I love analog photography. Every time we go on vacation, we bring multiple analog cameras. Isa shoots with a Minolta for ease of use, while I use an old Zenit with a beautiful Helios 44 lens. But there's one thing I both love ánd hate: analog film.
With just 36 exposures per roll, it makes you think about each shot, which is nice. But once you've filled a roll, you still have to develop it. That's something that takes both time and money. And it got me thinking: could I recreate the analog feel with my digital camera? I believe it mainly comes down to the glass.
The Beauty of a Bad Lens
Disposable cameras have cheap little plastic lenses. They're terrible, and that's exactly what makes them beautiful. No aperture control, a fixed focal length, and no manual focusing whatsoever. It's all limitations, but those limitations give analog photos their signature look. So that's how I got this idea of creating my own dispolens for my digital camera.
Project Dispolens
I started by sketching out a lens design on paper, figuring out the basics: focal length, mounting, and how to adapt the plastic lens to my camera. Once I had a rough plan, I went to the store, bought a disposable camera, and pried it open to extract the lens.
Then came the 3D design. In Blender, I modeled the lens bracket, housing, and front adapter to secure the tiny plastic lens onto my Fujifilm X-H2. After multiple iterations, printed on my Bambu Lab A1 Mini which I highly recommend, I was ready for some field testing.
Field Testing in London
Last week, Isa and I were in London. The Dispolens requires plenty of light (ideally bright sunlight) to really shine, and given London's reputation for gloomy weather, I wasn't expecting much. But we got lucky with clear skies. So, I strapped the plastic lens onto my high-end Fujifilm X-H2 and shot stunning 42MP photos with an unmistakably analog feel.
The photos you see here are straight out of the camera, unedited, with Fujifilm's built-in ACROS film emulation applied:
Want to try it yourself?
If you want a Dispolens of your own, I've shared my designs on Makerworld. You can download and print them for free, just be sure to share your results with me, okay? 😉