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November 29, 2005
Lego Camera Instructions
I finally finished building the medium format Lego camera in Bricksmith. Bricksmith is a free program with a library of Lego parts that allows you to build 3d models out of virtual Lego bricks. It requires Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) or later, so I apologize to all the PC users out there. I couldn't get Lego's Digital Designer to run very well on either my PC or my Mac, and Bricksmith worked extremely well. Maybe somebody can volunteer to rebuild this in Digital Designer and share it with our PC friends.
Without further delay, here are the Bricksmith files for you to download:
Main_Camera_Body.ldr (28kb)
Outer_Box.ldr (12kb)
The main camera body is made of 156 pieces. The outer box is made of 63 pieces. I will try and get a parts list up here soon.
Instructions for the 35mm version is in the distant future. Hopefully I will get to it eventually. You can get a pretty good idea of how to build that camera from looking at these instructions because they use the same film advance assembly. If you download the Bricksmith files, please give me some feedback as well as any errors you find.
Posted by Adrian at 9:40 PM | TrackBack
November 25, 2005
Iskra Medium Format Camera
I have wanted a medium format folding camera for a long time now, so my birthday was the perfect excuse to make this dream a reality. After some internet research and watching the Ebay auctions, I finally decided on the Iskra that I purchased from Jurgen Kreckel. Jurgen has a great reputation for restoring old folding cameras. His Ebay auctions are mini history lessons, and his website (certo6.com)is a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more about this genre of cameras. When buying a camera this old, it is nice to be able to trust the seller and have confidence that you are getting a completely usable camera.
I wanted a folder for several reasons. You can get a folder with a high quality lens, and folding cameras are capable of producing very nice negatives. They fold down to almost pocket size, so they are ideal for travel and everyday shooting. I also only wanted to spend around $150. In addition to the Iskra, I also looked at the Agfa Super Isolette, and the Super Baldax, but decided on an Iskra mainly because the price was a couple hundred dollars cheaper.
The Iskra may just be one of the most underrated medium format folding cameras available. I think it gets a bit of a bad reputation because there are so many worn-out Iskra’s on the market. This camera was very popular in Russia when they were being built and most Iskra’s have seen a great deal of wear. The poor condition of many of the cameras is due to heavy use rather than any defect in design or construction of the camera. It has some very unique features that set it apart as a really advanced machine. Let me run down the list:
Coupled Rangefinder
“Coupled” means that when you set the rangefinder, it automatically sets the lens to the appropriate focusing distance. Looking through the rangefinder you see a slightly brighter box in the center. As you turn the rangefinder on the lens, you will see the image in this box move right or left. When the image in this box lines up with the image surrounding the box, you know that your lens has been set for the appropriate distance. In non-coupled rangefinders, this would give you the distance to the subject, and you would have to manually set the lens to the appropriate distance.
Film Counter
The Iskra’s film counter is a rare feature in a camera this old. There is a gear with teeth that are turned by the film. When you are advancing the film after you first load it, the gear is able to sense when the film starts. Then the numbers start turning telling you what frame you are on. The gears are sharp enough that the actually puncture the film paper and film on the top edge. The film counters on many Iskra’s have worn out. These cameras are usually modified with a red window and are still completely usable. My camera’s film counter is in exceptional condition aside from some minor quirks. On the first and sometimes second frame, I have to push down the shutter button while advancing the film. Also, to get the film counter to reset to zero, I have to jiggle the shutter release and turn the film advance before I load the film.
Light Meter
My Iskra is the first model, but there is an Iskra 2 that had a built-in light meter. That is an extremely rare feature in this type of camera. Whether or not a light meter from a camera built in the 60s is going to be reliable is another story.
Linked Shutter and Aperture
Another unique feature is that the Iskra’s shutter and aperture link together so that changing the aperature also changes the shutter speed. This allows you to pick any of the possible shutter/aperture combinations for the particular exposure values. The only downside is that if you want to change the shutter speed by itself, you have to pull out the shutter ring and turn it.
