The cameras on phones might be getting better, but most of them still have a way to go before they realistically replace a digital camera. But the cameras on mobile phones have the advantage of always being at hand in these mobile phone-driven times.
If you have an iPhone or Android phone, there are some brilliant apps you can download to give you some neat photographic effects. That’s one way you can go to get some good looking, and unique shots.
Here’s another way. The good folk at Photojojo have developed two lenses that attach, by way of a magnetic ring, in front of your phone’s camera lens. The make a fisheye lens, and a macro/wide angle lens.
Lens specifications
- Macro lens focuses between 10-23mm from the subject
- Wide angle lens: 0.67x wide
- Fish-eye lens: 180 degree angle (0.28x)
- Lenses range between 15.8mm-25mm diameter x 6.5mm-15mm length
These two Photojojo lenses will fit all phones, but there is a caveat or two. The two lenses will work on the iPhone 4, but the flash on the phone will be partially covered. Also slightly troublesome is the iPhone 3GS, with the curve of the phone causing the fisheye and wide angle lenses to be seen in the captured images. A little photo cropping will remove the intrusion.
Price
Both lenses can be purchased from Amazon. The pricing is as follows:
- Wide angle/macro – US$20
- Fisheye – US$25
- Both lenses – US$40