How to Make a Fisheye Lens for a SLR

Picture taken with a fisheye lens

A fisheye lens is an extremely wide-angle lens that creates a wide spherical image. Fisheye lenses have become coveted by photographers for their distorted and retro effect. Professional fisheye lenses can easily run you a couple hundred dollars. This method will give you the fisheye effect for under $20, and will work for any single-lens reflex (SLR) camera, whether it is film or digital.

Things You'll Need

• Duct tape Eyeglasses (for far-sighted vision)

Instructions

1. 

   Get a pair of old glasses, the type for far-sighted people ("reading glasses"). If you don't have an old pair, buy an inexpensive pair from the drug store. The glasses need to be in the + numbers. The thicker the lens the better, and the more of a "fisheye" effect you'll get.

2. Remove a lens from the frames. The lens should pop out by gently wiggling the frames.

3. 

   Duct tape the top and bottom of the glass lens to the camera lens. Do not tape the side because it will wreck the "wide angle" effect.

Tips & Warnings

• Take special care to avoid getting duct tape on the glass part of your camera lens, as it's difficult to clean off.