Cell phone camera lenses

[Teppanyaki]

As if I needed another hobby to spend money on . . .

I've dabbled in photography in the past, and my current camera is an old Canon A590 with manual controls (a bigger "point-and-shoot"). I can't remember the last time I used it. What I use 99+% of the time is my iPhone camera, since . . . it's with me.

Recently, I've seen articles on lens adapters for cell phone cameras. An example would be PhotoJojo (http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/cell-phone-lenses/), or OlloClip (http://www.olloclip.com/). Unfortunately, the OlloClip requires a special case.

Does anyone use these? How good are they, and how practical? I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum from a dSLR enthusiast - while I love high quality photos and would love to play with bokeh/depth-of-field/etc, the general hectic nature of life and conveience/portability dramatically outweigh that. As such, the idea of a lens or two that I can fit into a pocket sounds pretty darn appealing.

I do realize that the overwhelming factor in a good photograph is the skill of the photographer. A skilled photographer with a cell phone camera would take vastly superior photos to me using the best dSLR on the planet.

Thoughts?

 

[Legion]

Olloclip doesn't need a case for iphone, it just attaches over the corner. They are the better of the ones I have played with.

 

[lister]

Can I ask what phone platform you are using?

The reason that I ask is the need for an retrofit lens may not be necessary on some devices. I would use the comparison of an iOS or Samsung Galaxy, or an LG device versus something like the Nokia Lumia 1020. The shots I've seen from the Lumia far surpass anything in terms of raw data captured (not RAW) and would allow an enormous amount of scope for post processing.

We use iOS devices primarily for infield data capture and they do the job quite well, but I've noticed that the quality in almost all conditions with the Nokia is far superior - it appears to be more about the camera quality than the phone side of things.

You've hit the nail on the head in your second sentence - its what you have with you. I wonder whether something like the Lumia would achieve what you are looking for and its all built into the phone.

David is spot on with the Olloclip that its a good attachment. I did not recommend them for field purposes simply because the devices get roughed up and getting the phone out of the rugged case was problematic in-field.

Re: the Nokia its worth noting you're not going to get the fisheye/wide-angle and macro lens capability that the Olloclip will provide.

 

[Teppanyaki]

I'm using an iPhone 4s, which has a Speck case on it (hence the OlloClip is out). I do wonder if a good app would make any significant difference.

41 MP camera for the Lumia 1020?!!??!!?!?!??! I'm not sure what technology they're using nowadays, but my understanding of low light shooting is that larger sensors capture more light and thus better shots. A higher megapixel sensor of equivalent size (their sensor must be huge to compensate) thus suffers from less light per pixel. I'm assuming that backlighting the sensor isn't the only hardware trick these days.

I doubt that I'd get into post-processing much, simply for time and skill purposes. Cropping, red eye reduction, maybe white balance if I knew what I was doing, . . . pretty basic stuff.

What I really need to work on is composition. A shot of my kid with a trashy background doesn't really add much . . .

 

[lister]

I don't doubt that some apps will take an average shot and make them look very good, at least on a phone screen, but they rarely hold up to the same standard if you want to print or show the image on a larger screen.

I'm happy to be corrected as I can't recall the exact specs at the moment, but I believe the 1020 has a significantly larger sensor as well as higher pixel count; but you are right than an equivalent sensor with higher resolution wouldn't capture light as well.

 

[fast14riot]

Find a good app and learn the basics of composition and the "exposure triangle" and use the shoe leather zoom. Its been a while since I have used a 4s, my wife had one for a short time (she hated it), but it didn't allow hardly any control over the shot.

There is tons of info out there about "iphone-ography" even whole sites devoted to it, do a bit of digging, study the shots you like and start to actively apply it to your own shots.


-X

 

[lister]

... use the shoe leather zoom.

Right up there with the Series 1 Mark I Vision Facilitators