F#@$ing WorldPay they don't accept debit card payment from Russia! I SPENT 3 FREAKING HOURS FREEZING IN A BUS TO GO TO MY BANK, and this is what I get. @#$%

I order it to the same address as wrtitten in the card registration, my name is everywhere, and I'm suspected in a fraud for geographical reason. Idiots.

You know, I thought he chose the f550 because it's the only one they sell with a non-square aspect ratio. It aso has a finer groove pitch than the others, which looks better.

My lens arrived today. Picking it up at the post office tomorrow!

Congrats. Post pics when you're done setting it up!

/me eagerly waiting

sounds interesting!
i browsed the web and found quite a few shops that sell tv magnifiers (tv lupen) in germany etc. but I wonder if those work the same?
here's an example:
http://www.lupenshop.de/conten ... ct/Variation/1710&2D1

edit: the page says product can't be found but if you click OK you'll see it

will that give me the same effect you're talking about (more depth, etc.)?

(I'm not a friend of mathematics so i skipped reading a couple of posts, sorry if this has been mentioned before)

ZD

Yes, that's the exact same thing... It's just a Fresnel Lens in front of the TV.

thanks! ordered

I Hate Their Payment Rules!

In one page it's written "Send the order to another address", and then they say to me "We can't do this according to the banking rules." Freaking bullshitters... I have to pay them 20 dollars more just to send it through a special agency or through another person.

No, let them go hell, I'll sooner buy it anywhere else.

The F550 arrived today and all that I can say is

Effectively it made a 21" monitor out of my 17" for $40 and I can even have the virtual 21" monitor closer than I had the 17" (just over the body of my wheel)...

The only little drawback is that the text close to the edges is harder to read, but that can be cured by moving the lens back a bit making the image smaller...

Quote from Chaos :

The F550 arrived today and all that I can say is

Effectively it made a 21" monitor out of my 17" for $40 and I can even have the virtual 21" monitor closer than I had the 17" (just over the body of my wheel)...

The only little drawback is that the text close to the edges is harder to read, but that can be cured by moving the lens back a bit making the image smaller...

hmm.. I must say it's a bit disappointing... what about the depth perception? virtual image size, eye strain etc. Does it have real advantage other than a nice gimic?

Quote from Chaos :

The F550 arrived today and all that I can say is

Effectively it made a 21" monitor out of my 17" for $40 and I can even have the virtual 21" monitor closer than I had the 17" (just over the body of my wheel)...

The only little drawback is that the text close to the edges is harder to read, but that can be cured by moving the lens back a bit making the image smaller...

Still solving problems with payment here. What is your monitor size in mm? What is the distance between the screen surface and the lens?

I'm going to buy at DIY Projector Company such a lens : 395x395 f=330. If it will be too tall, I'll make one dimension smaller with scissors or metal scissors.

BTW, if I put 17" monitor beyond a f330 lens, I will have 70" monitor (1 meter deep inside the lens).

I'm writing an article on this topic. The first part, theoretical of course, is almost finished, I will publish it tonight.

Quote from detail :

What is your monitor size in mm? What is the distance between the screen surface and the lens?

monitor - 430mm
distance - cca 500mm

Quote from Chaos :

The F550 arrived today and all that I can say is

Effectively it made a 21" monitor out of my 17" for $40 and I can even have the virtual 21" monitor closer than I had the 17" (just over the body of my wheel)...

The only little drawback is that the text close to the edges is harder to read, but that can be cured by moving the lens back a bit making the image smaller...

can u plz take photos from where ya eyes are usually looking at lens?

Quote from avih :

hmm.. I must say it's a bit disappointing... what about the depth perception? virtual image size, eye strain etc. Does it have real advantage other than a nice gimic?

well i played 2 hours straight now, no probs with eyes or anything... i even set a new pb... the advantage is that you have a larger monitor and you can have it closer to your eyes than a normal screen...

Quote from KiDCoDEa :

can u plz take photos from where ya eyes are usually looking at lens?

yes... but in about 2 weeks when my brother brings a camera...
I have the black momo and the lens is just above the line of the top that needs to be taken off to tighten the wheel in place...
and the lens-monitor distance is 300mm (in my previous post i only guessed, because father needed to work on the computer...)

I've had my lens for about a week now. The effect it creates is awsome with LFS. Really gives you a sense of being in the car when you are close to the lens. I have noticed more eye strain after long sessions though compared to my LCD monitor without the lens. Feels kind of like a CRT with a low refresh rate.

I'll probably have to build a cockpit so I can mount it closer now

Here's some crappy pictures :P

hey everyone, i just found this awesome thread and amazing idea!

i work for a machine vision company, programing digital cameras and pc's to take and inspect images. we worked on a project about 2 years ago where we needed to use a fresnel lens to increase the linearity of the light to get a more accurate measurement. we normally do this by MOVING THE CAMERA FURTHER AWAY, this is exactly what the fresnel lens does and why we used this. this concept and idea is awesome.

i will check at work on monday, i'm pretty sure we have samples of the material we used (it wasn't glass, so i hope it won't distort the image or colours - that system was black and white and backlit). i hope it works.

Quote from BlueLine :

Here's some crappy pictures :P

Are those before and after pictures from the same viewpoint? Then they really show this works wonders .

Quote from bobvanvliet :

Are those before and after pictures from the same viewpoint? Then they really show this works wonders .

Same viewpoint (as close as I could get anyway ). Makes the monitor seem about 4 inches bigger at my normal driving distance.

WOW, When I move out from home I am definately going to buy something like that.

Quote from BlueLine :

Same viewpoint (as close as I could get anyway ). Makes the monitor seem about 4 inches bigger at my normal driving distance.

Looks like it takes a lot of the glare out of the monitor too. How does it look in a bright room though? Can you still use it in daylight?

Somehow I always read the topic as "Anyone used a Lens Flare with LFS?". I know it looks impossible but that's the way my mind is seeing it

Quote from detail :

Still solving problems with payment here. What is your monitor size in mm? What is the distance between the screen surface and the lens?

I'm going to buy at DIY Projector Company such a lens : 395x395 f=330. If it will be too tall, I'll make one dimension smaller with scissors or metal scissors.

BTW, if I put 17" monitor beyond a f330 lens, I will have 70" monitor (1 meter deep inside the lens).

I'm writing an article on this topic. The first part, theoretical of course, is almost finished, I will publish it tonight.

I have this setup now, and trying to use 2 screens is quickly becoming a nightmare... These lenses distort the image so freakishly much that you won't be able to use the outside 2" of the lens. To counter this you should be as close to the lenses as you possibly can, and doing that will have the effect of having to turn your head to look at the edges, moving your eyes away from the focal point. Right now, I don't have the lenses fixed to the screen, but once I get that done (tonight) I will be able to move the screens a lot closer to me. By the way the image distorts, I think you should not have more than 55cm between the edge of the screen and your eyes, and the lenses fixed at about 20cm from the screen... This is going to be a problem for those of you who like to have a little distance between their wheel and their body, because your wheel will have to be inside your monitor.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

Looks like it takes a lot of the glare out of the monitor too. How does it look in a bright room though? Can you still use it in daylight?

It seems to kind of tone down the 'crispness' of colors from my LCD (if that makes any sense). I guess it's too bright for my camera on its own.

You will get a lot of glare and reflections in bright light using a fresnel lens though, unfortunately.

So, it took some time, but here are the promised photos...