If you’re serious about photography in terms of capturing images on your iPhone, you probably know that the camera on most mobile phones is quite limited to what you can do with it. On the iPhone 5 for instance, it’s a fixed wide angle lens which is limited to to how closeup you can shoot with it and you can only digitally zoom to bring far away objects closer. If you want to expand the capabilities of your iPhone 5’s camera, you’ll need to purchase add-ons for it from 3rd party manufactures that will greatly enhance it something more than just a regular smartphone camera. One manufacturer that has gained much popularity over the years with their add-on lens is that of olloclip. The olloclip is a 3-in-one lens that clips to the corner of your iPhone 5. It provides a fisheye lens, a macro lens, and a wide-angle lens depending on the orientation. On top of that, they also make an accompanying olloclip Quick-Flip case and Pro-Photo adapter.
Olloclip
Again, the olloclip is probably the most popular lens add-on on the market right now, or at least he most well known. It’s a simple add-on that basically slides onto the corner of your iPhone 5 where the rear camera is. The clip itself has 2 sides. One side has the fisheye lens converter on it while the other side is the macro lens/wide-angle lens. You switch between them by just flipping it to the side you want to use and slipping it over the camera lens. It’s a very simple and effective add-on.
The olloclip is mostly made of high quality plastic although the lens barrels are made of aircraft grade anodized aluminum. The lenses are precision ground glass multi-element optics. All that just means that the olloclip is a quality add-on and just some cheaply made item. The olloclip even comes with two lens caps to keep them protected and scratch free when not in use.
In case you don’t know what these lenses do, let me explain.
- Macro lens – This lens applies a 10x multiplier and allows you to take some really close-up photos. You’ll be able to snap images from around 10-15mm away from objects. This is great for taking photos of really small objects. You will need to unscrew the wide-angle lens attachment to use the macro lens.
- Fisheye lens – This lens captures approximately a 180 Degree field-of-view and produces a very distinctively distorted image.
- Wide-angle lens – This lens is screwed on over the macro lens. It allows you to take photos at an even wider field of view than that of the regular camera. Great for if you want to capture more in a frame.
Since these lenses provide optical enhancements, it means that the quality of your photos will not suffer. Yes there is software that can kind of do what these lenses can do, but you will not get the same kind of quality.
As great as the olloclip is, there is just 1 small flaw with it. You can not use the flash when the olloclip is attached. The clip itself covers part of the flash making it quite ineffective for flash photography. It doesn’t affect me though as I don’t use the flash at all.
Despite that, I find that the olloclip is a very good lens add-on. It’s easy to carry around and easy to attach when you want to use it. I like that it includes lens caps for protection and it also includes a small microfiber pouch to carry it in that can also be used to clean the lens. The package I got even included a fifth gen iPod Touch adapter so it can be used on that device as well.
Olloclip Quick-Flip Case + Pro-Photo Adapter
The next item I got from olloclip is their new Quick-Flip case which helps solve a major problem with the olloclip and that is the fact that you can not use the olloclip with a case. Whatever case you are using at this very moment will need to be removed in order to use the olloclip. For those who don’t use a case, this isn’t a problem at all but for those who do, it can be a hassle having to remove on each time you want to use the olloclip and then putting it back on once you are done. Because of this, olloclip now has a solution for iPhone 5 users, the Quick-Flip case.
The Quick-Flip case is a hard-shell, polycarbonate case that snaps-on the way a regular snap on case would. That means that it provides protection for the rear of the device along with all four corners and two sides. The top and bottom edges are exposed however. The area around the mute switch and volume buttons are exposed as well. It is very slim and very form fitting with very little added bulk.
This may seem like just a regular snap-on case, but it isn’t. You see, there is one very large difference with it. The corner where the rear camera is actually flips up and rotates allowing that corner to become exposed. This allows enough room for the olloclip to snap into place without needing to remove the Quick-Flip case. It’s pretty genius and a very good solution. Now you are able to use the olloclip and a case at the same time. Not only that, the portion that flips over can be rotated all the way around to the opposite corner and now functions as a shutter release lever since the corner of it presses up against the volume button used for that function. It’s a very neat feature indeed and makes it much easy to use like a real camera.
Included with the Quick-Flip case is the Pro-Photo Adapter. This is a little U-shaped attachment that slides into the bottom portion of the Quick-Flip case. It is not necessary to use but it does add several features that you may find interesting. For starters, it adds two tripod mounts to your iPhone 5, one for vertical use and one for horizontal use. This means you can easily use any kind of tripod with it like for instance, the portable Gorillapod. Another feature it adds is a cold-shoe mount for something like an add-on flash or LED unit. As an added bonus, the added bulk here works well as a hand grip when using your iPhone in landscape mode.
Overall, the Quick-Flip case and Pro-Photo Adapter is an excellent accompanying accessory for the olloclip. If you want a good case that works well with the olloclip, get this. It will really make your iPhone 5 into a true camera. Like with the olloclip, the Quick-Flip Case also came with a fifth gen iPod Touch adapter.
