By Alexander George. This article was originally published on The Wirecutter, a “list of great technology” curated by Wired alum Brian Lam.
The iPhone’s camera is good, but we spent a good amount of time searching for the best gear to make it better.
On top of the homework, we also spoke to some friends from Instagram, like Jessica Zollman, one of the original members of Instagram’s community team. And photographer Cole Rise, a designer of some of the filters (including the “rise” filter) and the Instagram app icon itself.
We started out with a list of a few dozen accessories, but since most of the value of the iPhone comes from its apps, there are very few accessories that will really improve your shots, and honestly, only the Olloclip — first up in our gallery, and described below — is the must-have device in this list. The rest are good, useful and novel, and if you have a specific need in mind, proven technology.
Best iPhone Wide Lens: Olloclip
The Olloclip slips on over the iPhone’s corner and, depending on which direction it’s turned, gives a fish-eye, macro, or wide-angle effect to your shots. The simplicity and sturdiness of its design trumps other lens options that are obtrusive, flimsy and inconvenient by comparison.
Wired magazine’s iPhone lens round-up test bullet-points its qualities: “A must-have for Instagram addicts. Attaches in seconds. The most versatile lens set in the test.” Jessica Zollman, a member of the community team at Instagram, attests: “It’s my favorite for amazing macro photos and I carry it around with me everywhere I go. You never know when some beautiful bug is gonna pose long enough for you to snap its picture. There are some pretty incredible photographs on Instagram tagged with #olloclipmacro too.”
Laptop Magazine agreed, and expounded on the potential the device unlocks. They noted that a dedicated point-and-shoot couldn’t swap a fish-eye for a macro as quickly as the Olloclip can. Macworld like that “the fisheye and wide-angle lenses also have secure, plastic lens caps, so you don’t need to worry about the glass getting scratched while bouncing around in a bag with sharp items.” Engadget held lenses to professional standards, and only found “minor barrel distortion” compared to that of a DSLR’s wide-angle lens.
The one grievance reviewers agreed on is that the Olloclip can’t attach over an iPhone case. This was a deciding point for iLounge, with its staff of iPhone case advocates. They said, “In short, despite its capabilities, the 3-in-One Photo Lens wasn’t something any of us would actually use, and mounting was as much to blame as anything else.” But if you’re anything like our own Kyle VanHemert or Instagram superstar Doctor Popular, both of whom carry their phones au naturel, this isn’t a problem.
The Olloclip has few competitors, but the devices that perform a similar function are complicated and expensive. Still, The Tech Block found that Schneider Optic’s iPro Lens System, which attaches its lenses to a metal iPhone casing, is great. It’s image quality, especially with the fish eye, is much better. They said, “The Olloclip, you see, goes for $69, while the iPro Len System will set you back almost three times that, at $199.” They added: “…for casual users who’d like to spice up their phone’s camera without breaking the bank or toting around extra hardware, the Olloclip’s just fine.”
Is the Schneider Optics system worth the extra $130? We don’t think so, but the coated glass on the lenses is, as Wired explains, the same quality as low-distortion SLR hardware. Reviewer Grayson Schaffer says, “When the whole rig is on, the iPhone feels like a serious camera, even though the mount means that some quality is lost between lens and sensor.”
Another option is something like Photojojo’s Dial. The case, while intriguing, hasn’t had any evaluative coverage. For us, at $70, (the dial will run you $250) the Olloclip still wins.
Other companies have figured out how to attach a true SLR lens on the iPhone, but no one seems to think the rigging is worth the effort. One example is the Turtleback TurtleJacket SLR Mount, which isn’t responsible for the problems involved with DLSR-ing an iPhone. Since the phone doesn’t have a correcting mirror, you’re shooting all images upside-down while manual focusing.
For the money, the Olloclip can’t be beat.
