

Posted in digital cameras hacks Tagged Bokeh, episcope, lens, photography, projector Post navigation

The builds have a tendency to put even high-end commercial projects to shame, like his slimmed down PS5, or a custom internal heatsink for a DSLR camera to keep it cool while filming at 8K. This has the added advantage of allowing the use any camera, including a smartphone. Even though is photographing a projected image inside the rig, it’s impossible to tell. The result looks almost dream-like, with softly blurred background and foreground while keeping the subject sharply in focus. He used a very similar solution in his DIY 4K projector project. This straightens out the light rays coming from the episcope lens before it hits the screen, and focuses it back into the lens of the camera, almost eliminating the vignetting. Initially, the projected image was very dark around the periphery, so added Fresnel lenses on either side of the screen. The gap between the two halves was covered with bellows made from black paper. Linear rods and bearings on 3D printed mounts allow smooth motion, while a motor-driven lead screw connected to a wired remote does the actual adjustment. The shroud on the lens’ side is mounted on a separate aluminum frame, enabling the image to be focused by adjusting the distance between the screen and lens. To block out all other light, added aluminum shrouds on either side of the screen, which also serves to mount the lens and a camera. The projection screen was made by sandwiching a sheet of diffuser film between two sheets of clear acrylic held in a frame of aluminum extrusions. Instead, built a projection screen for the image and photographed it from the opposite side with a normal camera.

At a diameter of 500mm, there is simply no imaging sensor available to capture it. To use this lens directly in a camera is impossible, due to the size of the imaging circle projected out the back of the lens. Unlike most conventional projectors used to project a prerecorded image, episcopes were used to project an image of physical objects, like books. Using an old episcope projector, he built a photography rig with background separation equivalent to that of a non-existent 35mm f0.4 lens. These lenses can get very expensive, but in the video after the break from blows all the commercially available options out of the water. Also called “background separation” or “subject isolation”, achieving it optically requires a fast lens with an aperture below 2.8 or preferably lower. Bokeh is a photography term that’s a bit difficult to define but is basically soft, aesthetically pleasing background blur, often used to make a subject stand out.
