$6 Macro Tilt Lens without glue or duct tape

I just came back from the Christchurch SuperShed (our city council recycling centre) where I bought a discarded slide projector for $6. In less than an hour, I turned the projector lens into a tilt macro lens for my dSLR. I know there have been lots of these sorts of projects but I tried to do this one without hot glue or gaffer tape so hopefully my process will help you to turn your odd lenses into useable ones.

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Step 1: Finding the right lens

Any lens can be adapted as long as the distance from the back of the lens to the focal point (slide, film, or whatever it is projecting from or to...) is more than the distance from the flange (where the lens attaches) to the sensor. Don't stick a ruler into your camera, just look it up. For my camera (Olympus 4/3rds), the flange distance is 38.67mm (Wikipedia - Lens Mount) and the back of the slide projector lens to where the slide would be is around 45mm.

This lens has a focal length of 85mm, and compared with some of the other lenses I saw, I guess it is about f2.8. I should point out that most projection lenses do not have variable apertures so you have to shoot with them wide open (shallow depth of field). This one has a spiral groove which makes it easier when enabling twist focus.

crazyg says: May 6, 2011. 12:35 PM

duh projector lens!
i am currently experimenting with the shift and tilt thing,hav orderd enlarger lens off ebay,also disasembled a ded sony handy cam,when iv got several slide/stuper8 projectors sitting in the attic.
looking forward to reading the rest of your adheisve free approach to assembely

fordmw says: Nov 30, 2009. 9:36 AM

you have great results I have been doing this with film camera and now digital on the one lens may fit all

davidwp13 says: Nov 20, 2009. 2:39 PM

Hi I checked outthis project and I am just getting in tophoto. i am not sure what this is doing. PLEASE do not take me wrong I just donot understand and for cheap if it does anything i could use i am VERY interested

tewharau (author) in reply to davidwp13Nov 20, 2009. 3:31 PM

I bought my digital SLR just as a body (no lenses) and I have been having a great time buying old 35mm lenses and projection lenses to convert and use on it.

With this in mind, I could distill this instructable into a few phrases:

1) Its fun to see what types of lenses can be turned into usable ones for photography, and how you could do it.

2) You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on lenses to get reasonable photographic results.

3) Don't throw anything away until you make sure you can't upcycle it.

LuminousObject says: Nov 18, 2009. 5:25 PM

This is cool. Is your camera a bronze color, or is that just because of the light in the first picture?

tewharau (author) in reply to LuminousObjectNov 18, 2009. 9:43 PM

No, it's not bronze, its just afternoon sun on the kitchen table, I mean photography studio.

ramses in reply to tewharauNov 19, 2009. 1:54 PM

and you didn't adjust white balance? For shame!

jk lol

tewharau (author) in reply to ramsesNov 19, 2009. 2:23 PM

HaHa! Looking at it again, the white balance is only one thing that is wrong with those pics....bad lens flare, blurry focus, grainy, crap in the background. I wish I could blame the camera :)

ramses in reply to tewharauNov 20, 2009. 12:21 PM

I didn't even see the picture. but since you mentioned it looked bronze because of light. You might be able to blame the camera if it is a point and shoot. I would know already if instructables didn't corrupt the exif data...

twoherbs says: Nov 20, 2009. 9:33 AM

And I just got rid of two projectors......ugh!

Edaemus says: Nov 19, 2009. 6:49 PM

Great to see a fellow Kiwi featured on here - especially a photography instructable :)

fazgard says: Nov 19, 2009. 3:39 PM

Very nice!

Lookin for an old projector lens now.

Bradhadair says: Nov 19, 2009. 5:52 AM

You said it was pretty unwieldy, have you tried using it with a tripod?
Maybe you could combine it with this other 'able
http://www.instructables.com/id/iSteadii-20-Image-Stabilizing-Unit/

tewharau (author) in reply to BradhadairNov 19, 2009. 11:10 AM

Thanks for that. The lens in the pics is very easy to carry around & use. In fact, the Olympus E-520 has image stabilization in the body so I just dial up 85mm and it works a treat. It only gets unwieldy with the foot-long tube on it. That super macro shot (about 2:1 magnification) was about 2 inches away from the altoid tin and you don't gain anything from the flexibility of the hose. Perhaps a PVC pipe slid over the hose would be more stable for a super-macro walkaround

afxzanac says: Nov 19, 2009. 7:57 AM

That is really really amazing. The image quality is astounding, and the final picture of the altoids tin just proves how effective this is. Great 'ible!

One. says: Nov 17, 2009. 6:29 PM

awesome! you live in christchurch too? same! I go to the super shed all the time! they have some great junk there, especially computers.

tewharau (author) in reply to One.Nov 17, 2009. 8:56 PM

Yeah, we're pretty lucky. Hey, there were two more slide projectors there last week; one was a Hanimex with a big (but pretty dusty) 85mm lens. I was surprised to see some LCD monitors being recycled....Great for Instructables projects!

Punkguyta says: Nov 17, 2009. 5:02 PM

My fujifilm takes better pictures than that WITHOUT a macro lens

tewharau (author) in reply to PunkguytaNov 17, 2009. 5:18 PM

Technically, a macro lens is one that can focus to 1:1 magnification (image on the sensor is same size as the object) so you might have a macro lens after all.