Manual Lens From PVC Pipes
There are proven ways to become a professional photographer, ask Zack Arias. Looks like building your own lenses (which we have done before) ranks pretty high. #3 in fact. And I do want to be a professional photographer. I want it real bad. REAL BAD!
So I looked for the cheapest way to come up with a lens like this. Antonio Montesinos was kind enough to allow me to feature his lens building tut on DIYP. In Your face Zack, I m gong pro for a Dollar fifty.
Materials (Around $4)
- A camera body cap (Less than a buck on Amazon)
- Two PVC pipes - to create a focusing mechanism. The wider one has to perfectly fit in the thinner one.
- A magnifying lens from the local Dollar store.
- Super Glue or other superstrong glue
Step 1 - Glueworks
Find the focal length of your lens. If it is a really cheap lens like the one used here, you will need to find this data yourself. Hold the lens above the ground on a sunny day and move it up and down. once the sun appears like a dot on the ground, the lens is focused, and the distance between the lens and the ground is the focal length.
Make a piece of the thinner part slightly shorter than the focal length.
Glue the magnifying glass to the end of this pipe.
Cut a hole in the body cap. make sure to leave some inner edges so the thinner pipe wont accidentally slip in. Now, glue the thicker pipe to the body cap.
Step 2 - Assembly & Mounting
Before finalizing the lens make sure you sand off any shreds from the PVC pipe.
Put A in B :)
Mount the body cap on the camera.
The focus is changed by pulling the thin pipe in and out.
The Aperture cannot change without additional accessories. If you stop here, you will need to adjust shutter speed to obtain proper exposure.
If you want Aperture control, there is an added step, not shown in this project and it is making aperture discs from black stock card where each disk has a smaller hole to act like aperture stopping device.
Results
A Word Of Warning
Using this lens is almost a sure way to get dust on your sensor. If you're gonna go with this project, consider taping some Nylon on the part of the lens that move. Make sure that your glue is sealing the piping nice and tight. you'll be a happier camper.
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Comments
Sweet.
Still better than the kit lens! ;)
Good job.
can't wait for the coffee mug
can't wait for the coffee mug replica version of this epic lens comes out ...8-)
Worth the hassle?
With the cost of M42 and other manual-only lenses on eBay dropping to a buck or two, this project seems hardly worth the effort.
what if we paint the inside
what if we paint the inside part of the pipe on black mate, to prevent reflections?
David, you're mssing the
David, you're mssing the point of the lens. A manual-only lens is still going to work like a nice piece of glass. This lens however looks like crap! In a good way. You can't get this fuzzy look from a manufactured lens.
Also a tip:
A slight modification you can do (and you can just do this with just an additional inner pipe and extra lens): cut the lens end of the pipe at a slight angle. You get tilt-shift effects a la Lensbaby, but without the adjustability. The tilt is fixed. I've found that in practice, fixed tilt works really well to generate the look.
L version
Use white PVC and use a red sharpie to trace a ring around the front end to impress your peers.
Lens Hood
You can add another pice of tubing to the lens end for a hood. You might get better contrast.
adapting a 6x6 lens for DSLR use
I have a broken Zeiss Super Ikonta with the 80mm f/2.8 Opton-Tessar. I'm going to try to build this thing so that I may use that lens on DSLR. Let's see if it's a fail or win :-)
Something similar
Nice job!
I did something pretty similar a while ago with a piece of pvc pipe and a glass from a pair of binoculairs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/svdboogerd/sets/72157623043423106/
Made it with a 52mm screw thread so you can put it on top off another lens, (didnt came up with the body cap, good idea)
Using super glue...
I know this is a few months old, but I have a warning about using super glue.
Super Glues (cyanoacrylate glues) can outgas for days after they are seemingly cured. The outgassing can leave deposits of hard acrylic on everything nearby, especially in an enclosed space.
To avoid this, either wait a week before putting this on your camera, or use a cheap 5 minute epoxy.
WoW. is there only one piece
WoW. is there only one piece of glass in that thing?
Hi Adam, If you where
Hi Adam,
If you where talking to me, yes there is only one piece of glass.
It's kinda like the raynox macro adapters (http://raynox.co.jp/english/dcr/dcr250/indexdcr250eg.htm) but with a thread instead of a snap on system.
I made this from a pair of old binoculars (the glasses where fine) and a piece of pvc tube with a thread glued onto it.
It works fine and it doesn't hold out a lot of light. But next time i think i will make the tube a little bit shorter so the magnification will be bigger.
Greets SAS
You must be joking mate ! I
You must be joking mate ! I really like some DIY stuff. But this is just stupid. How would anyone ever take you seriously with this crap ?
Neve seen so many whiners
I've just read through probably two dozen or so pretty cool and labor intensive projects on here that seem to have inspired nothing but whiny cunt responses. I'd like to offer some words of encouragement to those of you out there putting the effort into these projects. Keep at it. There's some great stuff out there and you're an inspiration to a lot of us. Don't let the sandy clits get you down. Fuck em. Have fun, create, and enjoy your hobby. And if something doesn't turn out quite how you hoped it would, keep at it. Some of my favorite homemade gear has been inspired by past failures.
Revisit your mistakes. What didn't work for project A might be exactly what you need to make project B a success. Remember K.I.S.S.: Keep It Simple, Stupid. For example, I have a half dozen labor intensive machined failures sitting in my shop before I hit on an off the shelf solution to a problem. I wanted a camera slider, but I want one that doesn't attach to the tripod mount. I wanted it to hang sideways so when I reach for the grip on my 1D mk2n bodies it's more like grabbing a pistol grip than fumbling for my upside down cameras. So I wanted a mount that fit through the strap lug. After milling a stack of great. Looking and ultimately useless designs, I settled on something that costs under $20 and was available at a retail outlet....a $6 carabiner capable of holding 2500lbs and an REI $10 cable climbing chock rated for 10,000lbs. No labor involved and it will hold onto a bowling ball dropped from two stories up. Yes...we tested it. The simplest solution was the answer. No screws so nothing can come loose.
Anyway, keep up the great work.
Cheers!
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