SO. COOL. From the beginning, we wanted people to be able to modify and extend the camera, so this makes me so happy.Originally Posted by OeT
When we have a bit more bandwidth, I'd like to have a "Hack the Travelwide" page on our site with CAD files and links to mods.
Steve, good news about the BPnS, but you don't need to worry about pulling the tripod thread out of the camera—it's insert molded directly into the plastic. I think you might be able to pull it out with a pickup truck and a hitch, but the whole camera would probably break first.
Just calibrated mine. No significant modifications. A little colour on the distance scale. Voigtlander viewfinder and a Blik. Looking forward to some fun with this kit.
Since I'm seeing a lot of range finder/view finder combos perhaps someone could give some overview for the thread and calibration info. I'm not familiar with that stuff but do know that when I borrowed my friend's Chamonix Saber using the Polaroid (coupled) range finder made that camera very easy to use (hand held) with a Grafmatic or holder attached. While not coupled it seems like people are attempting similar handling with the Travelwide.
Don't remember if this has been discussed:
Is there an app that would let a smart-phone be used as a 90mm specific viewfinder? Can't be too hard to find a shoe compatible mounting bracket.
Is there a range finder app?
Drew Bedo
www.quietlightphoto.com
http://www.artsyhome.com/author/drew-bedo
There are only three types of mounting flanges; too big, too small and wrong thread!
Here's an overview:
The focus scale is close enough for any lens in the vicinity of 90mm, once it is calibrated to infinity.
Install the supplied frosted screen, frosted surface towards the inside of the camera.
Mount the camera on a tripod. Open the lens, and set the aperture so that the lens is fully open and clear. Point the camera to an obvious landmark that is at least 500 feet (150 meters) away.
While viewing the focus screen using about a 6x magnifier, turn the focus ring until the distant landmark is sharp on the screen. Take time; be sure.
Lift the soft rubber ring off the camera by pulling it straight to the front. It is toothed to engage slots on the hard planting underneath. Rotate it so that the indicator notch lines up with the infinity symbol at the top, and reinstall. The camera is now calibrated.
Both the small Voigtlander and the plastic Blix rangefinders shown in this thread read in meters, just like the numbers molded into the camera.
To make a picture, look through the rangefinder and turn its control wheel until the two images merge. Read the distance off the scale, and turn the focus ring of the camera until it reads that distance.
Most of use will spend an hour with the plastic screen, checking targets at all distances, until we are satisfied it's all working.
Rick "figuring all this is on the instruction sheet" Denney
This morning I recalibrated my TW, this time with an 8x focusing loupe, because I wasn't fully satisfied I got it right yesterday. First I made sure the loupe was properly focused for my eye by holding the focus screen against the magnifier and looking directly at a light fixture in the house. This made it really easy to see the screen's surface texture. Calibration was a snap after that despite the serious hotspot.
Others have spoken of using frosted tape on the focusing screen, but using a properly focused loupe was sufficient.
On another front, the flocking sheet on the inside of my helical wasn't perfectly adhered all the way around, there were some gaps. This was easily to fix with a single-edge razor blade, I just slit the flocking at each air gap and pressed down the pieces. The resulting gaps are essentially invisible.
At least for some uses DOF will be your friend. For example;
Set lens focus at 15 meters.
Aperture at f16.
Adjust shutter speed for reading at f16.
Now, for a moderate 8X10 enlargement, everything from 6 ft. to infinity will be within the DOF.
Selected blur circle on the negative is 150 microns for this caculation.
A big negative snapshot camera if you will.
Newsflash - Infinity focus with 75mm on the Travelwide
Yes, you read that correctly, I verified it this morning. You can use a 75mm on the TW with the regular focusing helical provided it's a 75mm f/6.3 Super-W-Komura. This is a relatively uncommon 8-element design having a flange focal length slightly over 100mm. Here are some things I learned during this exercise.
Infinity focus requires about 12.5mm of helical extension. This leaves ~7.5mm more extension available and gives a close-focus limit of a bit over 0.8 meters. This is based on calculation, I didn't actually measure it.
The extension of the helical inside the TW's body will cause corner vignetting at infinity, even at f/45. It should be easy to cut away parts the helical with a Dremel tool or a file to solve this problem, but I haven't yet done so.
One of the Komuras I tried is in a Seikosha shutter, and it really wants a thin shim between shutter and mounting plate. Something similar to those shipped with the 65mm adapter plate (38mm outside diameter), but with 32.5mm interior diameter for Copal 0 sizing, will do. Tightening the mounting ring without a shim causes the plastic mounting plate to deform very slightly and makes it difficult to adjust the aperture. Not impossible, just difficult. The minor added benefit of a shim is that you'll need less extension for infinity focus, which means your close-focus limit will be reduced.
My Travelwide/90mm Raptar combination is now calibrated. I really like this setup! I have a hand-held rangefinder already and a BLIK on the way.
Now I have some questions. How do you use the sports finder? Which end goes toward the front of the camera? How close do you put your eye to the finder?
Why do some of you put their optical viewfinders on the side? Is it because you don't want the rangefinder hanging off the side of the camera? Wouldn't that be better than having the finder off center?
I have a Desmond DP-505 50mm Square QR Bi-Directional Camera Plate that I use on my Olympus E-M1. It is compatible with ARCA Swiss-type clamps. They sell these on EBay and on Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/Desmond-Square.../dp/B00BMCH6F2). It has four grippy surfaces on it, and enough of these surfaces grab enough of the Travelwide so the grip is pretty secure.
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