shift the lens bigger is also going to be better. I used an old full-frame 28mm f2.8 lens simply because I already had it at home but a lens designed for medium format would be even better and not all that expensive from eBay.

To begin with start from the rear of the lens and strip away the mount and any superfluous body parts. The idea is to strip enough of the lens away that you can freely move the lens around without being restricted by the lens coming into contact with the camera body.

The next image shows how much of the lens I stripped away but in hindsight I wish I’d have taken it even further to allow more movement. Also with the focus ring still attached be sure to set (and then leave) the focus at infinity.

With the lens stripped down and the aperture ring removed I had to use some fixing putty to hold the aperture blades open at their widest setting. Without this the aperture would close down. This behaviour can vary depending on lens manufacturer so this step may be optional for some.

With the lens stripped and the aperture open you can now stretch the inner tube from step 2 over the body and secure it with a cable tie or two. The end result should look something like the lens I made in the next image and is ready for use.

Demonstration

To demonstrate the lens working I mounted the camera on a tripod, set aperture priority and took the first image with the focal point as close to 'normal' as I could reasonably get it of the rug in my lounge. The resulting image looked like this:

Then without moving the camera or tripod I moved the lens to the left and right and took more images to show how the focal point moves along with some changes in perspective. This is further exaggerated the more you are able to move the lens.

As stated earlier in the post if you are able to use a lens with a bigger image circle then greater movements will be allowed so on a typical APS-C camera a full-frame lens is useable but a medium format lens would be preferable. If, like me, you use a full-frame lens on an APS-C camera then keeping movements small is key as you will quickly find none of the image in focus otherwise.

Overall it's a fun lens to use and due to it being flexible and imprecise no two images will likely be the same. Have fun experimenting!

Revision

I made a slight revision to my version of the lens as when moving it around I found the focus ring of the lens would hit the body of the camera and restrict movements too much. I made a quick modification by removing the focus ring and reattaching the inner tube and now have a greater freedom of movement.

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Photo Project - 52

I recently picked up a pack of Lightbox Photography Cards¹ which are essentially a deck of 52 cards, each one featuring a photo challenge to have a go at with a description and an example image.

As there are 52 cards this naturally led me to the idea of a 52 photo project starting in January 2016 where the challenge for each week will be determined by randomly selecting one of the cards from the deck.

This is somewhat different to a regular 'photo-a-week' project as the theme each week is going to be set rather than being open. This could potentially be more challenging as the weekly photo has to fit a theme but at the same time will provide focus and inspiration.

I intend on uploading my weekly images to Flickr² and have also created a public group to organise them and allow anyone else to join in. The group can be found here: https://www.flickr.com/groups/52project2016/

Each week on a Sunday I will randomly draw a card from the deck and post the drawn challenge theme to the group discussion board. A photo fulfilling the criteria of the theme will then need to be uploaded before the following Sunday when the next card will be drawn.

Apart from that the rules are pretty much open as any type and model of camera is allowed (I expect to post photos taken on a Pentax K3II, Panasonic LX100 and LG G3) with the only stipulation that one photo is posted per person per week.

If you'd like to join in then please come an join the group!


^[1]http://lightbox-photography-cards.myshopify.com/
^[2]https://www.flickr.com/photos/pentax_phil/

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Game Over

There was a time not that long ago when I would forgo taking out my expensive and highly capable Digital SLR for a spot of photography and instead grab a cheaply made, plastic, lightweight and low-tech compact with whatever film happened to live in my fridge. The camera in question was a Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim (UWS) and served as my introduction to the world of Lomography.

For those who are unaware "Lomography is an analogue camera movement and community, and is also a commercial trademark of Lomographische AG. It was founded in 1991 by Viennese students Matthias Fiegl and Wolfgang Stranzinger when they discovered the Lomo LC-A camera created by LOMO PLC of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Since 1995, Lomography has been the sole distributor of that camera outside of the former Soviet Union, and has since moved into producing their own range of analogue cameras, and other imports such as the Diana camera" - Wikipedia.

It might help at this point to check out their website and store to see what it's all about but essentially Lomography (to me at least) was an opportunity to reignite interest in 35mm film, to experiment in different ways of shooting and processing, to use cameras both old (Olympus Trip 35) and new (Lomography Supersampler) and to forget about the technical elements required to create a shot and simply concentrate on the fun and spontaneity of shooting.

