Image: Wood-1906 - Fig 1

Description: Wood's photographic apparatus to create a "Fish-Eye View". Published as Figure 1 in the text: "It occurred to me last autumn during a lecture, that an excellent notion of how we appear to the fishes could be obtained by immersing a camera in water, and photographing the circle of light, for it is easy enough to arrange a lens and plate so as to obtain a sharp image when both are immersed in water. The apparatus was constructed out of a lard pail, a short focus lens, provided with a very small diaphragm, being cemented over a hole perforated in a metal disk which rested on a rim soldered around the inside of the pail. The plate was placed on the bottom of the pail, and the whole filled with clean water in a dark room. The lens was covered with a metal cap operated by a handle on the outside of the pail. The apparatus was placed on the ground, and the surface of the water covered with a sheet of glass to prevent ripples, the pail being so full that the glass was in contact with the water. This arrangement obviated the necessity of immersing the affair in a pond, since the function of the latter was performed by the water in the pail above the lens. A diagram of the arrangement is shown in fig. 1, together with the paths of the incident and refracted rays. ... The water camera was then modified so that it could be pointed in a horizontal direction. The lens was dispensed with and a pin-hole substituted, since it was found that as good, if not better definition could be obtained in this way. The hole was made in the opaque film on the back of a piece of modern mirror-glass, which was cemented, glass side out, over a hole in the end of a water-tight box (fig. 1, lower diagram). The plate was inserted in a dark room, and the whole filled with water, after which the cover was closed, and a little additional water added through a small hole to displace the enclosed air. The hole was then closed with a stopper and the exposure made as desired."
Title: Wood-1906 - Fig 1
Credit: Robert W. Wood, "Fish-Eye Views, and Vision under Water" (August 1906). Philosophical Magazine, pages 160 and 621-622
Author: Robert W. Wood
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No