Because my magical little Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera emulates the look of 16mm film so well, adding a lo-fi lens to the front makes for a perfect home movie camera setup. Here are a couple home movies I’ve shot with my Pocket and various lo-fi plastic and vintage glass lenses over the past couple of years.
Making a Magnifying Glass Lens
I’ve always wondered what using a magnifying glass as a lens would look like, and this summer I decided to give it a try. I’ve seen people online hold a magnifying glass up to an exposed camera sensor or lens for trippy freelensing experiments, but I really wanted to see how close I could get to building an actual lens. The build was super simple: all I did was tape a magnifying glass to a macro tube and attach it to my camera. Here’s a tutorial video I made for my company, showing my process.