In rec.woodworking, OFWW wrote:
Gray_Wolf wrote:
http://petapixel.com/2015/10/14/this...d/#more-186479
I was a little disappointed. Used glass lens with various aperture
shims.

Indeed.

Had it been a pinhole camera I would have been satisfied with the
"lens made out of wood" as it is the lens was glass, not resins from
woods, or even sap.

I've got a Zeroimage (http://www.zeroimage.com/), which is a beautiful
wooden box, but the lens is 100% brass[*]. The shutter is wood, however.
I've also got an 1880s teak camera with a wooden shutter, but brass
lens holders and glass lenses. The shutter on that one sits right in
front of the plate holder and is a little larger than the plate.

Now the mind wanders....rose colored resin, quick frozen in a mold,
final shaping and then the timed photo. Might even be a safe war to
create a retina?

Shellac a "byproduct" of wood could make a lens.

This is a topic that the Homemade Lens group on flickr might be able to
offer advice about.

https://www.flickr.com/groups/homemadelens/

Elijah
------[*] will accept corrections to the effect that is is a hole in the brass