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Welcome to the Third Dimension!
Well, you have probably been living in the 3rd dimension for a long time and find nothing special about it, but how do you take a photo of it?
One way is to use a camera that is designed to take multiple photos that can be put together to form a lenticular photo. You probably seen this type of photo on DVD case covers, crackerjack prizes and the like. The main benefit is that you don’t need to wear funny glasses or cross your eyes to see the 3rd dimension.
In the 1980’s, lenticular photography was the “Next Big Thing.” Like many "Next Big Things," it cratered like Google Wave. The NIMSLO camera was produced to take lenticular photos and quickly flamed out. The ashes were taken up by Nishika. They produced the Nishika N8000 camera - a lower quality 4-lensed camera. Due to shady multilevel marketing, the expense and the obvious crappiness of the camera, The N8000 quickly flamed out as well.
All the gory details of these business failures can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimslo
In this instructable, we will take a Nishika N8000 and add a few additional capabilities: the ability to do multiple exposures and a bulb function. Additionally, we will take out the septums to get an artistic image bleed and install some color filters. You may choose any or all these mods, but only the septum removal is permanent. If you want to try these mods but don't have a Nishika, eBay has tons of new old stock and many specimens have migrated to thrift shops as the wonders of the third dimension wore off.
I'd like to give credit to my hero, Dr. Davidhazy from RIT. Many of the ideas for this instructable come from his thoughts on the Nimslo camera found here:
http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-nimslo.html
Well, you have probably been living in the 3rd dimension for a long time and find nothing special about it, but how do you take a photo of it?
One way is to use a camera that is designed to take multiple photos that can be put together to form a lenticular photo. You probably seen this type of photo on DVD case covers, crackerjack prizes and the like. The main benefit is that you don’t need to wear funny glasses or cross your eyes to see the 3rd dimension.
In the 1980’s, lenticular photography was the “Next Big Thing.” Like many "Next Big Things," it cratered like Google Wave. The NIMSLO camera was produced to take lenticular photos and quickly flamed out. The ashes were taken up by Nishika. They produced the Nishika N8000 camera - a lower quality 4-lensed camera. Due to shady multilevel marketing, the expense and the obvious crappiness of the camera, The N8000 quickly flamed out as well.
All the gory details of these business failures can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimslo
In this instructable, we will take a Nishika N8000 and add a few additional capabilities: the ability to do multiple exposures and a bulb function. Additionally, we will take out the septums to get an artistic image bleed and install some color filters. You may choose any or all these mods, but only the septum removal is permanent. If you want to try these mods but don't have a Nishika, eBay has tons of new old stock and many specimens have migrated to thrift shops as the wonders of the third dimension wore off.
I'd like to give credit to my hero, Dr. Davidhazy from RIT. Many of the ideas for this instructable come from his thoughts on the Nimslo camera found here:
http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-nimslo.html
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Signing UpStep 1Camera Overview -- The Great Pretender
The Nishika N8000 looks like one of those high technology wonder cameras Canon and Nikon were flooding the market with during the 1980's. However, the closer you look the cheapness and crappiness gets harder to overlook. Here is my rundown of the more deceptive features of the camera:
1. It's big! Too big in fact. The camera it replaced, the Nimslo, was half the size with twice the sophistication of this monster. The huge housing is there just to give the camera some substance.
2. It's heavy. Don't blame all that plastic...the real weight comes from a metal chunk in the base of the camera (not lead, but definitely metal). It's included to give the camera a heavy high tech feel.
3. That familiar looking pentaprism bump on the top of the camera is not a pentaprism. It does nothing but holds the hot shoe on the camera.
4. The hotshoe looks like a high tech wonder with various electrodes that allow the flash and camera to talk and come to logical photographic decisions. The flash may talk, but the camera isn't listening. The extra electrodes are just for show and attached to nothing except plastic.
5. The high tech data display on the top of the camera is not as high tech as it looks. It does have some useful data, but it is simply printed on plastic that is designed to look like a liquid crystal display.
6. The exposure system on even the simplest point and shoots will vary the shutter speed and aperture of your camera to get the correct exposure on the film. The N8000's exposure system is not really connected to the camera in any way. It is a simple go/no go affair that will shine a red LED in your eye if it thinks there isn't enough light to make a good exposure.
7. The familiar motor drive bump is there only to hold the 2, AA batteries for the less than useful light meter system. Your thumb will still be getting a workout while advancing the film.
8. The variable aperture actually does vary the aperture, but not by too much. Whereas a modern lens can vary 7 or 8 stop values to adjust to different light values, the N8000 can only muster 2.5 stops.
9. The 4 plastic lens assemblies are not exactly triumphs of optical engineering. They vignette badly even at the smallest aperture... even though each lens only has to cover 1/2 a standard 35mm frame.
OK...enough Nishika bashing. The good features:
1. Rock solid tripod bushing (sunk into that metal chunk in the bottom of the camera).
2. Commands respect. People always are interested in a camera that has 4 lenses.
3. Mostly plastic that is easy to modify with a dremel type rotary tool.
4. Nice memo holder on the back works as advertised.
5. Can take a simple flash for indoor shots.
6. If you can afford the lenticular processing, you can still use it for its intended purpose....Entering the 3rd Dimension!
1. It's big! Too big in fact. The camera it replaced, the Nimslo, was half the size with twice the sophistication of this monster. The huge housing is there just to give the camera some substance.
2. It's heavy. Don't blame all that plastic...the real weight comes from a metal chunk in the base of the camera (not lead, but definitely metal). It's included to give the camera a heavy high tech feel.
3. That familiar looking pentaprism bump on the top of the camera is not a pentaprism. It does nothing but holds the hot shoe on the camera.
4. The hotshoe looks like a high tech wonder with various electrodes that allow the flash and camera to talk and come to logical photographic decisions. The flash may talk, but the camera isn't listening. The extra electrodes are just for show and attached to nothing except plastic.
5. The high tech data display on the top of the camera is not as high tech as it looks. It does have some useful data, but it is simply printed on plastic that is designed to look like a liquid crystal display.
6. The exposure system on even the simplest point and shoots will vary the shutter speed and aperture of your camera to get the correct exposure on the film. The N8000's exposure system is not really connected to the camera in any way. It is a simple go/no go affair that will shine a red LED in your eye if it thinks there isn't enough light to make a good exposure.
7. The familiar motor drive bump is there only to hold the 2, AA batteries for the less than useful light meter system. Your thumb will still be getting a workout while advancing the film.
8. The variable aperture actually does vary the aperture, but not by too much. Whereas a modern lens can vary 7 or 8 stop values to adjust to different light values, the N8000 can only muster 2.5 stops.
9. The 4 plastic lens assemblies are not exactly triumphs of optical engineering. They vignette badly even at the smallest aperture... even though each lens only has to cover 1/2 a standard 35mm frame.
OK...enough Nishika bashing. The good features:
1. Rock solid tripod bushing (sunk into that metal chunk in the bottom of the camera).
2. Commands respect. People always are interested in a camera that has 4 lenses.
3. Mostly plastic that is easy to modify with a dremel type rotary tool.
4. Nice memo holder on the back works as advertised.
5. Can take a simple flash for indoor shots.
6. If you can afford the lenticular processing, you can still use it for its intended purpose....Entering the 3rd Dimension!
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http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=Nishika+N8000&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=50
There are a couple typos, but other than that, it's fantastic.