Disposable camera lens with micro-four-thirds digital camera
2024-Aug-17, Saturday 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebeOkay, okay. I didn't get disposable cameras to practice film photography. No, I got them to cannibalise the lenses.
You see, I saw KickThePj's video 'Taking Retro Photos with DIY Camera Lens', and fell down a rabbit hole. Mathieu Stern was the first person I could find doing this, in his video 'How to Make a Lens from a Disposable Camera (90s film look)'. Which dpreview helpfully wrote up for people who don't do videos; 'summary of Mathieu Stern's video'.
The plan is to take these cheap plastic lenses off the disposable cameras once you've shot the roll of film, and fit them to your regular digital camera. This should give a simple, in-camera, way to get that more 90s look, with soft focus and light aberrations.
Supplies are pretty minimal;
- disposable camera,
- lens cap to fit your camera,
- plastic-safe super glue.
Then you;
- shoot the roll of film, make sure the winding wheel is completely free,
- remove the sticky label, open the bottom of the case up,
- take the battery out for reuse (like putting it in your mouse),
- remove the film for developing,
- open the case the rest of the way up, taking out the lens piece (with a small glasses/mobile phone sized screwdriver).
To create the new lens;
- mark and drill a 16mm hole in the middle of your new lens cap,
- trim the excess plastic from the edge of the lens so that it fits into your lens cap,
- glue it together.
Here is a very short montage video. But basically, drill hole, trim, glue.
Montage of removing the lens and fitting to lens cap
Video bychebe
My results differ to those of the creators in the videos above. I believe they're both using full-frame cameras, whereas I'm using micro-four-thirds cameras.
The main difference is that where they seem to have a focal length of about 1.5 metres to infinity (Kodak says 1m-infinity), I'm seeing that the focal point is about the length of my arm, around 50-70 centimetres. Which is about half that of my prime lens.
I'm also seeing less chromatic aberration, and not really seeing any warping around the edges. One benefit of my particular make of micro-four-thirds cameras is that they have in-body image stabilisation. Which gives me hope that this lens will work well with videos.
Here are some examples, with no modifications in post (except resizing).
The first thing I notice, in comparison to the unaltered disposable camera is the colour grading; my digital camera is much cooler. Next it's that the digital camera is still much sharper / is more high-definition. Even with the difficulties with the focus length. For a more direct comparison I went back to the woods, and took more tree photos attempting to get closer to that warmer, more 90s look. I took the photos below in RAW, and with my cameras Vintage I filter. Which is closer, but more of an over-exposed 70s look to my eye.
This, while not entirely successful, was an interesting experiment. I did try changing the focal length by gluing another lens so that it sits flush with the lens cap, so that the image would be closer to the camera sensor, in the hopes of finding a sharper position, but that made the focal issues even worse, so I'll spare you the details. Mostly it proves to me that I need to learn more about the maths behind optics.
But one thing that did work really well was using these new lenses with extension tube rings (for my micro-four-thirds camera). What these do is give you different combinations of length that moves the image further from the sensor, which makes the image larger (at the cost of cutting off the edges). Which means I now have a quite affordable macro lens. (And which has already come in useful.)
When all is said and done, this sense of being able to experiment with otherwise prohibitively expensive equipment, is very liberating. I am unlikely to be able to improve on the work of the specialists, but I can have fun learning, and maybe create some accidental impressionistic art along the way.
You see, I saw KickThePj's video 'Taking Retro Photos with DIY Camera Lens', and fell down a rabbit hole. Mathieu Stern was the first person I could find doing this, in his video 'How to Make a Lens from a Disposable Camera (90s film look)'. Which dpreview helpfully wrote up for people who don't do videos; 'summary of Mathieu Stern's video'.
The plan is to take these cheap plastic lenses off the disposable cameras once you've shot the roll of film, and fit them to your regular digital camera. This should give a simple, in-camera, way to get that more 90s look, with soft focus and light aberrations.
Supplies are pretty minimal;
- disposable camera,
- lens cap to fit your camera,
- plastic-safe super glue.
Then you;
- shoot the roll of film, make sure the winding wheel is completely free,
- remove the sticky label, open the bottom of the case up,
- take the battery out for reuse (like putting it in your mouse),
- remove the film for developing,
- open the case the rest of the way up, taking out the lens piece (with a small glasses/mobile phone sized screwdriver).
To create the new lens;
- mark and drill a 16mm hole in the middle of your new lens cap,
- trim the excess plastic from the edge of the lens so that it fits into your lens cap,
- glue it together.
Here is a very short montage video. But basically, drill hole, trim, glue.
Montage of removing the lens and fitting to lens cap
Video by
chebe
Drill hole in lens cap, and trim lens edges to fit
Photo by chebe
Glue lens into lens cap
Photo by chebe
When set, attach to camera and use
Photo by chebe
My results differ to those of the creators in the videos above. I believe they're both using full-frame cameras, whereas I'm using micro-four-thirds cameras.
The main difference is that where they seem to have a focal length of about 1.5 metres to infinity (Kodak says 1m-infinity), I'm seeing that the focal point is about the length of my arm, around 50-70 centimetres. Which is about half that of my prime lens.
I'm also seeing less chromatic aberration, and not really seeing any warping around the edges. One benefit of my particular make of micro-four-thirds cameras is that they have in-body image stabilisation. Which gives me hope that this lens will work well with videos.
Here are some examples, with no modifications in post (except resizing).
Assortment of things on kitchen counter
Photo by chebe
Oversized chess board on picnic table
Photo by chebe
Metal fence detail overlooking river
Photo by chebe
The first thing I notice, in comparison to the unaltered disposable camera is the colour grading; my digital camera is much cooler. Next it's that the digital camera is still much sharper / is more high-definition. Even with the difficulties with the focus length. For a more direct comparison I went back to the woods, and took more tree photos attempting to get closer to that warmer, more 90s look. I took the photos below in RAW, and with my cameras Vintage I filter. Which is closer, but more of an over-exposed 70s look to my eye.
Photo of leaves against undergrowth, without and with filter
Photos by chebe
Photo of spiny leaves against branches, without and with filter
Photos by chebe
Out of focus photo of sunlight through tree leaves showing red lens aberration, without and with filter
Photos by chebe
This, while not entirely successful, was an interesting experiment. I did try changing the focal length by gluing another lens so that it sits flush with the lens cap, so that the image would be closer to the camera sensor, in the hopes of finding a sharper position, but that made the focal issues even worse, so I'll spare you the details. Mostly it proves to me that I need to learn more about the maths behind optics.
But one thing that did work really well was using these new lenses with extension tube rings (for my micro-four-thirds camera). What these do is give you different combinations of length that moves the image further from the sensor, which makes the image larger (at the cost of cutting off the edges). Which means I now have a quite affordable macro lens. (And which has already come in useful.)
When all is said and done, this sense of being able to experiment with otherwise prohibitively expensive equipment, is very liberating. I am unlikely to be able to improve on the work of the specialists, but I can have fun learning, and maybe create some accidental impressionistic art along the way.
