Allan Walls Photography

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How a salvaged scanner lens becomes a macro lens for your phone

One man’s trash…

… often turns out to be my treasure.

the pot of gold!

Hello all and welcome back to Allan Walls Photography.

Thank you to my Patreon supporters and to those kind folks who have made donations through my donation page (https://www.allanwallsphotography.com/donations). None of this would be possible without your generosity!

If you would like to support my efforts and help keep the videos coming, please consider signing up as a Patreon patron, which can be done by going to https://patreon.com/allanwallsphotography. I could certainly use your help!

this will only make sense if you watch the video


This the kind of video I make when I’m not feeling particularly serious. I needed a break from my challenging production schedule and ended up, as usually happens, digging through junk at the thrift shop. But this time I hit oil with my probings and came home with three very cool photographic finds.


Watch the video to what the first two were. The third was a flatbed scanner, and it gave me an idea for a video. This is that video! I show you how to dismantle a broken scanner to extract the amazing little lens that lives deep in the scanner’s bowels. Then I show you a way (a very poor way, as it turns out) to attach it to your phone’s camera lens so that you can use it as a surprisingly powerful and extremely sharp macro lens. Seriously - it is amazing.

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The scanner I found was from HP, a 3300 model, I think. But you can use any halfway decent scanner to get similar results.

I had a blast making this one and hope you enjoy watching it!

All the best,

Allan