When movie all got here in rolls, it was pretty simple to play with the body of the picture. Companies like Hasselblad (and lots of others) made digital camera backs that may expose longer strips of 35 mm movie to create beautiful panoramic pictures in a single single shot. [snappiness] wished to convey that model of digital camera into the digital age, and ended up with a 2-in-1 Sony-based frankencamera.
Sensors simply aren’t available within the huge facet ratio [snappiness] was searching for, and even when they had been, naked sensors are vastly costly in comparison with shopper cameras. Lacking the price range for high-res scientific CMOS, [snappiness] did what any of us would do, and hacked two Sony A7ii full-frame mirrorless cameras collectively to get a mixed 24x72mm sensor body.
Conceptually, the hack is basically quite simple: a 3D print acts like a T-fitting, with the 2 cameras held parallel off the arms of the T and the lens making the shaft. Inside, the one optics are a pair of mirrors serving as a beam splitter. Each digital camera sees half the FOV of the lens in its corresponding mirror, which implies the photographs may be stitched collectively later to make the double-wide photos [snappiness] is after.
Of course each cameras have to be triggered on the identical time, however with what appears like a headphone splitter and an aftermarket distant shutter button, that half works completely. The optics, not a lot– as all the time with conceptually easy tasks, the satan is within the particulars, and right here it’s the mirror alignment the place you’ll discover Old Nick. [snappiness] made no provision for changes, so all the pieces wanted to be designed and constructed with very stringent tolerances. Somewhere alongside the best way, these tolerances had been exceeded; because of this, the 2 cameras don’t share a focal airplane.
That means half the composite picture will all the time be out of focus, or that the primary lens must be refocused and two snaps taken, reasonably defeating the purpose the frankencamera. If [snappiness] makes an attempt a model two, maybe an adjustment mechanism to focus every sensor can be so as. Still, even when it didn’t work completely, he’s confirmed that the concept is sound, and we are able to’t think about many individuals will see this and argue it isn’t a hack.
The world of movie did make all of this simpler, maybe– we’ve seen large-format movie cameras out of lego, and a panorama made out of 4 full rolls of 35 mm movie. If you realize of another nice images hacks– movie or digital– don’t hesitate to ship us a tip.