Rollei Lens Ball 80

Description

The 80-mm solid glass ball for photography with DSLMs und DSLRs (mirrorless cameras and reflex cameras), is also called a lens ball and is a streak-free solid glass sphere of the highest quality, without air pockets or bubbles. It reflects its environment as an inverted mirror image, a sharp crystal-clear 180-degree view in a sphere, which can be recorded directly from the palm of one’s hand or else can be placed in a fixed position.

The clear, transparent photo glass ball is simple to use, but also meets the requirements of professional photographers.With a weight of +/-945 g, it’s not as light as a feather but it can be comfortably stowed away in any bag or any rucksack and also taken with you on photography outings on the landscape or on your trips. It doesn’t matter whether you use it for landscape photography, city tours or architectural photographs – with the 90-mm glass ball you can create singularly surreal pictures from unique perspectives.

For secure protection and optimal cleaning prior to your shoot, the scope of delivery also includes:

• a storage bag and
• a microfibre cloth

Tips for glass ball photography:

1. Always clean the ball of fingerprints before shooting – a microfibre cloth is included in the scope of delivery
2. Attach it carefully on smooth, sloping surfaces.
3. In the case of freehand shooting, work with a maximum exposure time of 1/250 – 2/125.
4. The ideal focal length is between 24 and 35 mm
5. Longer exposure times are also possible with stands
6. For the typical low depth of field of the glass ball photography, work with a 2.8 shutter
7. Ideally for extensive areas with few high points (e.g.forest clearings, market places, water with and without ships)
8. For photography with the use of a stand, keep a safe distance so that neither the stand nor the photographer are reflected in the glass ball.

Production & quality control of the 80-mm solid glass ball

Photography with a glass ball benefits above all from the effect that it captures the environment in the form of an inverted mirror image as a 180-degree view in a tiny space.Now it is possible with the camera + lens (ideally: 2.8 / focal length of 24 – 35 mm) to focus on the subject in the glass sphere and to work on it with a low depth of field but nevertheless to artistically incorporate the background into the picture.

The glass must be manufactured to the highest quality standard and must have no inclusions so that all of this is possible.Our special quality control and the transparent manufacturing process, whereby the balls are already checked several times during production for material defects, inclusions and cracks, ensure that.

First of all, the glass is melted into a long rectangle. High temperatures make the glass soft and easily malleable. Subsequently, individual cuboids are cut out from this glass rectangle. Due to the prior fusion process these cuboids are still easily malleable and are now put into a hydraulic press and thus their spherical shape is formed. Now it’s about cooling down to an ambient temperature of approx. 20 degrees Celsius. In order to avoid imperfections in the process such as irregularities of the surface or bubbles, the glass balls are cooled down very slowly and stored temporarily for this purpose. After the cooling process, the first examination of the raw material for cracks & inclusions is carried out. All solid glass balls that are of flawless quality, now go to be ground and polished, until they attain their absolutely immaculate spherical form. Then the next inspection for air pockets and other defects is performed.If any defect becomes apparent at this juncture, the glass ball will be discarded. Now the final finish is applied by a high-speed polishing machine. After a certain time the balls are now completely transparent and of a perfect surface quality.Now the final quality inspection is performed – until every glass ball has a perfect result. It is only in this way that it can be ensured that the glass ball does not have a negative effect later on the refraction of light or that no inclusions and scratches emerge as disturbing elements in your reflected subject.

Note: Memory card is not included in the rental. We always have a range of memory cards for sale in our shop.