DIY Life

Sometimes trying to make that special photo shot look creative takes more than some morphing in PhotoShop. What happened to creative lens trickery and using light (or lack of it) to our optical advantage when taking really cool photographs?

All is not lost, it seems. By using an old pair of glasses and some carefully-placed tape, you can have that cool and creative fisheye effect on those photos with a few minutes of your time and at zero cost, provided you have some old positive-style (far sighted) eyeglasses lying around. No need for that special (and expensive) fisheye lens for that digital SLR camera sitting on the shelf.

Basically, you tape the removed lens from those eyeglass frames onto the end of your normal SLR lens (very carefully) and see what kind of fisheye effect you can achieve on those photos. This may not be the most elegant solution for that $1,000 camera setup, but it may produce some cool effects nonetheless before you plunk down more cash for more lenses that may only see occasional use.

We all like microscopes, don't we? Remember those days in junior high when you could see animal and plant cells up close? To some of us, that moment was the one where we came to see that the world is a small place, not really a big one.

If you'd like to revisit those days -- or just examine some of the new U.S. currency under a small lens (heh), this USB microscope project (parts below) would make for a splendid addition to a nearby weekend slice of free time. It's not the highest resolution microscope, but for how you can build it and what it contains, it's darn impressive. Parts cost: estimated at under $100. If you already have a webcam you can sacrifice, the cost is way cheaper.

Here is the list:

• 1 radioshack pocket scope
• 1 white led
• 1 logitech notebook pro quickcam (zeiss lens)
• 30 awg wire
• heatshrink or black tape
• hotglue gun (or whatever appropriate glue your prefer)

Once you follow the steps outlined here, you'll have those close-up images sitting on your laptop or desktop PC screen in no time. Then, get busy examining those various items on your computer desk and have fun, will ya?

We all like making things out of miniature electronics (don't we), but I've just found a use for the world's smallest camcorder. Yes, this thing is battery powered and the size of a pack of gum, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in covert usage.

In the past few months, I've heard from many people that gas tanks of parked cars are being invaded by siphoning gas thieves. It's no wonder -- gas is not exactly cheap these days. It's hard to imagine that different thieves hit different cars all the time in the same area, so wouldn't it be cool to use one of these inside the wheel well of a parked car or truck and make a video of a thief stealing gas from your precious vehicle?

The camcorder in question records at 15 frames per second (not the best, but passable) in the 3GP format, which is most commonly used in newer multimedia cellphones. I can't begin to imagine the uses for a highly covert miniature camcorder like this, but busting gas thieves and providing evidence to the police sounds like a good starter use to me. The unit stores video on a standard microSD card and has a wide angle 3.6mm lens. While not the best specs for video recording (far from it), the size alone makes this gadget exceptionally useful.