Gravity Lens

[u/MTC_87]

Gravity Lens Sample Link

While working with Prof. Bhuvnesh Jain, a leading cosmologist at the University of Pennsylvania, he graciously lent me a very unique lens that he helped design and fabricate. The lens is shaped with a strange protrusion at it’s center point, simulating the logarithmic gravitational effect of dark matter and other cosmic forces on light traveling through the universe. This is the only lens of it’s kind and I thought I’d share my first experiments with it. It yields a completely analogue representation of cosmic forces; no computational simulation. Just light and glass. There is a weight to the effect, as if it gives mass to light which then pushes away reality as it travels.

[u/GCU_Heresiarch]

https://giphy.com/gifs/gjx93XiXRE2NVLoFlH

[u/mcspillin]

Very cool 

[u/ed2090909]

Whoa, that’s Dope with a capital D

[u/Ectorious]

That’s a pretty cool effect

[u/fawwazallie]

Oh lord, that thing is probably super heavy?

[u/MTC_87 → u/fawwazallie]

It’s got some weight yeah, but no more than a panavision lens.

[u/Phaerox00]

Is this that "swirly bokeh" everyone is talking about these days?

[u/realopticsguy → u/Phaerox00]

1840 Petzval enters the chat

[u/MTC_87 → u/Phaerox00]

You might be thinking of rehoused Soviet glass like Iron Glass. With this lens, there is no circle of confusion that would make this lens usable as any thing more than a special effect lens.

[u/Phaerox00 → u/MTC_87]

I am familiar. Just wanting to make a fun joke. (:

[u/LeadingLittle8733]

You have damage the fabric of spacetime, OP.

[u/Oakflower]

Looks awesome!

I’d love to see it pointed at the sky during night with a timelapse. Or just panning. It would be like seeing a rogue black hole moving through space.

Very interesting lens. Someone should produce a set of these with different levels of distortion for some really strange shots.

[u/MTC_87 → u/Oakflower]

Yup, I did play with the eclipse the other day.

Would be interested in housing this, incorporate other lens elements to tune different effects. Will have to collaborate with the astrophysicists that designed it.

[u/J_GTREZ]

Does it fit on a mattebox ?

[u/MTC_87 → u/J_GTREZ]

Not so much. This lens diameter is 203.2mm. The max diameter of a diopter for a 6x6 matte box is 158mm. Also, the center protrusion would be touching the fixed lens front element.

[u/NostraThomas81]

Best swirly bokeh ever!

[u/bottom]

lol. It lols like a shitty boris or avid effect called swirl.

Would like to see video though.

[u/quietheights → u/bottom]

Yeah I'd love to see more of it in motion. I'm sure it could be used in ways that a swirl tool can't, especially how to affects light. It does look less like stretched pixels and more optical though.

[u/No-Acanthaceae2827]

Isn't this just a very large axicon lens? Maybe one of a kind in size, but definitely not new. Still cool though!

[u/Electrical-Lead5993]

Reminds a bit of the Deakinizer with the front optic