iPhone Fisheye Lens Fix

Tonight I had a few minutes to play with the fisheye lens and figure out why it shows the edge of the lens in all the shots. The lens is not really made specifically for the iPhone. So here we go.

The body of the iPhone is curves around the edges. Right were the camera lens is the body slopes. But the camera in the iPhone shoot forward. It was simple to attach the metal ring to the iPhone. The lens is magnetic so it needs the ring to stick on the iPhone magnetically. Don’t even try holding the lens up to the iPhone. It is pretty impossible to take a photo doing this.

This photo below shows the ring attached.

This series shows the problem. See how the lens is pointing to the side and not straight out of the camera?

So when shooting a photo with the lens on it you get a black area on the edge of the photo. This is a result of the lens not being aligned up with the camera shooting angle. The black area is the inside of the fisheye lens.

The fix that I came up with is to get a spacer that would adjust the lens to match the forward view of the camera. It just so happens that the lens cap is the right thickness to straighten out the lens. It doesn’t look pretty at all. But it works. See these two photos for a visual of what I ended up doing.

A more perminant fix will be to get a washer the same thickness from the hardware store. Cut is into thirds. Magnetize it and use that in place of the lens cap. But how do I get it magnetized is the question. I guess I just need a really strong magnet to rub on the washer.

Here are some examples of the fix in action. This first photo below is out our back door and shows a fisheye shot without the lens cap fix.

Below is the same shot with the lens cap fix in place. You no longer see the inside of the lens.

This next series below is a shot of the pool table in our basement. Again without the lens cap fix, with the lens cap fix and a final shot without the fisheye len at all. All the pool table shots were about 1 foot from the pocket. The result makes a big different without the lens and with it as the last two photos show.

With fisheye no fix.

With fish and lens cap fix applied.

Same shot as the two above but without the fisheye lens attached.

As long as my washer idea works then I will get some real use out of the fisheye lens. If not then I won’t use it much since the len cap fix takes some adjust to get just right. I will keep you posted on the washer idea.