Hello @@javier_fernandez! I'd love to see that too. I have some lenses I'd like to adapt to cameras. Do you have the full video (non-timelapse) of you modeling the lens in Fusion 360?
@@javier_fernandez well, considering that you've used lenses from old binoculars, then measured the radii and thicknesses of the lenses and put it in a simple web program for raytracing, you've got some surprisingly okay results. Generally from a triplet you would expect a much better image quality. What you could've done is make a system and optimize it in zemax or other optics program (there are quite a few, free too, like new quadoa trial) and see what premade singlets you can order and then optimize it further with ordered pieces
I see why this lens was in Binoculars, that field curvature is pretty strong. Binoculars just use a strong eye piece kinda like having a tiny sensor. They can hide the weirdness at the wide angles.
I have wanted to make a Frankenlens like this for so long. I have 100s of optical elements carefully stored in a large spare parts box from various old photography lenses (been repairing vintage lenses for about a decade and some are too far gone, so i just save the Glass elements), and a project like this would be so fun. I'd like to figure out how to build some type of testing box for trial and error testing of the elements because i really dont know the exact properties of all the various lenses I have.
What you want to do is basically what I did, despite the video showing an optical analysis. I took the lenses and put them in front of a planar surface (not necessarily in a very dark environment) and tried several configurations. The image I was projecting was the landscape I see from my window. That way, in addition to seeing the image, since it is an image at infinity I also get the maximum distance between lenses and sensor/film (it not mistaken, when you focus at infinity the lenses are the furthest away from the focal plane, and when you focus closer the lenses also come closer to the sensor). This maximum distance is important to get an idea of the size that the lens is going to be. Then, the rest is basically designing the housing in CAD. It feels that you can achieve a really good result with all the lenses you have! :)
Amazing work Javier! I'm about to graduate in Mech Eng too and about to tackle designing my own film camera and lens. I'd love it if you could give any helpful resources on calculations regarding the lens positions. Thanks!
Hi! Congratulations in advance on graduating! The calculations I made for the lens position were just holding the lens in front of the camera and measuring the distance between them. Not professional but good enough as an approximation since I designed the mechanism with room for error. For any further information don't hesitate to contact me via email/Instagram!
Amazing absolutely love it. I have always wondered if the inside of the lens had some coating of copper to give the shot an amber look, or something else reflective to give the light a different effect.
@@javier_fernandez Im sorry, I said that werid. I was wondering what affects would happen if you did put those types of reflective material on the inside of the lens
@Javier Fernández thats what Im talking about. I bet there's also a way to create another mechanism on the lens to control the amount of reflective surface you want, like a slider that moves a cover or something, but maybe that can come later.
wow, this is amazing! Can you recommend any textbooks/resources for learning how camera lenses work and the engineering/physics/mathematics behind it? Would love to give this a try with some lenses i have lying around!=)
Thanks!! The book I used to learn the basics was an old one called "Óptica", written by Justiniano Casas, but any you can find about optics is great! Also there are chapters that talk about this field in general physics books. Information from the internet is useful as well :)
hello great project how did you manage to separate the diveging and converging lenses ? I orderer the same binoculars and the 2 were kind of stuck together
@@Yabbo06 Hi! I separated them using heat, but being very careful about it to avoid abrupt temperature changes that could damage the glass. Glad you liked the project btw :)
Thanks!! I actually don't know which f number correspond to each hole. You can always compare the exposures with the ones from a comercial lens to have a guess. And if not mistaken there should be a easy way to find the exact f number using the hole diameter and the focal distance, but not sure.
@@javier_fernandez oh thanks, wasn't aware of any "formula" for this, I'll give it a search. Thanks for pointing out. I'm really curious if your project can be applied to an anamorphic lens.
@@M4Pxls so obviously the dimensions might change, but the design itself should be suitable for an anamorphic lens. I really recommend you to go and try it!
That's how you gain a subscriber! I always wanted to recycle random lenses i had but i could not find any tutorials, this helped a lot. By any means, do you know of any way to order custom lenses to create what one desires? For example: superfast lenses are rare and expensive. I could make my own for cheap by ordering the glass from china or something, right?
Thanks a lot for the comment! I'm happy you found this useful :) I don't know any place where custom lenses can be ordered, but there are webpages like SurpluShed where you can find a wide variety of lenses. Hope this is useful!
Not sure about that. Maybe with a resin printer + transparent resin + polishing. But never tried. Making a mold for epoxy resin might be a better solution.
Hi! Appreciate you liked the project. The focal length is about 60mm, but don't know the maximum aperture (I honestly don't know how to calculate it). The binoculars used are called Super Zenith 20x50 Field 3º.
