Crystal Ball Fisheye for Canon PowerShot ELPH180

thingiverse

It's clear that a crystal ball gives you a fisheye view when you look into it, so why not use a camera to capture that effect? That's exactly what this DIY project does: attach a small crystal ball at the right distance in front of a Canon PowerShot ELPH180 (or similar camera). You can easily find clear crystal balls on eBay; a 30mm diameter one costs about $2. However, the one I used has some nicks and inclusions, and it's not perfectly round. There's also the issue that the PowerShot's depth of field isn't sufficient to keep the entire sphere in focus. As you can see from the circular samples above, the resulting images are of very low quality; in fact, door peepholes make better improvised fisheyes. Still, this is a cheap, interesting, and sort-of fun novelty. Have fun experimenting!