What Does It Look to Take a Photo With Half a Lens?

Viltrox has posted one of the more unusual photography demonstrations on Instagram recently, showing what happens when you take a photo with a lens that’s been sliced in half.

The short video, shared through the company’s Instagram, demonstrates the modified lens photographing a model dressed in a maid costume while revealing exactly how much of the image circle is actually being projected through the optics.

In the clip, the lens appears to have been cut vertically down the middle, exposing the internal optical elements while still allowing the camera to capture photos. The result creates a surreal behind-the-scenes look at how light travels through a lens, while also producing heavily obscured images with large sections of the frame missing.

The caption accompanying the post simply reads, “POV: When I take half an AF 35mm F1.2 LAB FE N lens out to shoot,” leaning fully into the absurdity of the concept.

A Strange but Fascinating Lens Experiment

While clearly intended as a playful social media experiment rather than a practical photography setup, the video has quickly drawn attention from photographers curious about the optical behavior of the modified lens. The exposed cutaway reveals internal glass elements, aperture placement, and the projected image path, in a way most photographers never get to see outside engineering diagrams or teardown videos.

The demonstration also unintentionally highlights how modern lenses project an image circle significantly larger than the camera sensor itself, allowing at least part of the frame to remain visible even when half the optics are removed.

Viltrox’s caption confirms that the lens used for the experiment was its Viltrox AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE, one of the company’s flagship full-frame autofocus primes for Sony E mount cameras.

Viltrox Continues Leaning Into Creative Social Content

Viltrox has increasingly leaned into more entertaining and experimental social content in recent years as the company continues expanding its autofocus lens lineup across Sony E, Nikon Z, and Fujifilm X mount systems. The brand has become particularly well known for offering fast autofocus primes and compact lenses that compete aggressively on pricing against more established manufacturers.

Using the AF 35mm f/1.2 LAB FE for the stunt is particularly notable given the lens’s premium positioning within Viltrox’s lineup. The fast full-frame prime is designed for professional and enthusiast shooters, making its dramatic destruction in the video even more attention-grabbing.

One thing is certain, though: photographers should probably not attempt this modification at home.

Image credits: Viltrox