@@javier_fernandez Thanks! To test the apertures of your lens empirically, just set the camera to auto and take a picture of something with the 3D printed lens. Then switch to a regular lens with known apertures, set the camera to manual at the same ISO and shutter speed the camera picked for the shot taken with the 3D printed lens, and take photos of the same thing with different aperture values until you get a shot that is about the same brightness as the one taken with the 3D printed lens. The f/stop you used to take that shot is the f/stop of the lens! Make sense?
@@javier_fernandez Alternatively, the formula for f/stop is just dividing the focal length by the width of the aperture - so just measure your aperture circle insert thing and divide (60mm)/(diameter of aperture circle)
@@mokkingbird the empirical method is what I thought doing, but the largest diameter holes seem to correspond to apertures greater than f1.8 (which is the brightest lens I own). I'll try the second method, and then check the results by comparing them with the first method for normal aperture values. And thanks for those comments! You make me rethink important aspects which will help me in future projects.
@@javier_fernandez There might be more to it than that little formula in practice - I don't know enough about optics - so the first method would probably be more certain. If it does turn out to be brighter than 1.8 (exciting!!) then just use other settings to go brighter, keep track of how many stops brighter it is, and count down that many stops from f/1.8. And of course!! Maker culture is all about stoking each other's curiosity, and you've definitely done that for me haha
Hey liked your project.I want rehouse old photo graphics lenses into cinema lenses.Have u tried designing and rehousing.if you could give more insight into how to design body n mechanism for such builds it will be great input.thanks in advance.Following you in insta instantly.
Hi! Really happy you liked the project. I've never tried rehousing a photo lens to cinema lens, but there's a UA-cam channel called MountainBreezeStudio that has done those types of modification. Hope this is what you are looking for.
@@TheTroposa Yeah sure. I'll try something similar next time, despite making steel (or any metal) parts is way harder. Perhaps chamfering the holes in the 3D printed part will improve it too. I should have thought about it when I did the lens. Thanks a lot!
@@javier_fernandez I whish I could build a lens some day. Seems to me like a very interesting project. Have you thought about making "real" lens, from metal, with nice finish and such?
@@StudiowPlecakuPL Yesss thought about that, but at the moment I do not have access to a lathe. But someday I will! Also would be great to make the lenses instead of taking them from binoculars or similar.
This lens project is inspiring.
I would love to see the 1/16th speed version where you narrate the hows and why’s of each part.
Thanks for the comment!
I'm looking forward to making a video like this explaining in more detail what I do. It would be more educational.
Hello @@javier_fernandez! I'd love to see that too. I have some lenses I'd like to adapt to cameras. Do you have the full video (non-timelapse) of you modeling the lens in Fusion 360?
That is really something special. And the pictures do have a very characteristic look. Congratulations !
Thanks!! Appreciate a lot🙂
Fantastic. So good to see the detailed steps involved. Thank u for sharing ur knowledge.
Thank you for the support!
That is a very cool effect that you have managed to achieve, the level of detail, yet that slight bokeh.
Thanks!! For me it is still a mystery how bokeh and other effects work. But this time I think I was lucky :)
@@javier_fernandez well, considering that you've used lenses from old binoculars, then measured the radii and thicknesses of the lenses and put it in a simple web program for raytracing, you've got some surprisingly okay results. Generally from a triplet you would expect a much better image quality. What you could've done is make a system and optimize it in zemax or other optics program (there are quite a few, free too, like new quadoa trial) and see what premade singlets you can order and then optimize it further with ordered pieces
I see why this lens was in Binoculars, that field curvature is pretty strong. Binoculars just use a strong eye piece kinda like having a tiny sensor. They can hide the weirdness at the wide angles.
I have wanted to make a Frankenlens like this for so long. I have 100s of optical elements carefully stored in a large spare parts box from various old photography lenses (been repairing vintage lenses for about a decade and some are too far gone, so i just save the Glass elements), and a project like this would be so fun. I'd like to figure out how to build some type of testing box for trial and error testing of the elements because i really dont know the exact properties of all the various lenses I have.
What you want to do is basically what I did, despite the video showing an optical analysis. I took the lenses and put them in front of a planar surface (not necessarily in a very dark environment) and tried several configurations. The image I was projecting was the landscape I see from my window. That way, in addition to seeing the image, since it is an image at infinity I also get the maximum distance between lenses and sensor/film (it not mistaken, when you focus at infinity the lenses are the furthest away from the focal plane, and when you focus closer the lenses also come closer to the sensor). This maximum distance is important to get an idea of the size that the lens is going to be. Then, the rest is basically designing the housing in CAD. It feels that you can achieve a really good result with all the lenses you have! :)
So cool and inspiring! Really well edited. I`m also dreaming of building my own lens.
I'm glad you liked the project! Thanks for commenting and go for it!!!