In truth it appealed to me on two levels. The first was to remove myself from the constant learning and applying of photography rules and concepts, to leave behind f-stops and bracketing and just enjoy shooting purely for fun. Secondly it appealed to my gadget loving side. Being able to both scour car boot sales and charity shops for old cameras and oddities and get my hands on the latest weird and wonderful kit from the Lomography store. I was hooked.

I spent a few years as an active member of the community. I entered competitions, uploaded photos and wrote articles for the site. I bought and sold cameras, refurbished old kit, tried all manner of 35mm film and argued with the naysayers who believed all Lomography to be an outlet for hipsters to pass off naff photos taken on poor cameras as art.

It might be surprising to some then that I have sold all my analogue cameras, emptied my fridge of film and have not posted on the Lomography website for a number of months. No longer do I eagerly await the postman to deliver my latest processed negatives, gone are the days of writing articles for Piggy Points and the closest I now come to cross-processing is via a digital filter.

So why the turnaround? In short I have come to loathe the company and community I once had a fondness for. It was not instant, it was not based on the film medium nor is it a slight on their products, some of which I would still speak just as highly of today. It seemed to happen gradually as the products became more popular and the community grew larger.

Along with a bigger community came more user generated content. It is this content that slowly started to turn me away from the community as where once I defended against the Hipster tags I now saw a growing number of articles living up to this. Articles would heap praise on products (sometimes justified) whilst never exploring the negatives adding up to a balanced review. Hyperbole would mount throughout a piece before erupting like a bullshit volcano across your screen. With each new review of a new camera turning into a Lomography love-in I started to become frustrated with the writers and bored with their pieces.

Worse still were those writing of products and photos making claims that were technically incorrect and just plain wrong. In a sense it's difficult to judge someone's opinion as wrong as it is after all just an opinion. But when you are using scientific or technical terms to describe something you should have some understanding of those terms and what they mean and be factual in your conclusions.

In an example posted by one user showing a completely washed out photo reddened by a drastic light leak they wrote "The photos are very high contrasted, with emphasized saturated green and red tones. It also gives lovely red light leaks", none of which were true of the displayed photo other than the light leak all but destroying the image.

The metaphors and hyperbole continue in many articles; one describes Velvia RVP as a "beast" and "probably one of the most crazy, unpredictable and wild films in the universe" whilst another describes Superia 1600 as offering "mind blowing grain." It probably shouldn't bother me and maybe it goes against the Lomography ethos to be so concerned with factual terms but it does bother me. Reading the grossly exaggerated and factually incorrect claims induce cringe of the highest order and turn me off the website entirely as I start to view members of this community - my community - as the Hipsters I once swore we were not.

Not convinced? Those examples are just a film review or two. There are countless more examples in tipster, location and camera articles. I'll leave this section with one more quote from a camera review conclusion; "Don’t be shy, just say “I love you” to your beloved camera, and share with us how sweet your experience is when living with your petite camera sweetie!" Brilliant.

It's not just articles though. Another aspect that grew tiresome for me was the constant pushing of new products down my throat. With each product launch the website shifts its focus away from some of the user generated content and focusses on the new camera in question almost exclusively. Reviews, location articles and tipsters all feature the latest product and the next wave of monthly requested articles are guaranteed to feature the new camera heavily. In short the whole effect slowly starts to come off as one big marketing trick. And once it turns from a great community site to just another business selling me something then unfortunately my interest starts to wane. I understand Lomography isn't a charity and are in business to make money but once community members are used as advertising vehicles (post this article to your blog for some piggy points, etc.) the community spirit fades and a soulless marketing machine is all that remains.

If the dreadful articles are my first and the marketing machine my second driving factor behind my departure then the third has to inevitably fall to the photography. Like the articles before it I have to add at this point that it's not all bad. The Lomography website has in fact plenty of talented people there too. I've always argued that despite the medium and capabilities of a particular camera a good photo is a good photo. I still stand by this and thoroughly enjoyed some of the photography featured from people all across the world. But for every one good photo there are hundreds of poor ones.

