What happens when you rip the camera lens out of an iPhone and replace it with a mount for actual cinema glass?
You get one of the strangest iPhone camera rigs ever built.
Creator Evan Monsma revisited an old experiment where he attached vintage movie lenses to a broken iPhone 13 Pro. His first attempt worked, but the mount was fragile, poorly aligned, and prone to light leaks.
So this time, he went much further.
Evan removed the phone’s original camera optics, exposed the sensors, and installed a custom-machined brass lens mount directly onto the frame using steel-stick epoxy. The metal mount is stronger, keeps the lenses properly aligned, and even helps dissipate the phone’s heat.
The best part?
With the right adapters, the iPhone can now use everything from tiny vintage C-mount cinema lenses to massive Canon EF DSLR lenses.
The results are surprisingly cinematic. He captures 4K footage with manual focus, sharp detail, a film-like 4:3 frame, and plenty of character.
It is far from perfect. It has pink edges from possible infrared leaks, no image stabilization, and some extremely awkward lens combinations.
But that is also the point.
This project is less about building the perfect camera and more about experimenting, making weird ideas work, and having fun creating something completely unnecessary.
Watch the full video to see how Evan turns a broken iPhone into a ridiculous, surprisingly capable cinema camera.
