Recycling Project - A Broken Glass To A Fisheye Lens

fish eye from broken lens UPDATE: Pat Joyce jest released a complete set of instructions for this mod.

It happened to all of us. At one point or another our beloved glass falls on the floor and dies. (Yes, by glass I mean lens - we're trying some hard photo talk here on DIYP).

If you had a UV or Haze filter on the ~~lens~~ glass, you may have protected it from any minor damage. If you tried some camera tossing and missed, you'd better collect your insurance money. Or waitaminute. As Miracle Max would say the lens may only be mostly dead.

Pat Joyce came up with a neat way to convert that broken glass into a fisheye lens (ok, ok, you can buy one if you don't want to hack it).

All you need is a broken Sigma glass and a tube. An instant fish eye lens for your point and shoot.

Hey it even does timelapse:

or goes for a handheld bicycle ride. (Yes, it can be mounted on the steering)

Create a neato fisheye lens link.

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Comments

Wed, 2009-09-16 23:31 — Deborah (not verified)

Thanks for the helpful tip!

Thanks for the helpful tip! I just knew there was a reason I couldn't part with THREE broken lenses over the years! Now I'll have a mountable fisheye for each of the bikes...

Wed, 2009-09-16 23:37 — Daniel Bento (not verified)

My Lucky

Hello, I'm a case of a real Miracle... in the other day, my Sigma 70-300mm falls and... no damage.

But yes, this is really a good way to give a new life to a dead lens... At the moment, I believe that is less expensive to do a "giant" fish eye lens with a tripod and a convex mirror (like those ones used in traffic control).

Regards,
Daniel

Thu, 2009-09-17 21:31 — Isaac L. (not verified)

So it doesn't actually tell

So it doesn't actually tell you how to do it?
:(

Fri, 2009-09-18 10:18 — pat joyce (not verified)

Cheap Fisheye

Hi, Ill have to add a proper howto on flickr now :) The fisheye is made from the second element (just behind the front lens) of a Sigma 28-200mm lens and alot of luck. You need to put the camera (a Canon Ixus 65) in macro mode and then pop the lens over the lens of the camera and you then have a really wide angle lens for a digital compact camera.

Cheers to Udi http://www.flickr.com/photos/udijw/ for spreading the word and to everyone for their comments :)

Pat

Sat, 2009-09-19 07:54 — blake (not verified)

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