If you decide to buy an Iskra, there are several things you want to watch for. The biggest thing is that the film counter works. Unless you have a film counter in perfect condition (which is rare) you will have problems with overlapping frames. It is very common for these cameras to be modified with a red window after the film counter breaks. If you want to bypass the frustration that comes with a unreliable film counter, just get one that has the red window modification. Also make sure that the camera’s bellows are light tight. Pinholes are a common defect in a camera this old. Another thing to watch for is whether or not the camera has been serviced recently. Any camera of this age needs to be CLA’d (Cleaned, Lubricated, and Adjusted). If the camera has had this service done recently, it greatly increases your chances of getting a usable camera.
I am very happy with this camera, and am looking forward to running a bunch of film through it. Here are a few more pictures of this beautiful machine for your viewing pleasure:
Here is the camera with the back off:
Here is the camera from the front all folded up:
Here is a front view without the leather case:
Finally, here is a front view:
Posted by Adrian at 3:50 PM | TrackBack
November 22, 2005
Thanks to the Flickr Blog
The 35mm Lego camera made an appearance on Flickr's blog yesterday. It took me a day to figure out where all the traffic was coming from, but I finally put two and two together. Thanks to the Flickr crew for the recognition! Awesome.
Posted by Adrian at 10:10 PM | TrackBack
November 13, 2005
My Camera Thinks it's a Graphic Designer
I don't think that my camera likes making time-lapse photography. I can't blame it for getting bored after taking the same photo several thousand times. It is tedious production work. I set up the camera and then leave it all alone for most of the day. Not exactly a camera's dream job. So I am not surprised that once in a while my Nikon Coolpix 995 decides to rebel. Once every few thousand images it decides to break the routine and design something more interesting. It moves parts of the photo around. It changes the colors. It repeats the parts that it likes, and deletes what it doesn't like. If I didn't know better, I would think that my camera wanted to be a graphic designer. It never resizes the image, but sometimes it leaves a white edge on one side. I think that is its polite way of saying that it would rather work in a different proportion. I guess 4x3 is a digital camera's equivalent of 8.5x11. It's boring.
The results of my camera's improvisation are useless in terms of time-lapse, but often they are quite beautiful on there own. They are almost always more interesting than the photos taken seconds before and after. I am sure there is a more technical explanation for these images, but I prefer my Toy-Story-esque explanation. Rather than delete these images I have decided to save them. It's best to keep the creatives happy, plus I think they fit very well with my Found Photography theme...
You will know that you are getting one of these magical images when Photoshop warns you that, "This document may be damaged (the file may be truncated or incomplete) Continue?" That is computerspeak for "Don't get mad at me because your computer has a mind of its own." Just click "ok" and prepared to see what your camera has designed for you. And next time your camera acts up, try to think of it as being creative and not broken!
Here are a couple more improvisations by my camera from the same scene as above:
Posted by Adrian at 10:42 AM | TrackBack
November 12, 2005
Batch Action to Remove Hot Pixels
Although I haven't talked much about it yet on this site, I have been doing a lot of time-lapse photography lately. I use a Nikon Coolpix 995 which does a great job. The only thing is that it is getting old, and has a bunch of hot pixels. Hot pixels are those bright pink, green, or blue dots that show up in the same place on every photo. They aren't a problem for me under normal shooting conditions, but during long exposures they get really bad. Last week I was doing a time-lapse at night to record the stars moving in the sky. The exposure time was 8 seconds, so the hot pixels were very evident. Here is how I removed all the hot pixels from over 1000 pictures by creating a batch action in Photoshop.