It is of course subjective as to what constitutes a bad photograph - or “lomograph”. It's not personal taste I'm referring to here though but more the deliberate abuse of film. Washing your roll of Fujifilm’s finest emulsion in a bath of washing-up liquid and drying it out with a hairdryer before shooting is not in any way any kind of photography I care to be involved with. To see praise heaped on the horrible results just heightens my sense of coldness to it. Yet this culture of experimenting has gripped the community as people dream up new ways of destroying perfectly good film to take utterly crap photographs. Did you know for instance that destroying your film with lemon juice produces amazing colour? Or how about the amazing results one can achieve with a mixture of orange juice, washing powder, cider vinegar and lemon flavoured Vodka? It's bad enough that someone thinks these sorts of experiments can produce anything but utter dross but to have the results embraced and liked by a community leaves me dumbfounded.

There are more yet somewhat lesser factors I could pick at as to what alienated and turned me off the community. The piggy point system for one would feature quite heavily as well as the cost of the cameras in the store. Ultimately though these are things I can live with and argue both for and against but the above major points I cannot. Once I felt the site became a marketing gimmick and when user content started to irk me by living up to its hipster reputation it was a speedy switch from Lomo lover to a digital future.

I want to add at this point two things. The first is that I love film. I get excited trying out new emulsions and that seemingly endless wait to see the results once the film goes off for processing. I also love some of the equipment I've had my hands on over the last few years including Lomography cameras (Supersampler, La Sardina, Spinner 360, Diana Mini) and non-Lomography cameras alike (Trip 35, Vivitar UWS, Fujifilm Zoom Date F2.8). The second is that this article itself being an opinion piece is likely to come in for heavy criticism itself. Being a previous regular contributor to the site I may even be guilty of some of the things I've accused others of. Either way the end drew near and now my Lomography account lay dormant waiting to be deleted.

I must admit I was saddened when that last package was carried to the post office before being shipped to its new owner and I will genuinely miss those cameras. The rest though I will not. Maybe Lomography just isn't for me anymore and my criticisms are unfounded? Maybe I'm just not 'hip' enough and don’t 'get it' anymore? You can decide for yourselves. I meanwhile have no regrets leaving a community, a website and a company behind that I unfortunately over time I came to dislike.

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Refurbishing a Trip 35

Having picked up a faulty Olympus Trip 35 for £5 it was time to attempt a fix and refurbish to restore the camera to working condition. Top priority has to be working mechanicals but I also prepared to clean and re-skin the camera too. If you wish to undertake the task yourself I would advise the following materials and tools:

• Small screwdrivers
• Stanley/craft knife
• Lighter fluid
• J-cloths
• Micro fibre cloth
• Cotton ear buds
• Brasso
• Washing-up liquid
• Pencil
• Cocktail or lollipop sticks
• Ice-cube tray to hold screws safely
• New skin
• New light seals

Firstly you need to check the meter is working correctly. To be absolutely certain it is you’ll need to remove the top plate of the camera and check the needle movement. Start by removing the screw in the left hand side under the wrist strap lug. Two more screws can be found under the rewind crank. To get to these simply open the back, wedge something like a lollipop stick in to stop it spinning and unscrew the crank from the top.

With the top off you should now have access to the meter, or more importantly the meter needle. With no light entering the camera (cover the front of the lens with your hand) the needle will be pushed up against the viewfinder. Now point the lens to some bright light and the needle should swing to the middle. This confirms the meter is working. In that case (as with this particular camera) the fault lies with the aperture blades.

The top can now be reassembled but be sure to clean any muck from hard to reach areas as you do to make cleaning the camera later a little easier.

To get to the aperture blades start by removing the bottom plate of the camera by unscrewing the two small screws. Now turn your attention to the front inner ring (with the writing on) and locate the three small screws around the rim. Before you remove them set the aperture to ‘A’ and the focal length to infinity (the mountain symbol). Now loosen the three screws but do not remove them completely. The ring can now be pulled off.

To remove the front lens element simply unscrew it. It’s important before you move it to mark it so it can be returned into the exact same position. If not the camera’s focus will be off. I suggest a marker or a scratch from a knife on the rim at the 12 o’clock position. Remove the lens, give it a good clean with a micro fibre cloth and set it aside.

Now we need to remove the bulk of the lens from the body. To begin with lift the wires on the bottom of the camera over the tripod thread to loosen them. Now locate the three deeper screws inside the lens and remove all three. The lens will now pull off the body exposing the middle element. Remove this and clean it also.

