I have received my monolithic lens boards back from
manufacturing and I'm pleased with the results.

I have the board on the camera, and a pair of lenses on the
board. Preliminary tests (without film) indicate I have a
focal-distance of about 3.4m which is (amazingly, what I had
designed to).

It has been heavy overcast and raining for the last week and
I don't expect any change for another week. On my walk to
work this morning, my meter indicated 1/30 at f/22 and
iso400. Of course, with the wind I have right now, even a
1/125 exposure would be unusable anyway. If I ever get any
sunlight, I'll be able to take some test shots and see how
it _really_ performs.

Initial test fitting before attaching the lenses:
http://www.alaska.net/~thurston/images/IMG_3689.JPG

I'll take the opportunity to plug Mike Davis' work here.
Back in February, he created a cool spreadsheet for
f-stop/near/far calculations for fixed-focus cameras. This
is neat work. Thank you for your time on this, Mike.

In message 1620, Mike Davis wrote:

> It can be used with a fixed-focus lens or when you want
> to setup your camera to work quickly with an
> adjustable-focus wide angle lens that does not have
> auto-focus.
>
> http://home.globalcrossing.net/~zilch0/tools/FixedFocusDoF.xls
>
>
> This spreadsheet creates a table of f-Numbers at the
> intersection of various Near and Far subject distances.
> The trick here was to accommodate the fact that the lens
> will be fixed at one focus distance. So for each
> combination of Near and Far subject distances, it
> calculates two f-Numbers: one that provides sufficient
> DoF for the Near Distance and one that does so for the
> Far distance. But it only displays the GREATER of the two
> f-Numbers. This takes care of even those situations where
> the lens is focused at a distance outside the distance
> range of the subject space, as well as those where the
> focus is a lot closer to the Near or the Far than it
> would be ideally.

--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:

>
> I have received my monolithic lens boards back from
> manufacturing and I'm pleased with the results.

Hi John, WOW! That looks a really quality product. Satisfying to have a
CAD drawing turned into a program for a milling machine to turn out
such a good result. Are you going to enamel it or anodise?
The rings I have sent you will take take quite a while by seamail, I
hope you don't need it urgently. I have also included in with the
parcel of boxes a few of my slides shot at 16 meters focus @ f16
(mostly) on Provia 100F, so you will be able to compare results.
It really is so nice to have the option of Wide Angle Lenses when the
space is tight. Enjoy using them.

Happy MF3Ding, Peter

Peter Thomson wrote:

> --- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston
> wrote:
>> I have received my monolithic lens boards back from
>> manufacturing and I'm pleased with the results.
>
> Hi John, WOW! That looks a really quality product.
> Satisfying to have a CAD drawing turned into a program
> for a milling machine to turn out such a good result. Are
> you going to enamel it or anodise?

I was thinking I would do a sodium hydroxide scrub followed
by a metal primer, followed by a low gloss paint. But now
that I've seen it, I'm getting to like the West World look
of the aluminum against the black.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_world

Since a shiny exterior shouldn't affect my images any, I may
do a sodium hydroxide scrub followed by a clear lacquer
finish. Because the rear lens elements fit so closely to the
shutter board, I don't think it will even be necessary to
paint the interior. Some black flocking paper between the
lens and shutter boards should do the trick.

> The rings I have sent you will take take quite a while by
> seamail, I hope you don't need it urgently. I have also
> included in with the parcel of boxes a few of my slides
> shot at 16 meters focus @ f16 (mostly) on Provia 100F, so
> you will be able to compare results.

When I finally realized what "seamail" meant (took me a
while), I put out a plea and have another ring coming from
another generous photographer. I hope to have it in another
week. Then, I'll just be waiting on available light.

I'm looking forward to seeing your images, Peter. If I can
ever get this project finished, I'll send some of my samples
your way.

--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

Off topic but- HOLY COW I DIDN'T KNOW MICHAEL CRICHTON EVER DIRECTED A MOVIE!!!! And while I'm off topic I'd like to mention that the 3D-world stereo viewer can be used to create the Ganzfeld effect, which is I think sort of like "snow blindness". To see it you have to use the viewer without a slide in it and hold it toward a colored light. And yes I have to much time on my hands these days!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_effect

John Thurston wrote:

Peter Thomson wrote:
> --- In MF3D-group@yahoogro ups.com, John Thurston
> wrote:
>> I have received my monolithic lens boards back from
>> manufacturing and I'm pleased with the results.
>
> Hi John, WOW! That looks a really quality product.
> Satisfying to have a CAD drawing turned into a program
> for a milling machine to turn out such a good result. Are
> you going to enamel it or anodise?

I was thinking I would do a sodium hydroxide scrub followed
by a metal primer, followed by a low gloss paint. But now
that I've seen it, I'm getting to like the West World look
of the aluminum against the black.
http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ West_world

Since a shiny exterior shouldn't affect my images any, I may
do a sodium hydroxide scrub followed by a clear lacquer
finish. Because the rear lens elements fit so closely to the
shutter board, I don't think it will even be necessary to
paint the interior. Some black flocking paper between the
lens and shutter boards should do the trick.

> The rings I have sent you will take take quite a while by
> seamail, I hope you don't need it urgently. I have also
> included in with the parcel of boxes a few of my slides
> shot at 16 meters focus @ f16 (mostly) on Provia 100F, so
> you will be able to compare results.

When I finally realized what "seamail" meant (took me a
while), I put out a plea and have another ring coming from
another generous photographer. I hope to have it in another
week. Then, I'll just be waiting on available light.

I'm looking forward to seeing your images, Peter. If I can
ever get this project finished, I'll send some of my samples
your way.

--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo. thurstons. us

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:

>
> When I finally realized what "seamail" meant (took me a
> while), I put out a plea >
> --

Hi John, yes, I am embarrased out that actually! When I was driving
home from the PO, I thought YOU IDIOT, why didn't you send the rings
Airmail! So sorry about that.
On the mount, yes, a cool look West World ( I have that one on DVD ),
plus the metal will act to keep the camera cooler in the blistering
Alaskan summer! LOL.

Cheers, Peter