Here are Photos/Pictures of my iPhone DSLR Prototype 1.0 This is my first attempt at putting together an iPhone DSLR. You might ask… Why pair an iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4 with a DSLR lens? Why not!
Apple has updated its iPhone 4 camera and now has 5-megapixels still frames, HD video, and an LED flash. Put that together with a DSLR lens, and you’ve got a device that can shoot amazing images/video with SLR lenses, edit them on the fly, and share them on the internet all in one device.
iPhoneDSLR Prototype 1.0 Photo A
iPhoneDSLR Prototype 1.0 Photo B
iPhoneDSLR Prototype 1.0 Photo C
Mount:
The mount currently fits only Canon EF lenses. Eventually, with the right adaptors, I should be able to fit Canon FD lenses, Nikon lenses, and M42 lenses.
Housing:
The housing is a solid piece of anodized billet aluminum. It weigths about 1.1 lbs, has two handle grips, and 4 x 1/4″-20 female threaded mounting holes so you can actually screw this thing into a standard tripod. The housing can fit any iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, or iPhone 4.
[UPDATE: Jul 17, 2010]
Working iPhone DSLR Video
[UPDATE: Jul 20, 2010]
More Footage from iPhone DSLR Lens Mount
Given that you could make the frame for any lens mount you wanted, why did you start with one that doesn’t have a manual aperture?
Can you post some of the pics you made with this setup?
This is NOT a DSLR Camera!
SLR has nothing to do with the removable lens. It has to do with the mechanism that allows the same light from the lens to go to the viewfinder and the to the sensor/film.
Calling it an “iPhone DSLR” is super wrong.
“Eventually, with the right adaptors, I should be able to fit Canon FD lenses, Nikon lenses, and M42 lenses.”
It’s worth mentioning that adapters are already available to convert many lenses to the EOS mount. The FD mount, though, will more likely require that you modify the mount as a whole, since FD lenses are designed to be closer to the film plane (by 2mm) than their EOS counterparts, meaning you’ll lose infinity focus.
So where are the photos you took with it?
so .. umm .. how do set the aperture?
iPhone+DSLR-SLR = iPhoneD
I have the OWLE. How did you get the Nikon lens to attach? What do I need to get?
Thanks so much!
Marina
http://www.hotforwords.com
It’s a neat setup you’ve put together, but “iPhone DSLR” is physically impossible.
DSLR == Digital SLR
SLR == Single-lens reflex
An SLR camera uses an internal mirror system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-lens_reflex_camera
iPhones (all models) capture images directly using a CCD with live preview, no mirrors involved.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone#Camera
Focal length multiplier? And how about Olympus OM glass?
soooo that would be like a 45x sensor crop?
You can edit movies on the fly, while you are shooting them? Wow.
Do you even know what SLR means? Google it.
Technically Lothar is right, however, the thing that really separates an SLR is the fact the the CCD or CMOS capturing the picture is a whole lot bigger allowing more light to enter and thus having higher quality photos.
I gotta agree with others….it’s just a telephoto lens…not a ‘single lens reflect’ camera. It’s still cool though if it takes better images
Someone needs to go read up what a DSLR is in Wikipedia. Its all in the body of an EOS or Nikon, not at all in the lens you mount to it. Remould the mount to fit a EOS body and then you’ll have an DSLR (/s). Use the phone for a P&S camera instead.
Also, what happens if you get a call when you’re about to take a photo of that Cheetah next door?
lol, DSLR..
D_igital: OK
S_ingle L_ens: Not OK
R_eflex: Not OK
So, why don’t they name it iphoneDC….
@blake:
changing aperture probably only adds heavy vignetting because fitting two completely different optical systems that hasn’t been designed to play together at all. (dslr lens want’s to project its image to a plane, and iPhones lens want to do the same trick without lens in front). IQ will be something between hideous and something you can barely stand.
hint: try phonescoping instead.
Those lenses are meant to fit APS or APS-C sensors. Without even checking. I can say that the sensor on the iphone would be less than 1/5 th in size. So even the widest lenses for a DSLR (which are super expensive) would just be a normal or a tele-lens on the iphone.
Ok, that is awesome. I can’t wait to see the photos you take with it.
I agree with Lothar. Ive never been so angry in my life!!!
Why is nobody else clueing into the image circle factor? Who cares what he calls it? An SLR lens is made to make an image circle that is MUCH larger than an iPhone’s sensor or lens. This will make even a ridiculous wide-angle lens work like a ridiculous telephoto. With that telephoto on it, this system will be great for photographing people’s pimples from across the street. Except the quality will suck.
You have been slashdotted..
Another complete waste of time by an apple fanboy.
Practically I am not a Apple guy
Every thing they design is Done with Girls Mind, cause I don’t care what color.
wait Kweeeeeeeel “DSLR”
Misnomer D-SLR or does it mean Dummy-SLR.
Yo dawg we heard you like lenses, so we put a lens on your lens… so you can use lenses while u drive!!
.. ? yes no?
Totally not an SLR. No one with any kind of professional photography experience would ever be caught using this rig at all. Even amateur photographers should never think their iphone will be better suited with a different lens. Suited more for people who think the apple brand makes everything the best for anything at all.
Protip: Apple will never make a camera that competes with the guys who’ve been doing it for decades. They’re only 3 generations in with their camera experience (webcams don’t count, at ALL) . Most consumer models of point and shoot cam’s are vastly superior. It’s a good cell phone camera, and that’s not saying much.
This is a super-stupid project.