Now we get to the important aperture blades. Remove the screws holding it in place and start to work it with your fingers. It should open and close easily enough. Now take the lighter fluid and thoroughly clean the blades and surrounding metal. Keep working them and you should notice they move more freely. Leave the blades to fully dry or use a hairdryer. It’s important not to lubricate the blades as they will eventually stick again. To aid lubrication you can rub some graphite onto the blades simply using a craft knife or stanley blade to shave the end of a soft pencil (I used a 3B). Blow away any excess.

With the blades now moving with ease clean the rear lens element and trace back through your steps to reassemble the lens. Remember to align the front element as you marked it at the start. Once the lens has been assembled move the focal length dial one way then the other to make sure the front element is rotating at the same time.

If everything looks good it’s time to test. The easiest test is to leave the aperture on ‘A’, cover the lens and try to depress the shutter. If everything is now working the shutter will not fire and a red flag will be shown in the viewfinder. Removing you hand from the lens and trying again should allow the shutter to fire.

You can also see the apertures in action by selecting them manually and either pressing the shutter half way. At 2.8 the hole will be nice and wide whereas 22 will have a very narrow hole. These tests confirmed that the repair in this particular camera were successful!

With the mechanics now working you can turn you attention to the looks. Start by pulling off the camera’s current skin which should peel off quite nicely. Now locate the old messy light seals by the hinge of the door and clean these up. With the old seals removed stick the new ones in place using a cocktail stick to get into the hard to reach areas.

At this point you can give the camera an all over clean with some mild washing-up liquid and water mix with a slightly damp cloth and allow it to dry. Now polish the camera with something like Brasso liquid taking care to avoid the parts the new skin is going to be stuck to. Depending on the condition of the camera you could use ultra fine git sandpaper or polish to really go to work on the camera. This is something I may look to in the future for the silver coloured parts.

The new skins are relatively easy to attach. They don’t fix permanently so you can correct any errors. Be sure to get the skin right under the lens for a good fit. Now get the cocktail stick into any hard to reach areas and wipe over the skin to make sure there are no bubbles and it’s firmly in place.

Done!

You could go further and paint over the black painted parts that have worn over time but if like me intend on using the camera and not displaying it’s probably not worth it. More importantly be sure to run a cheap film though the camera to test the focus wasn’t incorrectly set when putting the lens back together. If it was remove the front inner ring again, give the front element a 1/4 turn maximum and try again. Alternatively there are more detailed instructions on the internet to help reset the focus.

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Lomography Attacked

I was looking on Yahoo Answers recently and someone asked the question "What is so special about the Holga camera?" Before writing my response I read some of the others and found an almost hatred for the plastic cameras I have grown a fondness for.

I have to admit to not having used a Holga although I have used other similar cameras. Even with that in mind what I understand to be the question could be applied to other Lomo cameras like the Diana, etc - with a perceived low quality, lo-fi images and cult following what's so good about them?

Well nothing.

Kind of.

The camera itself on its own is nothing special but it's what you do with it that matters. People on Yahoo Answers (as seen in that example) seem to have a hatred for these plastic cameras. Ultimately though isn’t the camera just a tool just as the paint brush is to the artist?

I personally don’t care whether someone has a £40,000 medium format digital back 40 mega pixel camera or a £1 plastic piece of junk bought from a charity shop. For me art (and specifically photography) is subjective and just because an image isn't pin-sharp and exposed perfectly does not mean it cannot be a good photo in its own right. If your photo has to convey meaning or emotion, depict a scene or show personalities then who decides which types or camera are suitable for doing this?

In truth I would even go as far as saying the Lomography and photography mediums - whether film of digital - are too different to be judged against one and other on a technical basis. It’s this fact where the ‘real’ photographers get hung up on as how can something made of plastic, producing lo-fi images and accessible to all possibly create anything of any worth?

A sticking point seems to be the belief that with a Lomo camera you can take any old photo and pass it off as ‘art’ and of course you get people who probably do. But that's not limited to the Lomography crowd though. What these people seem to forget is with the rise in consumer level DSLRs popularity, how many people use their cameras on full auto and never produce anything worthwhile? Or how about those who manipulate their images in Photoshop to the point of having no resemblance to the original at all?

I say don’t get tied up in what others think, or subscribe to the view that other types of photography cannot be just as creative, artistic or valid as an art form. Do what YOU WANT and produce images YOU LIKE on any camera YOU CHOOSE. If that happens to be a £40 piece of plastic then so be it.

So no - the Holga is nothing special then just as in the wrong hands NO camera is special.

Happy snapping!

My Lomo Home 

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