Amazing work Javier! I'm about to graduate in Mech Eng too and about to tackle designing my own film camera and lens. I'd love it if you could give any helpful resources on calculations regarding the lens positions. Thanks!
Hi! Congratulations in advance on graduating! The calculations I made for the lens position were just holding the lens in front of the camera and measuring the distance between them. Not professional but good enough as an approximation since I designed the mechanism with room for error. For any further information don't hesitate to contact me via email/Instagram!
this is so unbelievably cool! it might be my next project!
I'm glad you liked it! Hope it turns out great :)
Very cool, but no video footage?
No, but something to add in a future video ;)
Amazing absolutely love it. I have always wondered if the inside of the lens had some coating of copper to give the shot an amber look, or something else reflective to give the light a different effect.
I'm happy you liked it!! Probably it is just the black filament used. It isn't as mate as it should be if having great contrast was our goal.
@@javier_fernandez Im sorry, I said that werid. I was wondering what affects would happen if you did put those types of reflective material on the inside of the lens
@@bradengreif7172 well, there's only one way to know. We should try it.
@Javier Fernández thats what Im talking about. I bet there's also a way to create another mechanism on the lens to control the amount of reflective surface you want, like a slider that moves a cover or something, but maybe that can come later.
Great project! Well done.
Thanks a lot!!
wow, this is amazing! Can you recommend any textbooks/resources for learning how camera lenses work and the engineering/physics/mathematics behind it? Would love to give this a try with some lenses i have lying around!=)
Thanks!! The book I used to learn the basics was an old one called "Óptica", written by Justiniano Casas, but any you can find about optics is great! Also there are chapters that talk about this field in general physics books. Information from the internet is useful as well :)
You're a badass. Amazing work.
Thanks mate!! :)
hello great project how did you manage to separate the diveging and converging lenses ? I orderer the same binoculars and the 2 were kind of stuck together
@@Yabbo06 Hi! I separated them using heat, but being very careful about it to avoid abrupt temperature changes that could damage the glass. Glad you liked the project btw :)
Hi,
I bought a very old 13,5cm lens and I have to buy an helicoid ring to focus, how can I select the right one ?
Would this work on a a6000 dslr getting a 3d printer tomorrow btw this looks awesome
Yes! Should work
what is the optical analysis software that you used ?
I used an online simulator. Not professional but enough to get an idea.
ricktu288.github.io/ray-optics/simulator/
Just love this project! How are you calcuating the f-stop?
Thanks!! I actually don't know which f number correspond to each hole. You can always compare the exposures with the ones from a comercial lens to have a guess. And if not mistaken there should be a easy way to find the exact f number using the hole diameter and the focal distance, but not sure.
@@javier_fernandez oh thanks, wasn't aware of any "formula" for this, I'll give it a search. Thanks for pointing out. I'm really curious if your project can be applied to an anamorphic lens.
@@M4Pxls so obviously the dimensions might change, but the design itself should be suitable for an anamorphic lens. I really recommend you to go and try it!
Mind blown. Beautiful mind
Thanks!!
Great project, is the programm you used in the beginning (0:20) free to use?
Thanks! It's a free and online simulator: ricktu288.github.io/ray-optics/simulator/
@@javier_fernandez thx!
That's how you gain a subscriber! I always wanted to recycle random lenses i had but i could not find any tutorials, this helped a lot.
By any means, do you know of any way to order custom lenses to create what one desires? For example: superfast lenses are rare and expensive. I could make my own for cheap by ordering the glass from china or something, right?
Thanks a lot for the comment! I'm happy you found this useful :)
I don't know any place where custom lenses can be ordered, but there are webpages like SurpluShed where you can find a wide variety of lenses. Hope this is useful!
Thanks!! Is there a way to print eyeglass lenses?
Not sure about that. Maybe with a resin printer + transparent resin + polishing. But never tried. Making a mold for epoxy resin might be a better solution.
Brilliant 😊👍🏻
Awesome!
Thanks! ;)
what do you use for making the optical analysis?
I used this simulator: phydemo.app/ray-optics/simulator/ .
Felicitaciones Javier! Espectacular! Te mande un mail por el archivo.
What are the focal length and maximum aperture? And which binoculars did you use?
Amazing project btw
Hi! Appreciate you liked the project. The focal length is about 60mm, but don't know the maximum aperture (I honestly don't know how to calculate it). The binoculars used are called Super Zenith 20x50 Field 3º.
@@javier_fernandez Thanks! To test the apertures of your lens empirically, just set the camera to auto and take a picture of something with the 3D printed lens. Then switch to a regular lens with known apertures, set the camera to manual at the same ISO and shutter speed the camera picked for the shot taken with the 3D printed lens, and take photos of the same thing with different aperture values until you get a shot that is about the same brightness as the one taken with the 3D printed lens. The f/stop you used to take that shot is the f/stop of the lens! Make sense?
