The Artful Bodger does a quick and dirty project, bling free!

[John Hill]

Some progress....

[sbwhart]

What is it 

Stew

[bogstandard]

Silly Stew, can't you recognise a gertwangle doodah when it is staring you in the face.

Shame on you.


Bogs

[John Hill]

Patience! I cant tell you what it is until I know myself!   

[John Hill]

Ahhhhh!  Easy guess!




Not recommended for use in Baghdad, Kabul or New York!



For the shutterbugs:  Pentax  ist*DS digital SLR fitted with Pentax 1.4x Autofocus Adapter and Takumar  SMC 1:4 f300mm prime lens.  Effective apperture 1:5.6,  focal length 510mm,  (focal length in 35mm terms 755mm).

The project is not finished, I need to run a wire from the trigger switch to the socket on the camera,  I will be adding a laser pointer as a focus aid for nocturnal use the theory of which is yet to be proved!  Two flash guns will be mounted, a Pentax AF-360FGZ and a COSMOS AF360.  The theory is that using the laser pointer as a focus aid I should be able to photograph interesting noctural creatures,  kiwis (feathered kind), possums (the Australian kind), penguins (yes, we have penguins living in our suburb),  long range bedroom recon is not on the agenda!

The switch system looks complex but that was an easy way to do what I need,  first 'pressure' will turn on the laser and put the camera in auto focus mode, second pressure will kill the laser and trip the shutter along with the two flash units.


Well thats the theory anyway!

[John Hill]

BTW, here is the famous Ruskie 'Foto Snaiper'..



I have one of these, they are sort of fun but the camera is a basic 35mm film camera,  the lens is not auto focus but there is a focus control handy to the users left hand.  They made several different sets, some in metal boxes, some in fake leather (vinyl covered cardboard).  The focal length of the FotoSnaiper lens is 300mm.

The FS has a curious spring loaded diaphram,  you set the desired aperture on a regular aperture ring then move button (small lever) to open the lens for focusing,  when the trigger is pulled the first pressure releases the spring loaded aperture which closes down to the selected value and the next pressure actuates the camera through a special shutter release under the camera body. The lens shuts down with a gawdawful 'clang' and the associated vibrations must be allowed to subside before opening the shutter (by which time of course the wildlife subject is just a bobbing arse in the distance!).  I managed to improve mine somewhat and got rid of most of the noise and vibration.   However, considering that the trigger actuates the lens directly the Foto Snaiper lends itself quite nicely to a digital SLR,  I found it simple to make an electrical contact on the trigger and the lens having a M42 mount is easily adapted to Pentax (and many other marques) cameras.


Forget all the KGB BS,  though government agencies would have used them where they had the need the great majority were produced for the outdoor pursuits of the favoured classes and of course for export in the quest for hard currencies.

[sbwhart]

You'd have to be carfull where you use it,

Before you'd know it you'll have a SWAT team bearing down on you.

SPREAD THEM BUDDY


            

Stew

[John Hill]

Gawd!  Which country do you live in Stew?

[Darren]

The squad team turned up for my son one sunny Sunday afternoon..

I'm not kidding this is true.....

He was outside playing with a plastic gun, one with a big red lump on the end, he was 7 years old.

They took it off him and made me feel like I'd committed a serious offense.
It was quite nerve wrecking at the time...


As good as that camera looks, and I can see what you are trying to achieve, there is no way I'd step outside my door with it.

[John Hill]

Fortunately I am not so paranoid, 

..I have carried this one around for about three years.  Same camera but a smaller aperture lens, only 1:5.6, which is (usually) too dark for auto focus with the auto focus adapter.  This one has manual focus controlled by the front handle via two "Bowden cables" (actually curtain wire with fishing trace inside).

I also take my Ruskie Foto Snaiper out some days too.

This is the sort of shot I can get.

  Done with a 400mm lens on the aluminium frame stock.

[sbwhart]

My son's just bought himself a birdspotting scope (feathered) with a 50* zoom lense cost him more than 3 grand. He got an adaptor so that he can fit a digital camera to it. Started to take some nice wildlife pics the only problem, he's know finding the slightest camera shake shows up with the high magnification.

Stew

[John Hill]

Stew, it is a whole new field of photography once you move into 'extreme' telephoto.

I have a 1000mm f1:8 telescope (i.e. about 120mm lens diameter),  this thing is huge!  It needs a surveyors' tripod and a lot of messing around to get set up but I can get some really good results.

High magnification requires either rock steady support or high shutter speed and for high shutter speed you need bright light or big diameter objective lens.  For really good results you need all three, or is that four!

I am yet to find if my idea of the flash on the gun stock will be useful at night.  I know the principle works well during the day though.

Your son might already know but if not the sort of vibration you get on a telescope/camera combination can be damped out a lot by hanging something over the telescope,  a (small of course) sandbag is good,  a heavy coat can be useful but a great improvement can be had just by resting a relaxed hand on the top of the telescope tube.

[sbwhart]

Hi John

Thanks for the tips I'll pass them on to him

Stew

[raynerd]

Fantastic! - I was wondering what it was all day...

I would not be seen out side of my front door with that thing over here!

Chris

[bogstandard]

John,

I remember seeing those sniper sets, I think made by Zenit, in the Naafi when I was stationed out near Dubai in 1970. In those days, lenses of that size were almost unheard of to the general public, and the troops were buying them up as fast as they came into the shop.

The largest I ever used was a 500mm preset (all I could afford at the time), a real pain in the backside to focus, manually close down the aperture, take your pic, then open it up again. Most times the shot was gone before you had time to do it. After that, I went to large format 120/220 roll film and Toyo 5x4 plate. They kept me in work for a couple of years during a recession.

John

[John Hill]

Yes John, the Ruskie Foto Snaiper was indeed made my Zenit.

A lot of things that were once impossible, or at least b..... difficult are easier with a digital SLR and extreme telephoto is one of them.  Of course the dud shots dont cost anything, to speak of.  Focus is still a challenge for long lenses because the laws of physics have not yet been amended and they all have extremely shallow depth of field.

[John Hill]

The project goes slowly onwards...



.... a cheap laser pointer, short length of tube, 3 screws and a couple of 'elastorator' rings!



  So now we have the laser in a mount with screw adjusters.



A bit of unconventional use of some big g-clamps and a woodworkers' spade bit!



.... results are not too bad!  Thats where the laser will be but there are a few other things to do first.