[Laser] (OT) Uses for a 35-60 zoom lens

[Tim Toast]

hi Paolo,

You may get more use out of it if you can take it apart to get at 
the individual lenses. Most zoom lenses that i've taken apart, have
three basic lens units in them - the front main lens, a smaller 
negative lens in the middle and an "eyepiece" type unit near the 
CCD end. This eyepiece unit is usually a combination of two or more
lenses mounted together in a fixed barrel. With a small 10mm camera 
zoom lens, this is probably very tiny.

You can use these eyepieces, in combination with a longer focal 
length main lens in your junk box, to make a small finder scope. Use 
a mirror between them to bend the beam upwards 90 degrees to have an
upright image (reversed left-right though). 

The eyepiece by itself makes a good high power magnifier loupe for
viewing jewelry or other small objects.

For using the zoom lens as-is, I like the idea of a variable field
of view. That might come in handy for certain setups. A larger zoom
lens unit from a camcorder or other old equipment would have better 
light gathering power though. I have several of these in my junk box
waiting for some use.

The flash unit in the camera makes a good high power pulse transmitter.
You can modify it to work as a strobe to transmit at some low rep
rate or externally trigger it. Replacing the large storage cap with 
a smaller one enables faster flash rates without burning up the 
tube.

-toast

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you wrote:

Sirs,
I couldn't find any idea through a search engine, so I ask to the 
largest community of "optical builders" I know of. Please reply directly 
since my request is off-topic. Thank you for you patience.


After few days in the hands of my daughter, a point and shoot 35mm 
camera plastic has started to break apart... time to put it aside and 
start opening it up.

The viewfinder lens is good for a macro addition to my cameraphone 
(instead of a much smaller DVD laser head lens!). Then there are 
electronics, motors, flashes, and ... the motorized 35-60 mm (f/4,3 to 
f/6,3) zoom.

Is there any useful re-use of that piece of optics? Not necessarily in 
front of my never-finished light receiver... I know the focus area is 
pretty wide, 35mm in fact :-), way larger than any photosensor, so an 
opto-RX might not find that zoom too useful.

Any idea is welcome, also for reusing other parts I will find inside the 
camera.


I wish you all a Bright 2011,
Paolo IK1ZYW