The Aiptek GO-HD isn’t such a bad camera for the money. It does 720p video and 8 megapixel photos, but the lens doesn’t go very wide. But a post in the Flickr blog pointed to a solution: use a door peephole as a fisheye lens. It works, but holding the peephole in front of the camera can get tiresome. Here’s how I solved it:
A rubber stopper easily holds the peephole, while a 1.25 inch hole in the stopper slides over the lens protrusion and holds snugly to it. Here’s the step by step:
Start with the parts. I’ve got an electric drill and a number of bits at the house, but I had to go to the store for the 1.25 inch drill bit. I also don’t have large rubber stoppers or peepholes laying around, so I picked those up too.
The hardest part (well, the only part) is drilling the two concentric holes, making sure they’re centered and straight through. My drill has a bubble level to make this easier.
My 1.25 inch bit had a screw-type guide in the center, making it easier to drill the larger hole first.
The larger hole fits snugly around the lens, the smaller hole holds the peephole.
Here is the camera before and after attaching the fisheye. The rubber stopper fits snugly, but is easy to attach and remove.
In use, I find I have to zoom to its maximum telephoto setting. The circular peephole view almost fills the width of the 16×9 frame that way, though it crops quite a bit of the top and bottom.
I didn’t have Sandee to chase around the house after finishing this, so I had to test it on myself and my cat:
[...] ability. This might not be a problem for others, but it was enough of an annoyance for me that I built my own wide angle add on lens for it. Related:DIY Fishey Lens For Aiptek GO-HD CameraPeephole DIY Fisheye LensWant: Canon’s [...]
[...] ability. This might not be a problem for others, but it was enough of an annoyance for me that I built my own wide angle add on lens for it. Related:DIY Fishey Lens For Aiptek GO-HD CameraPeephole DIY Fisheye LensWant: Canon’s [...]