The DIY smartphone MICROSCOPE: Turn your mobile into a piece of expert kit using a block of wood and a laser pointer
- A video shows how users can make a microscope with 175x magnification for under $10 that is built for an iPhone
- The home-made microscope can be made in just 20 minutes with some basic DIY skills, according to crafing website Instructables
- Using the rig, the smartphone can take photos of things as small as the nuclei of plant cells
Smartphone cameras are getting more advanced all the time, but now a DIY fan has revealed how crafty iPhone owners can make a microscope for their handset for under $10.
Using a block of wood, some plexiglass and the lens from a laser pointer, a video shows how users can make a microscope with 175x magnification for an iPhone.
Once the project is completed, the smartphone can be used to take photos of things as small as the nuclei of plant cells as well as for macro photography projects.
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One crafty DIY fan has revealed how to make a microscope for an iPhone using a few nuts and bolts, a piece of wood and plexiglass plus a torch and a lens taken from a laser pointer
According to crafting website Instructables, the DIY microscope can be made in just 20 minutes and costs under $10, excluding the price of the smartphone.
The lens for the microscope comes from a cheap laser pointer and the website explains how it can be freed from its casing and placed in the correct way against the camera lens of the iPhone using a hairpin.
It is this lens that creates the larger field of view and can itself be used to take macro shots of insects, for example, just pressed against the phone's camera lens.