1. The first thing we have to do is figure out where all the hot pixels are. You do this by taking a long exposure in the dark or with the lens cap on. Open this picture in Photoshop, and you will see a completely black image with hot pixels scattered all over. Use the magic wand with a tolerance of about 10 to select the black. Your selection should select everything but the hot pixels. You may want to experiment with the tolerance to make sure that you select the right amount of black vs. hot pixels. Next, go to Select and click on "Save Selection." In the window that opens, select "New" from the Document drop-down and "New" from the Channel drop-down. Name your selection "Hot Pixels" and click ok. This will open your selection in a new document. At this point you can close the other file so that you are left with only the new selection file open. Save the new selection file to your desktop, and name it something like "Hot_Pixels.psd." When you save it, make sure that "alpha channels" is checked. Now you can minimize that window (but don't close it) because we will use it again later.
2. Open one of the files that you are going to be removing the hot pixels from. We are going to create the action that we will use on all the files. If your Actions palette isn't open already, select "Actions" under the Windows menu to open it. In the Actions palette, click the triangle in the upper right corner and select "New Action." Name your new action "Remove Hot Pixels" and click "Record." Now unless we hit the stop button (the square at the bottom of the actions palette) everything we do in Photoshop will be recorded. Be careful not to do any undo's or extra steps. Next, under Select, click "Load Selection." In the window that opens, select "Hot Pixels" under document and "Hot Pixels" under channel. This will create a selection of everything except for the hot pixels. Under "Edit" select "Copy." Next, under "Edit" select "Paste." This will create a new layer. Now we go to "Filter" and select "Gausian Blur." Depending on the resolution of your image, you should set the blur to between 2-10 pixels and click "OK." Next, under "Select" click on "Load Selection" and load the "Hot Pixel" selection again. This time, make sure that the "invert" box is checked. This will make a selection of just where the hot pixels are located. Under "Edit" select "Copy," then under "Edit" select "Paste." Now delete the second layer (the one that is blurred). You should be left with two layers. One is the original image, and the second is a layer that covers up our hot pixels with the pixels that we blurred. Click the second layer on and off to see the before and after versions. If you aren't satisfied, you may have to go back and change the amount of pixels that you blurred earlier in this step. If everything looks good, flatten the image. Now save the image as a .jpg into a new folder on your desktop and close the file. Click the square on the bottom of the Actions pallette to stop recording our action.
3. Delete the image that we just saved into the new folder. We don't need it because this picture will get recreated when we finally batch all the images. If we don't delete it, it might mess up our batch when it tries to save over this file.
4. Back in Photoshop, make sure that our "Hot_Pixles.psd" file is still open. Now we are ready to start our batch of images. All the files you want to remove hot pixels from should all be located in the same folder. Under "File" select "Automate" and then "Batch." In the window that opens, make sure that "Remove Hot Pixels" is selected as the action. For the "Source," find the folder that contains all the photos that you want to remove hot pixels from. Under "Destination, select the folder where we saved our photo from step 2. It should look pretty much like this:
When you click "OK," the action will begin. It will take a few seconds for it to start processing, but then it should open every file in the folder, apply our action to it, and resave it to the new folder. Depending on the speed of your computer, this could take quite a while. I am usually doing several thousand images, so I like to let it run over night. Since my photos are all going to be combined into a time lapse movie, I usually add a resize command and sometimes some color correction to my action so that I can simply open the series of images in Quicktime as a finished movie.
I hope some of you find this tutorial helpful. Good luck, and let me know if you find anything missing in this tutorial.
Posted by Adrian at 7:47 PM | TrackBack
November 10, 2005
Found Typography
The graphic designer in me likes typography, so it is natural that the photographer in me takes pictures of type that I find. If you like taking pictures of found type, consider joining Be A Design Group on Flickr. The photo pool is intended to showcase the photography of graphic designers. As an added bonus, pictures from the pool will get pulled into the sidebar on Be A Design Group, the graphic design blog. Check it out...
