Lex35/Vivitar T100 35mm crapcam lens on 9×12

Flower pot by Bosse Blomqvist

Bosse Blomqvist pulled the lens off a Lex35 and put it on a 4×5 camera with a medium format 9x12cm back. Above is the somewhat surprising result: the coverage is far bigger than I’d have expected!

Bosse writes:

Had to check out how the magnificient Lex 35 would behave as a large format camera, or at least how the lens would perform when mounted on a view cam and using it to shoot a 9x12cm negative…

Continue reading in his Flickr photostream.

How to flip the lens on a Lex35/Vivitar T100 crapcam

Addled dog chasing ball by Eben Ostby

The Lex35/Vivitar T100 is a crappy, hackable, cheap, plastic camera. Above is Eben Ostby‘s result from flipping and spacing the lens. He writes:

I don’t have pictures to show what I did, but if you look at my photostream, you’ll see a few "addled" photos that were done with a Lex 35 with a flipped lens. Here’s what I did:

Took apart the Lex35 [Eben’s instructions, with photos, are here].

Took the lens "board" off by removing its two screws. On the back of the lensboard, there’s a plastic ring that holds the lens in place, and which can be popped off by prying it gently with a screwdriver or such.

The lens comes out and can be reversed and placed in the front part of the lens-holder – in the stepped rings that are visible from the front. I used a thick washer to hold it in place, but you can improvise something else… tinfoil, glue, putty… I dunno. With the lens pushed as far back as I could get it to go, it the camera "focuses" (if that’s really the word) from about 2 feet to 30 feet. Sort of.

I also tried flipping the lens around but putting it back in the back part of the lensboard. If you do this, you’ll need to shim the lensboard away from the body of the camera, and use longer screws (such as the ones that hold the body of the camera together). And the focus is worse.

I’ve gotta say, I’m thrilled at having a screwed up Lex35 like this. It just made my week.

You can pick up a Vivitar 100 (same as the Lex35 except it has a tripod mount) for US $1.95 from American Science & Surplus.

Related: Lex 35/Vivitar T100 bulb shutter/multiple exposure mod how-to here on Photon Detector

Lens made of ice

Matthew Wheeler took his first picture through an ice lens in response to a challenge by Scientific American and CBC calling on listeners to light a fire with a lens made entirely of ice. Too easy by far – Matthew took it one step farther and started photographing the natural beauty of his surroundings through the ice lenses he made.

Check out the photos (mirror site) or a video on DiscoveryChannel.ca.

Via Digg

Holga lens for Canon EOS cameras from Holgamods

Randy from Holgamods continues to kick ass: he’s now selling a Holga lens mounted on a body cap for use on Canon EOS cameras (Rebel XT, 20D, 30D, etc.). US $34.95, order here.

I’ve ordered cameras from Holgamods before and recommend him strongly. If you want a Holga and don’t want to modify it yourself, this is the place to go. (I have no relationship with Randy other than being a satisfied customer.)

Digital Lomo: Minitar lens + RD-1 = success!

The people at Sushicam have successfully grafted the Minitar lens from a Lomo LC-A onto an Epson RD-1 digital rangefinder. Check out the step-by-step of building the lens mount as well as sample images here at Sushicam.

See previous post on part 1.

Also don’t miss Ta King, who has several galleries of photos taken with Lomo Minitar and Holga lenses hacked onto his Canon Digital Rebel DSLR.