I first learned about TTV or through the viewfinder from Tara Whitney’s blog.  I never really pursued it because I assumed that it would be expensive.  Then fast forward to learning about fake TTV and while googling TTV I came up with a link to a blog post about TTV where the author said the “bottom camera” could go for about 20$ on ebay, and I had to take a look for myself.  I found one on ebay for $10 (plus shipping…) and got started with my own setup.

My bottom camera is a Kodak Duaflex IV. (click the picture for a larger view)  The viewfinder in the duaflex is a large square bubble on the top of the camera.  It is designed to be held around your hip level and it “auto focuses” on items about 5 feet away.  When looking through the viewfinder, everything is reversed, words will be backwards and framing the shot can be tricky, but eventually you can figure it out.

I use my 105mm macro lens on my canon 40D to shoot the digital shot through the viewfinder.  I learned from the tutorial to lay the camera on a table and move your camera as close as you could to get 1. a clear shot and  2. the full viewfinder in your frame.  Measure this distance and then construct a device for blocking out excess light.  I originally used large sheets of cardstock, but then went back and rebuilt it with black illustration board.

I cut out slots to accomodate the front lenses and for the side knobs.  I used duct tape to join the pieces together.

when you take the picture with your digital camera, it comes out looking like this:

Then you crop it in photoshop and voila a square ttv shot.

Please let me know if you have any questions! :)

Love Love and Blog you later!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy!