This adapter is designed for the excellent picture-quality Canon HV20, but many small camcorders can use the same design, perhaps with a few tweaks to length & step-up rings. The HV20 is a hi-def camera, so get the vibrating Daniel's GG-holder.

2. You need to use a macro lens [achromat] next in the stack to allow your camera to focus close enough to get the ground glass image in focus. It also helps correct barrel distortion. Daniel used to make a better one with less chromatic aberration, but he's currently out, so this is his recommendation. You can also build your own out of an old pair of binoculars & lens filter rings.

4. You next need a 55mm-60mm step-up ring to connect the 55mm polarizer rings to the 60mm Canon Eos extension tubes.

6. The ground-glass [GG] is where the lens projects an image for the video camera to record. This is one of two Canon screens you can use in Daniel's GG-holder. The other is the Ee-S: easier to focus, but loses more light. Both are actually condenser lenses, to reduce image vignetting. Other GG options include other Daniel models using Nikon screens, DIY wax screens, & custom ground glass.

8. Last, mount the lens to the adapter stack. You can use other brands of extension tubes if you use lenses other than Canon's, but then you have to figure out all the parts & distances through trial & error, then stick to one brand of lens... Better to just use the Eos tubes & get a lens mount adapter[s] to match your lens brand[s]. You should be able to find them for $10-20 each.

10. Like the commercial ones, this adapter is long. It's only attached to your video camera by the flimsy plastic threads at the end of the built-in lens, so the adapter will shear off if you don't support it. Use a tele-lens support like this one recommended by Daniel, or you can use rods or a DIY solution.

Tolerances on this cheap camera gear aren't all that one could wish. If you can't focus on infinity, you might need a couple washers about .5mm thick & roughly 7mm in diameter to tweak the distance between your HV20 camera & the screen. Put them around the joining screws between the motor plate & the GG-holder plate. Usually one on each side is enough. Think about this before you glue anything!

Hot glue works well for this project, since it won't eat any of the parts. Use hot glue to mount your screen in your GG-holder, to stick the motor to the motor plate & to attach the soldered phone cable to the extension tube so it won't pull off.

You'll need a soldering iron to connect the vibrating GG-holder motor wires to a piece of phone cord cable, & the cable to a battery case at the other end.