Apparently, the optical qualities of a regular old DVD player laser lens make it a perfectly good macro lens attachment for many camera phones. I’m genuinely impressed with the quality of the pictures — perhaps I’m wrong about some of these tiny sensors. Here’s a before and after:

Anyhoo, the hack is quite simple. Tear apart an old DVD player (or DVD drive, I would guess), salvage the lens, and stick it onto a piece of card or paper. You can then tape or gum it to the phone, and voila! Instant macro. You can see it done at cnflikt’s Flickr stream.

Get a little lighting in there, work your composition right, and nobody will be able to tell it’s not a “real” camera — at least, not at 50% zoom.

[via Engadget and Make]