My brilliant plan, let me show it to you

[staplermofo]

So, as I was checking out woot this fine morning, I noticed they had a webcam.
Checking out the webcam on other sites I found this.
And I thought, “Hey, I bet I could throw on an old manual lens instead of a telescope!”
Then I thought “No, you stupid jackass, you suck. Only cool people can do stuff like that. You aren’t cool!”
Then I got really depressed and wallowed in a pool of gin.

Then I thought “Hey, I bet someone on farktography tried this already, or something similar and would have great advice!”
And now here I am.

What are the chances I could melt a t-mount on some PVC, glue it on there and have it work?
I plan on using it for close up videos of stapling, but would really like to throw on a telephoto for birds as well.

[Uranus]

if you set up some clear instructions and mail them over, i saw an old Sigma lens (for 5 ?, mind you, it looks like a fish-eye), and am prepared to give it a bash and test it out. I would probably use plumbing PVC adhesive instead of melting the tube… also, anyone know if an old school Sigma lens like that might in some way be fitted to a Nikon D40?

Yes, I suck at this….

[schnee]

Here’s how to do it with a quickcam; it even uses a 35mm film cannister.

[RcMacStudent]

I don’t know about setting up the lens mount, but if you use PVC pipe you’re going to want to line it with black paper or paint it it black (or something) because the white PVC lets a significant amount of light through the walls. Another possible solution would be to use black ABS drainpipe because it doesn’t transmit nearly as much light through the walls.

[staplermofo]

I broke down and used an adapter.
It fits a tiny bit too close, but if everything is set as loose as it can be, it works.

That aside, HOLY MOTHER OF FSM THAT IS SOME SERIOUS SENSOR CROPPING.

It’s also really hard to use. My widest lens (8mm) acts like at least 80mm. The only lens I have with a tripod collar is a 400mm. Guess what that looks like. IT LOOKS LIKE BLURRY CLOSE UPS OF STUFF!
No wonder only astronomers do this.

[millera9]

I broke down and used an adapter.
It fits a tiny bit too close, but if everything is set as loose as it can be, it works.

That aside, HOLY MOTHER OF FSM THAT IS SOME SERIOUS SENSOR CROPPING.

It’s also really hard to use. My widest lens (8mm) acts like at least 80mm. The only lens I have with a tripod collar is a 400mm. Guess what that looks like. IT LOOKS LIKE BLURRY CLOSE UPS OF STUFF!
No wonder only astronomers do this.

Dude I think you just suggested a use for this thing inadvertently. GO OUTSIDE AND POINT IT AT THE MOON DAMMIT! 🙂

Seriously, if your 8mm acts like an 80mm, wouldn’t your 400mm act like…uhhh….*counts fingers and toes*…. a 4000mm!?!? I wanna see pictures!

[staplermofo]

I live in a major (bright) city and don’t have a laptop, but you can pretend I shot this: http://www.robertreeves.com/moonmosaic22jan2005.jpg

The other downside of that much sensor cropping is that a soft lens with purple fringing looks even softer, more purple, and shot by a webcam when shot by a webcam.

[Author]

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