The great thing about this method is that you don’t need glue, tape, liquid nails, or anything messy. All you need are four things that you might already own:

1. The first thing is a single lens reflex camera. For this example I am using a Pentax K1000, but it should work with any SLR including most digital SLR cameras.
   
   

2. The second thing you will need is a body cap. If you bought your camera new, the body cap was probably in the camera when you pulled it out of the box. This is the cap that you would have removed before you attached your lens. If you don’t have a body cap you should be able to pick one up for cheap on Ebay.
   
   

3. The third thing you will need is an inner tube from a bike tire. You probably have a bike in your garage with a flat tire, so that will work perfectly. If you don’t have a flat, you can pick one up an Wal-Mart, but it could cost about $20. If you live close to a bike shop I would bet they could give you a flat inner tube for free.
   
   

4. The fourth thing on the list that might be the hardest thing to track down is a lens from a junk camera. If you hit your local thrift shop or an antique store it should be relatively easy to find a lens that will work. As you hunt for a lens there are a couple things to consider. First, it will be to your advantage if the lens is easily removed from the camera. If the shutter mechanism is part of the lens (as is common with older cameras) you will have to figure out a way to keep the shutter open permanently. This could be a challenge. You want the lens to be thin. A half inch is ideal. If your lens is too thick it will be too bulky to tilt and shift. For this example, I used the lens off a really old (but common) Argus 35mm camera. The lens is easily removed. It has a “T” setting for a shutter speed that keeps the shutter open for long exposures. This is handy for our needs because we want the shutter open permanently. If you go with the lens off an Argus don’t pay more than $10 because these are really junky cameras.
   
   

Now that you have all your supplies you are ready to start building your tilt-shift lens. Depending on the SLR you have and the type of lens you were able to secure, the following steps could vary quite a bit. Use the following instructions as a guide and improvise to suit your needs. The general idea is that you cut a section of a bike tire inner tube and stick your body cap in one end and an old lens in the other end. The rubber tube flexes enough to hold both parts tightly and it lets you move the lens freely in any direction that you desire.

Step 1: Remove lens from your junked camera
Strip away everything that you can so that you are left with as thin and small of a lens as possible. You can click on any of the images in this tutorial to see a larger photo. The third photo below shows what the Argus lens looks like from the back.

Step 2: Prepare your body cap
The body cap that I had was made of a soft white plastic, so I was able to use an exacto knife to cut out the center circle. Once you have the center of the body cap cut out you are ready to stick it in the inner tube. I started with a section of the tire that was about 4 inches long. You want more than you actually need so it is easier to work with. We will cut off the excess later. The diameter of the bike tire inner tube is quite a bit smaller than the lens cap, so it will take a bit of stretching and pulling to get it in there. It takes a bit of work, but the result is a tight fit that won’t move after you get it in there. That’s a good thing. At this point you can test to make sure that the body cap still fits in your camera.

Step 3: Insert Lens in the inner tube
Now in the other end of the inner tube you can insert you lens. The diameter of my lens was smaller than the body cap so it isn’t quite as much work to make this side fit. At this point you need to start thinking about focal length (the distance that you lens will be from your film. This is important because it will determine what is in focus at certain distances from your camera. If you want to take photos of things at midrange to far away you will want the lens to be as close to the film as possible. If you want to take pictures of things really close to the camera (macro photography) you should keep the lens further from the film. I couldn’t decide what I wanted so I left a little extra rubber so that I could move the lens depending on what kind of mood I was in.

A SLR like the Pentax K1000 lets you remove your lens without exposing the film, so if you want to adjust your tilt-shift lens halfway through the roll, just take the lens off, make adjustments and reattach. The other thing that makes an SLR ideal for this homemade tilt-shift lens is that what you see through the viewfinder is exactly what will end up on the film. So as you are moving your lens around you are getting a perfect preview of what is and what isn’t in focus. Test your tilt-shift lens out as you are building it to help you get a better idea of what to expect from it. Once you know where you want the lens to be positioned in the inner tube you can cut off any excess rubber.

Step 4: Attach your tilt-shift lens to your SLR
Now you have a tilt-shift lens. Depending on how tightly your body cap fits into your camera you may need to secure it better so that your lens doesn’t fall out. You can see in the photo below that I used some extra rubber from the tire to make large rubber bands that hold the lens on more securely. It makes an already ugly lens a little uglier, but it does the job. I think some body caps might screw into your camera body, and if you can find one like that then you wouldn’t have to worry so much about the lens falling off.

Step 5: Hack your camera so you can use its light meter
Your tilt-shift lens should work as is, but you probably won’t be able to use your camera’s light meter. If you want to have a working light meter there is one more hack that you will have to perform. Usually without a “real” lens on your camera body the light meter will be disabled. I can only speak for the Pentax K1000 so you will have to experiment with other models. If you find a solution for other kinds of cameras, please share your advice in the comments below. On the Pentax K1000 there is a tiny latch on the right. When a lens is put on the camera it turns this latch about an inch and a half and this turns the light meter on. I used a small piece of a twisty tie to wedge this latch into the “on” position. You will want to be careful that you don’t damage your camera as you are doing this. You will also want to be sure to remove the twisty tie before reattaching your other lenses.

Congratulations! You are done. If you had all the ingredients already it cost you nothing. If you had to buy everything from scratch it didn’t cost you more than $150 and you that includes a 35mm SLR! That is cheaper than a lensbaby!

Pentax K1000 = $100
Bicycle inner tube = $20 or less
Argus 35mm camera = $10
Total = Under $150!

Last but not least, here are a few samples from the first photos taken with my homemade tilt-shift lens:

References:
I was inspired by a post on mkaz.com where Marcus Kazmierczak attaches a lens with bellows onto a Nikon SLR. If you want to learn more about tilt-shift lenses, Wikipedia is a good resource.