Vintage

Written by MakingHappy

So, you have your toy camera and you’re ready to let it open up a whole new world of photography to you when suddenly you spy a detail in a stone carving, a leaf, an egg… just begging to be photographed. What do you do? Your camera will only focus up to 3 or 4 feet, not even that close in some cases, and your egg comes out looking like a button.

Given that you have paid very little for your camera, you may be unwilling to spend a fortune on a close-up lens. Or perhaps you’re not ready for extensive surgery on your precious piece of plastic. So what are your other options?

Both diopters and magnifying glasses provide a removable and cheap solution to all your magnification problems.

Place the diopter so that the convex side faces outwards, away from the camera – mine has a screw thread on it, which makes it even easier to work out which way round it needs to go.

There are various ways in which you can use both diopters and magnifying glasses. I personally practice the easiest and most unpredictable method with which I have had about as many failures as successes. The results, when good, echo the rough and ready nature of the cameras themselves.

Method 1

You’ll Need:

• any toy camera
• magnifying glass or loupe

1. Hold a magnifying glass up to the subject until it’s at it’s largest and still sharp
2. Hold the camera behind the magnifying glass (set to its closest focus)
3. Take the photo while hoping for the best.

Method 2

The next method, described here by MakingHappy, insures a much higher margin of success.

You'll Need:

• camera with a “b” or “time” setting
• magnifying glass or diopter of any sort
• piece of parchment, waxed, tracing or vellum paper cut to the camera’s film width
• tape
• candle
• loupe
• measuring tape

1. Open up the camera and tape a piece of translucent paper across the back of the camera inside where the film would normally be.
2. Set up a candle in a dark or darkened room. Bathrooms or any windowless room will do.
3. Set the camera in front of the lit candle with the magnifying glass taped to the front (flat against it). I taped it because I couldn't hold that and do all the other steps simultaneously. If you don’t want to cosmetically damage your camera, find an assistant. Be sure that the camera lens is level with the candle flame.
4. Hold a loupe flat against the wax paper. Set your camera shutter to the “b” or “time” setting in order to keep the shutter open and look at the wax paper with your loupe. You should be able to see a faint image of the candle flame upside down on the wax paper.
5. Next move the camera forwards and backwards slowly; continuously looking through the loupe until you find the point at which the candle flame (focus on the wick if that helps) is focussed.
6. Finally, using a measuring tape, measure the distance from the lamp to the lens. If you accurately use this distance when taking photos, your images should always be focussed.

Comments (1)

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I used your idea!
written by DoaFlex VII, October 05, 2009

This is a great idea! I followed your instructions and got the specs for a couple of my old 620 Kodaks and my Holga, and went out shooting. Ended up with a couple of rolls of really interesting shots! The DOF is strikingly limited -- just a quarter-inch in one camera's case -- but that seems to work with the images really well.
Thanks for the inspiration!

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