After you have found the telephoto lens that you are willing to sacrifice (hopefully it's already broken), you will begin disassembling it. This is the hardest part of the entire procedure. You will be working with metal and glass, and if negligent, you could easily hurt yourself, so be careful. If you are unsure you can handle this, there are other ways of obtaining these lenses. You could just as easily purchase a macro lens for your phone online. A negative film magnifier would probably work for this project as well. I'm only suggesting to take apart a telephoto lens for a few reasons: 1.) You will be rewarded with a handful of various shaped lenses that are fun to mess around with. 2.) You get the satisfaction of successfully taking a complex mechanism apart, and 3.) you get to learn how it works. As you go along, just remember that you have to be smarter than the piece of metal or plastic you're working with.



Follow the tips in the photographs for common things to look for as you disassemble your lens. Wear gloves if you can and use the fishing pliers to unthread things you can't get your fingers on.