A Photographer Reignited His Passion By Building a Custom Lens, Then He Founded an Optics Company

Photographer Thomas Spicher has founded a lens company, Adapted Optics, and built what he calls the “Everyday Lens.” It features a 3D-printed body and a simple camera lens salvaged from a disposable camera. It promises to combine the character of a disposable film camera with the build quality and control that modern photographers expect.

How It Started

Spicher tells PetaPixel he first had the idea for the Everyday Lens when he picked up a Kodak VR35 K12 point-and-shoot camera at a thrift store. He wanted to take the little lens out of the camera and use it on his own mirrorless camera.

Kodak VR35 K12

“The Kodak VR35 K12 was the very first camera that I decided to tear apart and adapt to my mirrorless camera. I got really lucky because it had these little helical teeth and a brass ring. I essentially just press fit the optic into a base that interfaces with my camera. It gave me a usable focus range and a pretty sharp little prime lens,” Spicher says.

“It opened the door for me to adapt other optics like it, so I experimented with a bunch of different types of glass. Some lenses were sharp, some were dreamy, and some were awful. My YouTube audience would always comment things like, ‘Someday we’ll be able to buy Tom’s lens.’ I started to notice this pattern and decided that I should take my design and work on turning it into a real product,” Spicher continues.

Thomas Spicher with a bunch of lens parts

The Everyday Lens

As “awesome” as the Kodak VR35 K12’s lens was, it was too difficult to source, so Spicher ultimately settled on a very common lens found in many disposable cameras. While he doesn’t say specifically which one it is, he says it’s easy to source, and every Everyday Lens features the same optics.

His lens comes in a wide variety of mounts, including Sony E, Canon RF, Nikon Z, L-Mount, Fujifilm X, and Micro Four Thirds. They’re all manual focus and include interchangeable apertures. The included apertures, which photographers can easily swap in at any time, include f/7 (open), f/10 (everyday), f/16 (control), f/23 (motion), and a cross-shaped creative one to change the look of bokeh.

While the different lenses are mostly the same, Spicher notes that different flange distances and mount designs complicate things a bit. Each lens is designed to focus at infinity, but depending on the mount, the optics inside the lens have to move around a bit.

“Leica and Canon have the largest flange distances among the mounts I offer, so the lens needs to sit closer to the camera body. Nikon has the shortest, so the lens needs to be positioned farther forward to focus properly at infinity,” Spicher says.

“Then there’s focusing. You need to position the optic farther from the sensor to focus on closer objects. Combine that with each brand’s flange distance, and you have a good understanding of what goes into the design.”

Forming a Company

Spicher says that if someone had told him a few years ago that he would have started a company selling camera lenses, he’d have laughed in their face. However, as he admits, life is unpredictable.

“This is the most in-depth project I have ever tackled in my life. It has required more hours than anything else I have ever done, but I’m loving every single moment of it.”

Spicher, who went to college for graphic design, says he never felt very passionate about his schooling. He was desperately looking for something more fulfilling.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Through trial and error, curiosity, and experimentation, I discovered that I wanted to make camera lenses,” he says.

He certainly hopes people want to buy his lenses, but he also hopes that people who see what he’s up to feel inspired to follow their own passions, even if it can feel scary or risky.

“Try something new,” he says. “It could pay off.”

While designing the lens itself was quite the challenge, Spicher says that all the other work was even harder. Things like branding, marketing, building the website, making packaging, and writing an instruction manual were even harder.

“There is so much to tackle, and it’s really easy to get burned out after you finish the fun stuff. The biggest challenge for me so far has been locking things down and crossing off every task needed to get my product ready for launch.”

Spicher says he never wants to be known as the guy who makes the sharpest or fastest lenses. He wants his company, Adapted Optics, to be known for doing unique things.

Why This Lens?

He knows that other companies have offered adapted disposable lenses, though. However, he says his competition often compromises too much on control. The Everyday Lens has precise manual focus, swappable apertures, and a customizable design.

Photographers can configure the lens’s focus ring texture, color, and mount. There’s also a version designed for cinema applications, which includes industry-standard mod gears so it can work with a follow-focus system.

Making the Everyday Lens customizable was a huge focus for Spicher.

“I always thought it was weird that camera lenses weren’t customizable. Creative people like to express themselves, so why shouldn’t they be able to choose the colors, textures, and details of something they carry every day?” he asks.

“I hope customization will always be a major part of Adapted Optics. But if offering thousands of combinations becomes the thing preventing the company from growing, or makes it impossible to manufacture lenses efficiently, I may eventually need to simplify the options,” Spicher continues.

Spicher hopes the Everyday Lens is fun for photographers to use and makes it easy for people to get out and take photos. It’s compact, lightweight, and offers something different than a traditional photo lens.

“I might be biased, but this lens reignited my passion for photography. I mean that wholeheartedly,” Spicher says.

Maybe it can do the same for other photographers, too.

Pricing and Availability

Adapted Optics’ Everyday Lens will be available to preorder soon. The first run is limited to 50 lenses, and they are built to order to the customer’s specifications. Photographers can sign up on the website to be notified at launch.

Image creditsAdapted Optics