E03 The Lens

E03 The Lens Show notes:

Note: This episode contains some erroneous information about Ilford Direct Positive Paper. Graham states that it is no longer in production. This information is not correct.  Direct Positive Paper is still in production after a short interruption. For more information on this, listen to the Sunny 16 Podcast episodes 100a, 100b, 100c where they visit the Harmon Technologies Ilford headquarters. 

Nick and Graham talk about lenses and how they can impact a camera build. They talk about why the lens is the most important part of any camera build (5:40) and why it might be a good idea to blend a Debonair lens and a Leica body.

Graham explains why focusing a lens is overrated (18:28) and why you should tape the focusing mechanism of your camera in one position to try out working with a fixed-focus hyperfocal setup. Nick then suggests that the humble mousetrap could provide good functionality to a homemade camera (33:15).

They talk about different methods of attaching lenses to camera bodies including screwing the lenses right to the body and the use of retaining rings for large format lenses (34:10).

The Garbage Cam Challenge has reached its due date and the boys are not as successful in this as they would want to be (53:22). Graham describes his camera made from the discarded paperboard from a 12 pack of soda, a pinhole made from a beer can (56:11) and wooden dowels 3/8" (10mm) that fit tightly in the 135 cartridge reels.

Flange Distance Chart: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_mount

Hyperfocal Distance Calculator: https://www.pointsinfocus.com/tools/depth-of-field-and-equivalent-lens-calculator/#

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For our next episode, Graham will remember to switch from the built-in microphone on his laptop to his nice external mic. He promises.