New DIY Lense is insanely good!
If you’re the experimental type who treads the DIY route with your gear once in a while, here’s a weekend project you might want to try. Our favorite weird lens enthusiast Mathieu Stern is back with another fun hack: DIY plastic lens for digital cameras!
In the video above, the Paris-based photographer and filmmaker shares the result of a DIY plastic lens he made out of a Kodak disposable camera. He ended up with a tiny 30mm fixed aperture lens (f/10), which he paired with his full-frame Sony A7 camera.
However, as you can probably already tell, this setup comes with some drawbacks. As the plastic lens is focus-free, getting properly focused photos tends to be hit and miss. Close-up shots, therefore, aren’t possible. But with the help of a fellow photographer’s tweaks in the design and 3D printing magic, a new and improved “Kodaflex” DIY plastic lens was born. With its focus ring, Stern was able to get very precise focus even at close distances.
