A Real Bottle Bottom Lens

[Abbazz]

A great DIY project, from the forum on MFlenses.com (http://forum.mflenses.com):

1 theory: http://www.teknofokus.fi/Foto/Optplo/ppohjalns1.htm
2 grinding the lens: http://www.teknofokus.fi/Foto/Optplo/ppohjalns2.htm
3 assembly: http://www.teknofokus.fi/Foto/Optplo/ppohjalns3.htm
4 test pictures: http://www.teknofokus.fi/Foto/Optplo/ppohjalns4.htm

Cheers!

Abbazz

[itf]

That's pretty cool! Why didn't they start with clear glass though!? Might reduce that colour cast issue.

[Maxapple88]

Why not use a clear glass bottle? :)

[Ronald_H]

Making your own lens? What will they think of next, developing your own negatives? ;)

Anyway...

Abbaz, I like that little 'I use film' image. Do you have a bigger, better quality copy of it? And would I be allowed to use it?

Regards,

Ronald

[Abbazz]

Why didn't they start with clear glass though!? Might reduce that colour cast issue.

I guess it would be easier to buy a plano-convex from Edmund optics.

Abbaz, I like that little 'I use film' image. Do you have a bigger, better quality copy of it? And would I be allowed to use it?

The "I use film" ribbon is not mine. It has been released in the public domain by its creator, the photographer Peter Robinson:
http://www.monopix.co.uk/ribbon.shtml

Cheers!

Abbazz

[projectbluebird]

It's interesting the amount of detail possible with this lens, given that it really is just cobbled together.

[jarski]

texts in the link remind me engineering student humor here, so I would not think too hard why they didnt use clear glass. probably they got the idea right after emptying that beer bottle :)

[erikhaugsby]

The pictures are nice, but I wish I could read Finnish. :(

[David Goldfarb]

Not bad. It would be a good color glass for B&W.

[89rzweig]

Very interesting. Perhaps even a bit better than Holga. Thank you for posting the links.

[dlove5]

.....and so went the story behind the making of the famous Leitz Thambar.

[Scarpia]

Too much sauna, midnight sun, and aquavit>
Kurt M.

[raid]

Finnish! ... and I started to think that there are English words that I have not yet learned. It's a cool idea with a mediocre result.

[40oz]

... It's a cool idea with a mediocre result.

Kind of like what I get from my photography with "store-bought" lenses lol

[Bryce]

That is a pretty cool project, I also wish I could read the writeup. Sadly I speak only English and enough German to make a fool of myself.
Making optics, at least designs with a very small number of surfaces is one of the few places where a dedicated home craftsman can compete with the best manufacturers in the world. So although the results aren't that great in this case, I don't think that matters all that much to the person who spent so much time and effort to prove the idea.
The builder chose an awful piece of glass to start with and knew exactly how bad the results would be before starting out. My hat is off to him.
I'd like to know, is the lens actually plano-convex or maybe a positive meniscus like early box cameras used? It appears to be plano convex in the ray trace software screenshot, but it seems like it would be better to use the existing shape of the glass as well as producing a better image.

[raid]

That is a pretty cool project, I also wish I could read the writeup. Sadly I speak only English and enough German to make a fool of myself.
Making optics, at least designs with a very small number of surfaces is one of the few places where a dedicated home craftsman can compete with the best manufacturers in the world. So although the results aren't that great in this case, I don't think that matters all that much to the person who spent so much time and effort to prove the idea.
The builder chose an awful piece of glass to start with and knew exactly how bad the results would be before starting out. My hat is off to him.
I'd like to know, is the lens actually plano-convex or maybe a positive meniscus like early box cameras used? It appears to be plano convex in the ray trace software screenshot, but it seems like it would be better to use the existing shape of the glass as well as producing a better image.


Bryce,

You got me here; I have no clue at all what plano-convex or meniscus mean, but you seem to know what you are talking about. I know more about statistical process control and about the Baghdad society and Iraqi social make-up.