Hello all, I was posting a lot of pictures using my old Sony TRV30 video camera's still picture capture feature, which isn't much as the resolution's highest setting is just 1360 x 1020 (1.3 megapixel). Compared to the newer cameras nowadays, that's not good for closeups at all. So I decided to experiment using the lens off of my old 35mm Chinon camera. First, I removed all the rear hardware that attaches the lens to the camera's body/housing. It was easy, just a few phillips screws and it was done. Fortunately, the inner diameter of the lens is just slightly larger than the outer diameter of the TRV30's front lens, so the fit was nice. I peeled off a coupled of thin strips of duct tape, and secured (as best as duct tape can) it to the video camera. I am very pleased with the results. Once set correctly, the focus stays sharp from zoomed out, to totally zoomed in. I just set the video camera's auto focus feature to manual as it always changed focus just as the shutter snapped. I'm posting the pictures of how I did it, and of a 1971 S penny with a mechanical doubling of the date and mint mark as an example. If you check on Ebay, this video camera goes for pretty cheap from time to time (40.00), and I'm sure a lens can also be bought for about the same price, for a camera capable of taking decent closeups for under 100.00.
Hello Collect89, Thank you. I took more images tonight and found out that I could zoom even closer. All I had to do was slide the collar forward, turn the collar all the way counter-clockwise, and move the camera down closer to the coin. This is a pic taken with the new settings. The picture's resolution is still only 1.3 megapixels, but with the help of the lens on the front, I can now take pictures I never thought I could with my video camera's still picture capture. It actually takes far better pictures than my old Nikon Coolpix S200.
Cool idea (although being a photographer, it's sad to see the attatchment hardware taken off the lens.) but that worked really well. I cant get close-ups like that even with my 24mp Nikon (well, without paying hundreds of dollars for a macro or telephoto lens i cant.)
