materials for fiber optic pinhole

If someone has time to try this out that would be great. I play the
guitar in my spare time. I went to buy a set of nylon strings for a
classical guitar and to my surprise 3 strings in the package were
clear-- long clear solid "fiber optic" tubes-- it's not what they were
intended for, but it will probably work if the material has an
appropriate index of refraction (I used to know the physics behind this,
I'd have to look it up).

Basically go buy yourself a set of classical guitar strings (make sure
it says "clear nylon"... also without the ball end would be best, though
either can be used if you cut the ball end off) and you will have
materials for three distinct cameras. The three clear strings measured
exactly .0403", .0322", and .0280". You can get other thicknesses as
well. The strings cost about $8.00 for the pack (they come in sets of 6
for a guitar) and are about 4 feet long.

You want to cut both ends of your new fiber optic tubes perpendicular to
the length of the tube to ensure you have the flattest ends possible.
You do not want to round these because that will make a lens
(interesting to try later). To get the pinhole effect, I believe you
will want the ends to be as flat as possible.

Good luck. I wish I had the time to try this myself and report on the
results. I can see some great pictures coming from the new equipment.

Jarred
http://www.cs.uml.edu/~jmccaffr/
Received on Mon Apr 16 15:05:43 2001