@@javier_fernandez Alternatively, the formula for f/stop is just dividing the focal length by the width of the aperture - so just measure your aperture circle insert thing and divide (60mm)/(diameter of aperture circle)
@@mokkingbird the empirical method is what I thought doing, but the largest diameter holes seem to correspond to apertures greater than f1.8 (which is the brightest lens I own). I'll try the second method, and then check the results by comparing them with the first method for normal aperture values.
And thanks for those comments! You make me rethink important aspects which will help me in future projects.
@@javier_fernandez There might be more to it than that little formula in practice - I don't know enough about optics - so the first method would probably be more certain. If it does turn out to be brighter than 1.8 (exciting!!) then just use other settings to go brighter, keep track of how many stops brighter it is, and count down that many stops from f/1.8. And of course!! Maker culture is all about stoking each other's curiosity, and you've definitely done that for me haha
Amazing!
Thanks!!
It reminded me of the Vivitar Series One development days. It would be fun to convert an old x-ray f/0.95 lens
Hey liked your project.I want rehouse old photo graphics lenses into cinema lenses.Have u tried designing and rehousing.if you could give more insight into how to design body n mechanism for such builds it will be great input.thanks in advance.Following you in insta instantly.
Hi! Really happy you liked the project. I've never tried rehousing a photo lens to cinema lens, but there's a UA-cam channel called MountainBreezeStudio that has done those types of modification. Hope this is what you are looking for.
@@javier_fernandez i have seen that already.i mean exact moding.the one you said is just external add on
Good job! Where can i find the stl files, if you mind?
Sent you a message through Instagram!
@@javier_fernandez Thanks alot
Nice. Would be good to know what the focal length was?
Hi! It is a 60mm. The images in the video were taken with an APSC camera, making it a 90mm equivalent.
@@javier_fernandez I know the aim is not to make a perfect lens but having a thinner(steel) aperture would probably improve IQ a lot.
@@TheTroposa Yeah sure. I'll try something similar next time, despite making steel (or any metal) parts is way harder. Perhaps chamfering the holes in the 3D printed part will improve it too. I should have thought about it when I did the lens. Thanks a lot!
@@javier_fernandez you still did a great job, be proud
hey, can you tell me what lens simulator you used?
Used this online simulator: phydemo.app/ray-optics/simulator/
What program did you use at 0:18?
and 0:51
Hi!
The one at 0:18 is an online simulator: ricktu288.github.io/ray-optics/simulator/
The other one is Autodesk Fusion 360.
@@javier_fernandez Thank you very much! There’s no way to get Fusion 360 free legally, right?
Yes, you can get it for free legally. When downloading it, you must specify that you're using it for educational purposes only.
Que grande eres Javier
what did u use for optical analysis on 00:18?
I used an online simulator: phydemo.app/ray-optics/simulator/
@@javier_fernandez thanks
Dam this is really nice 👏👏
Oh thanks!!
this is really cool, what software did you use to model the lense in? great job and a very cool project.
Thanks!
Autodesk Fusion 360 for the housing and an online simulator for the optics: ricktu288.github.io/ray-optics/simulator/
Javier! You are genious!
Are you an engineer or something? Do you work for Leica designing lenses in your spare time?
:)
Thanks!! About to become mechanical engineer. Just some months remaining.
And I wish I were working for Leica!!
Appreciate the comment.
@@javier_fernandez I whish I could build a lens some day. Seems to me like a very interesting project.
Have you thought about making "real" lens, from metal, with nice finish and such?
@@StudiowPlecakuPL Yesss thought about that, but at the moment I do not have access to a lathe. But someday I will! Also would be great to make the lenses instead of taking them from binoculars or similar.
@@javier_fernandez I cannot wait to see your lens :)
Can you give the focal length of each lens used?
The whole lens is a 60mm. Don't remember the focal length of each lens used. But the converging ones are similar.
@@javier_fernandez do you remember the focal length of the concave one by any chance?
que trabajazo 👏👏👏👏
Gracias!!😁
Are you open to designing and 3d printing a lens housing for my view camera if I send you the lenses?
Hi! At the moment I'm quite busy, plus I only work on personal projects.
was it possible to get the files ??
they are no longer on my mini factory 😓
Yes of course! Send me a message on Instagram with your email and I'll send you the files (STL and Fusion360 files).
@@javier_fernandez i have now done that ☺️
More!
Less busy days will come and with them time to make more videos! Appreciate the comment.
Thats my boy
Bravo!
Muchas gracias!!
Hay algo en esta vida que te salga mal? Yo digo que no