I'm working on the design of an interpretive kiosk to be a
promotional presence on the waterfront of Liberty State Park facing
Manhattan. We wanted to include an interactive/interpretive aspect to
this. I've been drawing and dreaming up an over-sized camera
(perhaps looking like the iconic form of a field/studio camera) that you
can walk into.

This structure would integrate interpretive material about the physics
and mechanics of lenses, the human eye and camera and
photography. Drawing inspiration from other camera obscura this
would differ in that we can't create a light sealed environment for
viewing due to security reasons. I've been looking at creating a lens
configuration that projects an image of the Manhattan skyline onto the
back of a frosted or translucent imaging glass. We've created a simple
and small mockup here using a video projector lens and projecting
onto vellum.

I'm looking at projecting an image of the skyline across the distance of
3 to 6 feet within a tube (oversized camera lens) I would like to keep
this focal length small to keep the housing small but would also like
an image of about 12 to 18 inches in diameter. Ideally, this lens
configuration would allow a depth of field to accommodate focus on
the skyline and on people in front of the 'camera'.

I wondering if you can offer guidelines or suggest resources in
designing an optical system like this. At this time, I want to create a
full-scale mock-up of this and try it on the site where it is to be used.
Can you suggest a starting point in selecting a lens size and type? I'm
a complete novice at optics and would appreciate any help you can
offer.

Thanks
Kent Gay
Exhibit Designer
Liberty Science Center
Jersey City, NJ USA
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