He was kind enough to sell me this unique, one of a kind lens and it takes gorgeous portraits. Some swirl, a bit soft focus and a great rendering, also on a #Fujifilm GFX100S.
Ylva (15), Nortorf (near #Kiel) 2025
#photography #portrait #shittylenschallenge #fotografie #portraitphotography #teen #teenager #teenportrait #kinderportrait #portraitfotografie #onemonochromeaday #blackandwhite #kidsportrait #DIYlens #altglas #softfocus #swirl #swirlybokeh
Two simple ways to make a DIY dreamy Deakinizer lens
#diy #cheapdiy #deakinizerlens #diybuild #diylens #rogerdeakins
If you’re a fan of cinematographer Roger Deakins’s work, you’re most likely familiar with Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Deakins modified a lens especially for this movie and used it to get a unique and dreamy tilt-shift effect. This type of lens has become known as the Deakinizer lens, and in […]
How to Turn a Magnifying Glass into a Focusable Lens for a Vintage Look
Fotodiox has shared a step-by-step video tutorial on how to turn a simple household magnifying glass into a focusable lens on a mirrorless camera for a unique vintage effect.
Although modern cameras are capable of producing tack-sharp results, some photographers and filmmakers might want to turn towards a softer and more imperfect lo-fi look which can be used for creative purposes both for stills and videos, as demonstrated by Sean from Fotodiox in the company's latest YouTube video.
In an earlier video in 2017, Sean showed how to do a simple do-it-yourself (DIY) project using a magnifying glass and a macro tube to create a lens that produces soft vintage stills and video footage. However, at the time, the project only resulted in a fixed-focus magnifying glass lens that only focused to approximately ten feet and no farther. This time around, Sean has revised his tutorial and shows how to create a focusable lens instead.
To do so, Sean used a magnifying glass with its handle cut off and a Fotodiox Canon EF macro-focusing bellows. Bellows like these are generally used by photographers to help achieve extreme close-ups at a fraction of the cost when compared to purchasing a dedicated macro lens.
He adapted the bellows to his Sony Alpha 7R camera using a second Canon EF to Sony E-mount adapter, while the magnifying glass was added on the outside to allow Sean to focus to infinity. In a typical DIY manner, Sean attached the magnifying glass where the Canon EF lens would go using some gaff tape to keep it in place.
Seeing as the magnifying glass creates a very fast lens with a shallow depth of field, it requires exposure control, especially for video footage. For this, Sean used ND Throttle Adapter, which is a lens adapter with a built-in variable ND filter.
Fotodiox markets it as a helpful accessory that allows photographers to open up the aperture and get a pleasing shallow depth of field for video footage. This is achieved by manually turning the variable ND ring to reduce the light coming through which helps obtain the needed exposure.
The final build consists of the magnifying glass on the outside, followed by the macro bellows, and the ND Throttle Adapter which is mounted between the macro bellows and the camera. To control the lens, macro bellows are used to adjust the focus and the variable ND filter ring is responsible for adjusting the exposure.
The result provides a lo-fi effect that would be hard to replicate in digital post-processing. Sean notes that this is not a look that will appeal to everyone but it can help create something that is different from the pin-sharp digital content.
More videos like these by Fotodiox Inc can be found on the company's YouTube channel.
Image credits: All photos provided courtesy of Fotodiox.
#doityourself #equipment #diy #diylens #fotodiox #householditems #householdobjects #howtobuild #lofi #magnifying #makeyourown #vintage #vintagelens
If you ever want to experiment with optics, making your own lenses (or adapting old ones to fit on current cameras) is definitely a good way to do it. Lenses now have gotten pretty complex, though, with elements acting in pairs or groups that are often too complicated to try to reassemble in your own […]
Ursula Ferrara has shown us some of her unusual and creative DIY projects before. And this time, this talented lady has raised DIY to a new level. Using only cake molds and some epoxy resin, she made her own large-format lenses and took some photos using them. She shares her process in a short video, […]
Erik Schlicksbier
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