You might be thinking of "Build the first Low-cost All Solid State TV
Camera!", by Walker, Garland & Melen, Popular Electronics, Feb '75
(just after the famous Altair issue).
It looks like Michael Holley hasn't scanned it in yet.
I remember a document from the 80s that described how
to take a DRAM
chip, decap it, and use it as a crude camera. I think I remember
something about a lens too. It might have been a joke...