Ground Glass Telecine?

Post by **jumar** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:26 pm

I may need to do a rush telecine for something (ie. within the same day I shoot it), and I don't have a workprinter. I've done the filming off the screen thing, but I was wondering if anyone has projected onto a ground glass (which would be suspended in mid air), and then set up the video camera on the other side of the ground glass (in macro). It seems like this could work pretty well, and give that cool ground glass look (which I'm looking for).

Has anyone tried this? Where can I get a good sized piece of ground glass without ripping my Rolleicord apart?

Alternatively, if there's anyone in Vancouver who has a work printer (I have a good camera), let me know... maybe we can work something out.

Post by **Mystic Mot** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:16 pm

I have already used this method but with a tracing paper on a glass ( recuperated on a photo framework ). Results are relatively good, not as a workprinter, but it's very very cheap!

Enjoy!

Post by **Paul Costello** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:30 pm

Whats ground class??

Post by **jumar** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:34 pm

Paul Costello wrote:Whats ground class??

Ground glass is buffed glass that an image can be projected onto. The top-down viewfinder on non-reflex medium format cameras use a large piece of ground glass, and it is sometimes used in the viewfinder of non-reflex movie cameras.

Post by **studiocarter** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:21 am

A rear projection screen is a thin sheet of plastic that is matt finish on one side. Glass is so thick that you may get secondary reflections off the clear side. I'd try to get a rear projection screen of large size, they appear on the bay every now and again, or make one with matt aceatate from a art supply store and a front surface mirror from ? some optical supply science place.

Post by **mattias** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:45 am

jumar wrote:Ground glass is buffed glass that an image can be projected onto. The top-down viewfinder on non-reflex medium format cameras use a large piece of ground glass, and it is sometimes used in the viewfinder of non-reflex movie cameras.

what's up with all the non-reflex references? reflex cameras have ground glasses too. i'd even say it's more common for reflex cameras to have them than non reflex ones.

/matt

Post by **Paul Costello** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:38 am

Reflex/non Reflex??

Post by **jumar** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:57 am

mattias wrote:what's up with all the non-reflex references? reflex cameras have ground glasses too.

Yeah, I guess. None of my reflex cameras use ground glass though.

Paul, a reflex system means the image in the viewfinder is coming from the lens. Non-reflex is when the viewfinder has it's own lens, or just a hole through to the front of the camera (like in many point and shoot still cameras). So with non-reflex, what you see is not exactly what the film sees.

Post by **mattias** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:04 pm

reflex = the viewfinder looks through the main lens.
non reflex = the viewfinder has its own lens.

film reflex cameras can be further categoriezed as "true" reflex cameras which have a mirror that reflects the light to the viewfinder when the shutter is closed and lets all light through to the gate when the shutter is open, leaving the viewfinder black (just like an slr), and the ones that use a prism/mirror to divert some of the light to the viewfinder all the time, resulting in a darker viewfinder and some light loss to the gate. this is how most super 8 cameras are constructed.

/matt

Post by **mattias** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:05 pm

oops, too slow. :-)

/matt

Post by **Paul Costello** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:06 pm

Jumar, thanks. Everydays a school day right...

So in your original post when you talked about projecting onto a ground glass hanging from the ceiling with a video camera in macro on the other side.
Whats that about I mean are you talking about a very small piece of glass (whats the macro for) and will the final image not be inside out??

Like I say schoolday

P.

Post by **Paul Costello** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:13 pm

Matt, thanks also. The more information the better and well info is timeless right

So I use a cannon 1014
(for no particular reason except i have another camera used to belong to my folks in th e70's thats how I got interested a bell and howell autoload 806 and I wanted to get a camera with more functions)
is this a reflex true reflex non reflex or what.

Further; its a great camera but I probably bit off more than I need....

P.

Post by **mattias** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:22 pm

Paul Costello wrote:So I use a cannon 1014 [...]
is this a reflex true reflex non reflex or what.

it's a "non true" reflex. the true/non true thing isn't common lingo though, just a way of explaining. i believe if you want to make the distinction you should use mirror reflex or just reflex. what this means in your case is that if you use an external light meter you have to compensate for the light loss which is about half a stop.

/matt

Post by **rollemfilm** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 12:44 pm

If you shoot from a ground glass, rear projected, your image will be reversed. The other problem is the grain of the glass affecting the image.

Post by **jumar** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 10:50 pm

rollemfilm wrote:If you shoot from a ground glass, rear projected, your image will be reversed. The other problem is the grain of the glass affecting the image.

Yeah, I would just mirror it in editing.

I was kind of wondering about the grain. If you shoot the polished side of the glass, the glass grain itself shouldn't be overly noticeable. I realize it would degrade the picture, but that look could work for this project.

Paul, I didn't really mean hang it from the ceiling... the piece in my camera is only about 6x6cm, so I would probably just make a little stand for it.

Filmshooting

Ground Glass Telecine?

Ground Glass Telecine?

rear projection screen telecine