Phone-O-Scope brings SLR lenses to the iPhone the hard way
By Donald Melanson 
posted December 2nd 2009 11:29AM
posted December 2nd 2009 11:29AM
We've seen a few iPhone camera mods and even the odd off-the-shelf case with interchangeable lenses -- but why buy new lenses when you already have some perfectly good ones for your SLR camera? That's the thinking behind this so-called Phone-O-Scope built by camera modder Bhautik Joshi, at least, which makes use of an always handy laser pickup from a CD player, some PVC pipe couplers and, of course, duct tape to let you attach any regular SLR lens to your iPhone. As you might expect, however, the end result isn't exactly flawless, but the Bhautik does seem to be happy with the "fuzzy, Holga-like images" he's able to get with the rig. Judge for yourself after the break, and find the details for building your own at the link below.
what kind of junk is this???!!!
Only a fan boy would think this is a good idea.
I bet the autofocus doesn't work :D
@Jayflash That's what I was thinking. Also given the dual switches on the lens, Image Stabilization is probably not functioning either.
oooooo
slr without flash
Why put an SLR lens on such a cheap sensor. I think the real question here is: Why is this piece of duct taped crap featured on Engadget?
:facepalm:
I can't think of a word that captures the 'dumb'.
@Chris Bell
i believe "facepalm" is the word you're looking for
http://mimg.ugo.com/200910/11727/facepalm.jpg
Shame how you never mentioned that the guy is a research engineer at Industrial Light and Magic, and that he tinkers with weird projects like this all the time. But it's easier to set someone up for the Don Martin drawing-style pan-to-the-face drubbing in the comments section, right?
@(Unverified)
"the guy is a research engineer at Industrial Light and Magic, and that he tinkers with weird projects like this all the time. "
That much more reason to do better!
It's not perfect. But I think it's a great idea! SLR's don't have the ability to send pics to the net yet so... You can optically zoom in or put a fish-eye on it and get fair quality but creative shots. Consolidation is key, man. SLR's a worth a bundle.. when I'm traveling I'd way rather just carry a couple lenses than a (possibly soon to be not needed) $3000 body in my backpack for low res travel shots.
You could kill someone with that if you threw it at them.
where is the post for Nokia N1000
http://www.hardware.sk/materials/user17/nokia-n-1000-1.png ??
dumbest project i have ever seen......
Here's a quick and dirty trick I learned last year. For a big zoom lens on a camera-phone, get a cheap pair of binoculars, or monocular, the small ones. Simply hold it up to the camera, adjust to center, and snap. Yes, you get the round picture (it blacks out the edges), but its cheap and fast, and works reasonably well!
Most cellphone use a 1/4" sensor, which means there is a 14.14x crop factor when using a dSLR lens.
What this means is that a 50mm lens will act like a 700mm lens when attached to an iPhone, utterly useless in most environments.
This is the sample photos attached are off extremely far away subjects like birds and bridges, it can't focus on anything remotely near the camera.
Atop that since a image circle of dSLRs are designed to project onto large sensors, optically you are only getting the worst part of the lens, and you are only getting an image from a very small portion in the middle of the lens. Which is why you see severe optical distortion on the sample photographs.
Better photos? You're going to need duct tape and a lens for that.
Talk about vignetting. Damn.
this sucks.....
I think most of you guys are sorely misunderstanding this guy's intentions, and thus being unnecessarily rude and harsh as a result.
It seems like the guy just wanted a fun challenge/project to take on. He accomplished his goal, which is pretty darn cool. As a result he got something that was probably a bit different than what he was going for, but something that produces unique-style photos nonetheless!
He did not intend to make a practical iphone attachment. He's just having some fun!
Duct tape?!?!? F-ing Awesome. This is like a bad joke, right?
pointless
...but If that were a Nikon lens and a Windows Mobile phone it'd be a whole different story
why would anyone do that to the iphone??? thats is just an insult to both the lens and the device!
Reality Distortion Field just emitted a stink-bomb stench.
Microsoft Project Manager is creating a project plan for a similar device as we speak.
Engineer in Shanghai is completing his dupe of this and putting it on ebay...
But kudos to the dude for trying..
this deserves a darwin award...
@xconan uh...the Darwin Award implies that he did something stupid that caused his own death...
Nice try, though.
Owle Bubo (with 57mm lens thread) + Depth-of-Field adapter = cleaner result (and relatively less cumbersome)
Wow, I got a really good laugh from this one. Just try to enjoy it for what it is... iPhone idiocy in action! Its probably a joke. Talk about polishing a turd... ;-)