I bought a 4.50 USD (10.50 USD with shipping) DCX coated glass lens element from the internet very early in the morning. I may have been intoxicated. I was certainly on something thinking that I could make anything worthwhile with it.

And now it's here!

I don't know anything about optics. All optics terminology used here is fictional, any resemblance to actual optics terms are purely coincidental.

I would say "click to download hi-res verison", but I downloaded them all already for you, so it's just "click to zoom in"

I really just want a f/2 35mm lens for video calls, so that I don't have to rely on computer-generated blur. It doesn't matter how good the optics are, because google meets trashes the quality anyway.

but there's no cheap options! so here we are.

My f/1.8 50mm RF looks FANTASTIC, but it's way too close. There is a similar f/2 35mm EF lens that's got good optics, but I do not feel like buying a $200 lens that needs an adapter bigger than the lens to attach to my camera.

Presenting:

The 3d printed mount worked way better than I was expecting. I trusted the printables gods and it fits perfectly.

The element pressfit(ish) into a 3d print which is a transition fit into the ""lens body"". I can move the element by hand but don't have to worry about it shifting unintentionally.

I spent about 30 seconds doing math (incorrectly, unsurprisingly, optics make no sense) and the infinity focus point (I think?) (where ANYTHING focuses) is ~1mm further than the furthest point the element stays in place. To the rescue:

and to try and "stop up" a few times to get some image quality:

This made it very very blue. This is why the inside of most lenses is black, is my understanding. Future revs will have black filament and probably swappable aperture covers.

The grates of my drying rack (and in the mirror) is my "test sample" here. With an actual focus ring, I could take some real photos with this!

This is cropped to an APS-C sensor size, which makes the whole image visible, but also makes it a 50mm (ish) camera, which I've already got one of! I figured I would have to crop for quality but I totally forgot that cropping changes the focal length.

same photo again, edited slightly for color (so it's not so blue) (though I do love the blue). You can definitely see the chromatic abberation, especially on the white part of the eyepieces.