No full build thread on this one, other than this:
Aperture Opening by Orionid, on Flickr
Since I was planning on adding fisheye elements to the camera, which both widens the DoF and adds more glass elements that would lower light transmission, I opened up the aperture. Original configuration is at f/11 and if my calculations are correct, it’s been opened to f/4 (photo was before cleaning).
Fishtamatic by Orionid, on Flickr
I started with an Instamatic 100 (the same one from the fishtank shot the other day) and converted it to 35mm. I also used a door peephole to create a fisheye effect. As it came from the box, it wouldn’t work, since it’s adaptive focus was set to about three feet. I removed one center element and adjusted the position of the rear element to move focus to infinity.
Next, I threaded the aluminum front to match the peephole, removed all of the focal elements, and epoxied it in place with JB Weld. Once the epoxy was dry, all the focal elements were replaced. On my next photo outing I’ll run a test roll through it and see how it turns out.