Posted by Adrian at 10:02 PM | TrackBack
November 5, 2005
35mm Lego Camera
Last night I tackled the project of a 35mm version of my medium format pinhole Lego camera. It turned out to be easier than I expected. I should probably have spent the time making better instructions for the medium format version, but rest assured, those are in the works. Anyway, here are a couple highlights of this camera’s design that are different from the medium format version…
- Obviously it is smaller than the medium format Lego camera. Here is a picture that shows the size comparison:
- The film advance is the same in that the advance knob can only turn one direction. Since we don’t have the spools of 120 film to worry about, the film just winds around the thin Lego axle. I used a Dremmel tool to cut a thin slice out of the axle. The film goes through this slit when you first load the film. Here is a photo of how the film loads. You can see that I haven’t painted the inside black, yet. The silver is the aluminum tape I use for lightproofing it:
- Again, there are two parts to the camera. The second part just encloses the inside box to keep light out. Here is a view where you can see both parts:
The medium format version had a red window to help tell what frame you are on. Obviously 35mm film doesn’t have numbers on it or backing paper, so a red window doesn’t belong on this camera. So how do you tell what frame you are on? This is probably the biggest drawback of this camera. You will have to count the clicks of the advance knob and guess when you are on the next frame. At the beginning of the roll it takes around 38 clicks and when you get to the end of the roll it only takes about 22 clicks. I might have to rethink a better film counter method, but this works for now.
The shutter is a little different on this camera. I made a door that swings open when you turn the knob. I don’t love this design either, but it works pretty well.
Now in color! Partly because I am running out of black Legos, I had a little fun and made this one red and blue.
A couple other things to consider. There isn’t a rewind mechanism, so when you get to your last frame, you will have to take it into a dark room and rewind it by hand. Maybe I can figure out a way to make a rewind knob, but I can’t think of anything right now.
As you can see, I still want to tinker with this camera a bit. That means there will probably be a delay before I make instructions available. On the bright side, I have completed building the medium format version in Bricksmith and plan on making them available very soon.
UPDATE 1: Thanks for everyone’s comments, and sorry for forgetting a link to my Lego photo gallery. Follow that link to see thumbnails of all the photos taken with my Lego cameras. The color photos were taken with the 35mm Lego camera and most of the other ones were taken with the medium format version.
UPDATE 2: I have posted the Bricksmith files for anyone interested in building the medium format version of this camera. The film advance works the same on that camera, so anyone trying to attempt building this 35mm version may find it useful.
Posted by Adrian at 9:41 AM | TrackBack
November 3, 2005
Exactly the same, but the proportions have changed
Every once in a while I get a chance to break the rigid bonds of routine and view my life from a different vantage point. I think it is sometimes referred to as a vacation. Since the tagline for Found Photography is “exploring reality through the lens of observation,” I thought I would share some of my observations from last weekend’s vacation. I don’t have photos, but the following events are the type of warm out-of-focus memories that often accompany a good photograph.
My vacation starts in the black of early morning. The sunrise over the Nebraska plains is stunning, and I shared some warm conversation with my wife as our son sleeps in the back seat. When Betsy falls asleep, I put on my headphones and listen to the music that will define this period of happiness in my life.
I entered the art building where I lived a college career. Everything looked exactly the same, but the proportions seemed completely different. Like clothes that don’t fit anymore or a familiar face that you can’t place a name to.
I explore an abandoned war memorial. I park at a deserted gas station. Trespassing to discover messages of peace. Overgrown sculptures. Rust. Hope. The roar of the highway. The place seems absurdly relevant, and I take some photos.
I lay my hands on a piece of pottery made by a friend I haven’t seen in years. I feel the impressions of her fingers on the clay and she seems very near.
During restless sleep I dream of a girl I have never met. She lives in fear in a large house next door. Her fear is calmed by my friendship. When I awake, I try to remember her name.
Time spent with family. I rationalize the pride of parents. I stand in silent awe in the realization that a sibling is an adult. Memories of childhood.
The joy of an evening with friends missed dearly.
The sun sets on Nebraska as I drive home deeply content. New plans for the future. Anticipation.