You probably have potatoes on the counter or inside the food pantry sprouting like this! Mine was in a pot outside and I grabbed my #olloclip lense. And here's what I captured.... Potato and the spider .... #ollocliplense #olloclipmacro #macrophotography
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The mobile photography industry has been growing since the first smartphones became widely available for everyone. We can observe the constantly improvement of the smartphone’s cameras. I guess it will increase year-on-year, however this hardware racing is not the main purpose of this article.
Alongside the new mobile-cameras technology the actual accessories industry seems to be in bloom as well. Flying drones, mobile steady cams, tripods, Bluetooth flashes, lenses and many many more became a wide range of thechoice to equip our mobile cameras with. That would be a great start to write totally separated article how XXI century became a generation of mobile photographers, however I will stop myself at this point and will focus on very small, but noteworthy bit - mobile cameras lenses.
As a freelance photographer after working hours I understand very quickly that dragging my DSLR to the work or wherever I am going to be is a total nonsense and it would be very helpful to have efficient camera with myself. I started my mobile-photography adventure with my first decent smartphone Nexus 5. After almost two years I have switched to Iphone 5s (main reason was camera and quality of the photos). Mobile lenses became my point of interest and I have started my research. Eventually I have decided to buy the Olloclip and took my mobile photography to the next level.
1. Introduction
The Olloclip brand includes a growing line of ground-breaking tools and accessories for the mobile photographer. Leveraging the phenomenal success of its flagship product, the Olloclip 4-IN-1 Photo Lens, the company continues to innovate with products such as the Telephoto Lens, Macro 3-IN-1 Lens and Quick-Flip™ case — all designed to push the parameters of what’s possible in mobile photography.
The KickStarter crowdfunding platform inspired founder Patrick O’Neill to evolve his Olloclip concept into a reality. Since then, Olloclip has attracted a legion of passionate users in just a few years’ time, not to mention distribution through Apple retail stores worldwide and through leading retailers across the globe. The company remains committed to finding new and exciting ways to enhance the mobile photography category — and make capturing and sharing life’s experiences more fun and creative.
We can buy the Olloclip lens in the various configurations (as well as all accessories but let’s skip this bit for now) directly from the manufacturer via the online store:
4-IN-1 $69.99
TELEPHOTO + CPL $99.99
MACRO 3-IN-1 $69.99
ORIGINAL 3-IN-1 $49.99
SELFIE 3-IN-1 $59.99
Lens is also available in the Apple Stores across UK (ORIGINAL 3-IN-1) for £59.99. Here I am going to say that I never would spend that money for this lens. The price is absolutely ridiculous. I would be rich or super professional photographer to spend £60 for it (even if I saw its true potential and many of taken with this lens). All I could do at the time was just a to take a deep breath and keep browsing Flickr... however sometimes life can surprise us very positively. I was waiting for my flight the other day, totally bored visited the small electronic store in the duty free zone. I saw the Olloclip lens for iphone 5/5s for £20 !!! After quick investigation and chat with the member of the staff (Mum..is this real?!) decided to buy it (who wouldn’t lol). And that how my adventure with the Olloclip has begun.
3. Performance
The Olloclip is made from the aircraf-grade aluminum with a precision-ground coated glass optics which leaves very good impression in hand. Two colors available:
black - red
black - white
Very briefly at this point it is worth to mention that three versatile lens options are included:
Fisheye
Wide-Angle
Macro (10x and 15x magnification)
4. First Impressions
Not too good, to be honest :D My first attempt to attach my brand new lens on my iPhone ended up with screwed screen protector in the top-right corner, which a little bit pissed me off. It took me a little while to learn how to quickly and properly attach the leans on the phone (as far I know some Olloclip cases are also offered which will allow us to avoid such situation). Generally do not have such problem anymore even if I am in the middle of the street and want to quickly take a photo. I am really pleased I am able to take my phone and my lens everywhere I go and be prepared to take a shoot.
Wide Angle
Definitely my favorite sort of lenses in general. I love the way I can catch the frame without necessarily moving around the objects to take a shoot. This is especially useful whilst taking landscape and street photos. I also use this lens to take photo shoots of skateboarders – sometimes it is very hard to catch whole skateboarder in the shoot because the weird angels you have to hold your phone (so actually you cannot control what you are doing however wide-angle helps to prevent missing body parts on your photos).
Below some comparisons standard vs. wide angle:
I do not have any negatives to write about wide-angle apart from occasional distractions around the ‘corner’ areas in the photos, especially when phone is in the vertical position. But I can forgive that considering this is JUST smartphone lens for £20.
Fish eye
It is the funny one. I do not use it that often for the photo shoots however it is a great lens whilst recording skateboarders and their tricks. The main advantage is that I can be really, really close to the moving object and still have a chance to include skateboarder and surroundings which make the whole shoot more interesting.
This lens has major blurring at edges and also significant chromatic aberration (again, especially when you are holding your phone vertically and generally it seems that photos are more affected than video clips)
Macro:
Used it literally twice - once from pure curiosity and the second time for this review purpose. I have never been a fan of macro photography and probably never will. However I gotta admit this is very funny kit even if it is very difficult to use. As much as taking 10x magnified photo is not a problem any attempt to take 15x magnified photo is a true challenge. Your hands cannot shaking otherwise you will never obtain clear focus.
Some examples below:
10x
15x
5. Summary
Pros:
- fun & creative
- mobile
- easy of use
- good quality of the materials
- good image quality compering to the different lenses offered in the market
Cons:
- pricey (unless you are the lucky one in duty free zone)
- you cannot use it with your phone case which is annoying
- blocks the lock button and partly covers flash
- macro focus is not amazing and tricky to take
- can push screen protector whilst attaching the lens
