DIY Lens Mod Adventure Turns Broken iPhone Into a Cinema Camera

Evan Monsma’s studio in Indianapolis is where broken gadgets are reborn into something incredible, rather than tossed out into the trash. His latest project – turning a smashed iPhone into a seriously capable cinema-grade camera by slapping on some old C-mount lenses – is pure proof that imagination really can meet DIY skills head on.

An iPhone that’s had a nasty fall, leaving its back glass shattered and a lens cover missing, normally gets the recycle bin treatment. Monsma however saw a different story. The exposed sensor, yanked free from its factory fitted lens, made for a great blank canvas. Smartphones have come a long way, & have camera sensors that are on a par with pro gear, but their standard lenses are often a serious limitation. Monsma’s been thinking… why not marry the high-quality sensor in an iPhone with the adaptability of C-mount lenses? These are the sort of lenses you find on 16mm and 8mm film cameras, known for their snappy images and character. If he could just get them to fit on an iPhone, the results would be cinematic gold.

First thing to do was to let Monsma get his hands dirty with some woodwork – something you might not expect from a guy who enjoys working with scraps, but hey, it turned out to be a pretty good choice. He set to and made a new back for the iPhone out of solid plywood – strong enough to withstand the rigours of being handled, and also forgiving to boot. He then used a circular saw to get the shape of the phone, covering up the broken glass. It had to be precision work – he needed to drill holes for the two remaining stock lenses, and a slightly bigger hole for the exposed sensor, where the C-mount lens would get to do its magic. He marked their positions on the wood by rubbing wet paint on the lenses and pressing them onto the wood.


Getting the lens on to the backplate was the next problem to solve, as C-mount lenses have a 17.5mm flange distance and need dead-on alignment to focus on the sensor. CS, as well as D-mount lenses, with 12.5mm flange distances are a bit of a different story because they’re a lot closer to the sensor. Monsma used a CS-to-C converter as his base, tweaking it so that it would snuggle up tightly against the iPhone’s frame. To make room for the mount, he whittled down the phone’s metal casing with a Dremel, being careful not to scratch the glass – and the space was made, he placed a stack of washers superglued in place to adjust the flange distance so that the lens would fit sharply.


The plywood back of this thing was more than just a functional part; it was a statement. Monsma sanded it down, stained it to a high gloss and then just attached a tripod mount under the lens for stability. The wood also filled in the camera hump the iPhone has so the whole thing was flat and tidy. Then he just slathered on some superglue, a choice that’s raised some eyebrows given how heavy some of those cinema lenses can be.


Monsma had full manual control over shutter speed, ISO and white balance with the Blackmagic Camera app, which is perfect when you need total control. With the exposed sensor and 25mm C-mount lens attached the image came into focus and was as sharp as a high end camera despite this being a broken piece of junk iPhone. A 13mm lens opened up the whole view and the photos looked like film. A D-mount lens designed for ancient 8mm film cameras worked amazingly well. A CS-mount lens designed for security cameras didn’t work as well but still worked okay. A CS-mount lens is used on security cameras and didn’t work as well but still worked okay. Adding a large wide angle adapter to the 13mm lens took it to the next level and turned this iPhone into a tool that could produce some very wide, dramatic photos.
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