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Flashback Friday - Making a DIY Macro Lens for your iPhone

Before I got an Olloclip - macro photography could only be accomplished using my homemade macro lens. For Flashback Friday, we'll take another look at how to DIY.

My wish list includes an Olloclip, but until I get one, I wanted to find a way to get some macro shots with my iPhone.

After viewing a few tutorials for making one, I decided to give it a try with a cheap $1.99 camera I bought at a thrift store.

I broke it open to remove the lens (with help from my husband).  A ring dropped out of the camera so I have no idea where it was located, but I knew it would come in handy.

Next, I glued the lens to the ring with super glue.  Sorry the shot is fuzzy, but I didn’t have a macro lens yet!



I then had to figure out a way to adhere it to my camera without going to a lot of trouble – this is a temporary lens until I invest in the real thing!  I decided to use my kneaded rubber eraser to adhere it to my iPhone.  I took a tiny strip and pressed it around the lens ring and it worked!

Ta-daa!  I’ve got a macro lens!

Here are a few of my macro shots.


Below is an eraser without the macro lens


and here is the shot with the macro lens


I need a steady hand to get the really close shots so I’m looking into a tripod for my iPhone, but in the meantime if I enhance them a bit you can’t see the blur!

Here’s one enhanced with the Painteresque app.


Happy snapping!

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