Put the money in a good compact or bridge instead of wasting it into Apple Fanboy-I-Waste-my-money-because-I-want-to-think-different-I-suck-and-I-is-the-problem or maybe into a good therapy.
Trash all your Apple hardware and go opensource. Your life will change you’ll feel different.
We never see the photos taken with these contraptions. I imagine the images are very holga like…
Love this! Bookmarked and shared on Facebook and in email to a few prototyping/engineering friends.
Thanks for sharing, and thanks for for making it easy to share!
This is a piece of art rather than a usable, functional and practical device. If you have a Canon DSLR lens you almost certainly have a DSLR body to go with it. This thing has so many compromises and limitations that I can’t see any practical use for it.
Stick to a proper camera if you want high quality photos, use the iphone camera if all you need are happy-snaps.
pics or gtfo
Why did you choose a phone with a decent camera to start?
Why DIDN’T you choose a phone with a decent camera to start?
This would surely only ever give better image quality if you removed the iPhone’s lens? The quality of an optical system is only as good as it’s weakest link.
The best figure I’ve seen for the iPhone sensor is 1/4″, or approx 5mmx4mm. That’s 0.2 square cm. An EOS sensor is about 3.28 square cm, so you’re only taking the central 6% of the image. No lens I’ve ever come across is built to resolve detail that well. In fact, I hear the iPhone is pretty sharp, so you’re effectively adding low quality glass into the system and expecting it to improve quality? Hmm…
It’s a cool build, but I don’t think you thought it out fully. What would be really cool would be using something like Pentax auto 110 lenses, preferably with the iPhone lens removed (You’ve got a few spare, right?
).
Er, this is a pile of crap. You are not making a DSLR, you are sticking a lens in front of a crappy phone camera, which will not work.
Why don’t you buy a DSLR and glue your iPhone to it – same result but much better pictures and the bonus is you are less likely to cut off your reception by holding your phone ‘wrong’.
In fact that gives me a great idea for a lame project to shout about on the internet….
wow – what a bunch of miserable a-holes you all are. Sorry this dude actually went out and built something; so what if it’s not a DSLR – it’s stick pretty sick. Instead of “thanks for sharing” its “fuck you for existing” around here. Boo on you, comment board.
ROTFL, the title is ridicolous.
Where’s the DSLR system?
What about that soooooo-little CCD sensor?
Pointless, there even aren’t any photos.
You’ll notice there is only a photo of the phone .. no photos taken with the phone
Some guy hot-glues a lens to a phone, and calls it a “DSLR”, provides zero pictures.
Slashdot, you are being trolled.
Why do you call this SLR? There are no “reflex” mechanics involved here. A lens can’t be SLR, it’s the camera that is SLR. I think you’ve misunderstood what SLR/DSLR implies. Cool hack, nevertheless.
“SLR” has NOTHING to do with the sensor capturing the image, and it has nothing to do with the image circle produced by the lens.
if you people are going to be pedants, at least be correct when you’re trying to correct other people…
Jason says:
July 16, 2010 at 3:45 am
Technically Lothar is right, however, the thing that really separates an SLR is the fact the the CCD or CMOS capturing the picture is a whole lot bigger allowing more light to enter and thus having higher quality photos.
Kelly Gizowski says:
July 16, 2010 at 5:01 am
Why is nobody else clueing into the image circle factor? Who cares what he calls it? An SLR lens is made to make an image circle that is MUCH larger than an iPhone’s sensor or lens. This will make even a ridiculous wide-angle lens work like a ridiculous telephoto. With that telephoto on it, this system will be great for photographing people’s pimples from across the street. Except the quality will suck.
Those of us old enough to remember when cameras had film know what SLR stands for and really means. Stop trying to educate the people that want to co-opt the acronym for other purposes. They don’t care. Ignorance is no longer bliss, it is the norm.
OMG … guys … wake up … how about this all being a medium funny FAKE?
Stop wasting our time, retard apple fanboy.
The construction is interesting, and if it works I know quite a lot of people who would be interested to have such a gizmo.
And yes yes it is not an (D)SLR, but to all the grammarian trolling, about this, what is more important, pointing out that this is actually a “bridge” phone (to use the marketroid euphemism for DSLR like cameras who are not really DSLRs…) or thinking about what you could do with it.
Asking how tight the link between the phone and the optics, final usable apperture, ratio transformation between the objectifs and the iphone would have been usefull questions…
Put having most of the messages pointing out that “OMG this is not really an SLR” is kind of …. weird…
To Jeremy: Congrats for the interesting work.
[ps]
In addition to what everyone else has stated, stacking a DSLR lens on top of the internal lens in the iPhone will lead to a pretty hopeless optical situation. If anything, it will make the image quality of th eiPhone even worse than it already is (relative to a real DSLR).
I can’t fathom the point of this project.
@Marina: you need to screw. I think.
Give it a rest. So it isn’t really a SLR camera. What it is, though is a really neat way to turn a telephone that doesn’t make phone calls into a nifty camera.
Everyone here complains about nomenclature and theoretical optic resolution, lets wait until we see how well it works in the real world before judgment is passed. Where can I see some pics from this setup?
I will bet not one in ten of the commenters could have done the design, mods, and construction.
Maybe that is part of where the apparently, shall we say, negative comments come from.
The way you design something new is you have a starting point and try 10 things, which invariably have “issues” and you keep learning until you come up with something small, neat and workable.
I could easily see the project leading to a form of miniature telephoto “snap on” which would allow iPhone users to have a “Maglite size” device.