DIY anamorphic lens

Even though the lense may not be able to exactly what you are hoping to achieve with blur, you might try it just to see what it does to the pixel structure (it squashes it).

Most folks who use the lense feel that the screendoor effect is lessened quite a bit by use of it. I feel the same, I didn't notice screendoor much before, but with the lense I really do not notice it at all now.
 
source for Glycerin in US?

I have been having difficulty sourcing a bottle of Glycerin here in Indiana to finish the new prisms that I am working on. Any suggestions of internet sources or specific products that I should be looking at locally?

Thanks,
Ryan
 
I'd like to find out that myself-- I haven't started on the new design suggested by slize, but I wonder if you can use mineral oil in it and achieve the same effect-- does anyone know if the refraction (sp?) index is the same between mineral oil and glycerine?
 
No luck finding glycerine locally here in the midwest US, but I found an internet specialty shop that sells it in quantities small or large for DIY soap. I don't remember the name of this specific company, but it ran about $2.50/pound with no minimum. There are probably other suppliers.
 
glycerin source

JudeBarnes:

Per an academic web page below, mineral oil has a measured refraction index of ~1.46 to ~1.48 vs 1.465 as extracted from an MSDS for the glycerin, so you might have good results substituting mineral oil. I am curious as to how the mineral oil compares to glycerin in terms of long term prism leakage and chemical stability.

http://www.physics.uc.edu/~johnson/Boone/oil_page/refraction/refraction.html

Here is the american internet soap supply company I was talking about that sells glycerin by the pound:

http://www.cedarvale.net/soaps/glycerin.htm

I haven't placed an order yet, but probably will soon.
 
Thanks for that posting on refractive index!
So far I've had no leaks and have been using mine (with mineral oil) at least 6 months, maybe longer. As far as becoming cloudy/devloping algae over time, haven't seen any yet, time will tell. If you do order from the company you've told us about please post your results? What are you figuring it will cost after shipping?
 
DIY soap- wrong glycerine

I found some DIY soap supplies at a local craft store and found that it was a solid emulsion of some kind, very different than the liquid glycerine that is available through a CVS Pharmacy (special order). I strongly recommend that nobody use the mail order soap link I posted above as I am fairly certain it is the wrong product. Unfortunately, the forum rules do not allow editing of posts or I would delete it.

I am in the process of building my first prototype prism using glycerine and a fence post section. After much searching, I found that Lowes carries a 4" black post and a Menard's carries a 5" post that is white on the exterior and medium gray on the interior. after roughing it up with some sandpaper, it should help to minimize interior reflections.

For the veterans who have tried this project before, does your image look brighter or dimmer when using the prism? That is to say, does the concentration of light compensate for the losses sufficiently that you end up with an image that is at least as bright as you started with?
 
Re: completely off topic...

Negative Design said:
this is a bit off topic but i always wanted to know what your sig means...


JBS Haldane was a very clever Biologist/Geneticist, and philospher, and also the first of what could be called pop science writers, like Stephen Hawking or Richard Dawkins.

The quote I use as my sig is his comment on the fact that as science gets more abstract, it becomes less evident to the normal person, and that modern science ideas are often counter intuative. Thus it is impossible to actually for the human brain to conceive the whole of nature.

However, now someone has asked, I must change it!

...and are you a commie?

Well, I'm a Yorkshireman😉
 
Negative Design said:
what does your NEW one mean?

Much the same thing, only expressed in a more down to earth manner😉

...i did a search on it and it led to marxism so thats why i thought u were a commie ...

Like everything we invent in Great Britain, socialism, as well as cricket, rugby, football, computers, radar etc. the world takes it away and beats us at it!🙂

My other favorite quote of Haldane's...

"The Creator, if He exists, has an inordinate preference for beetles.. "
 
lol true bcuz beetles have the most variations and are the largest group of insects...why do i know this....i HATE insects 🙁 lol

me and my big mouth i wont ask any questions anymore :bawling: i liked yuor old quote too

"Like everything we invent in Great Britain, socialism, as well as cricket, rugby, football, computers, radar etc. the world takes it away and beats us at it!"

we dont beat you at it we just make it better 🙂
you guys STILL are better at soccer, the U.S sux at that so be happy! lol