Lens device for smartphones

[oldandslow]

According to the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 91616.html
Sony has announced a new camera lens device that is intended to be used with smartphones. It comes in $500 and $250 models. The devices can be attached to smartphones or used independently. I don't have a smartphone but it appears that a lot of Portland Hikers use smartphones for much of their photography. I wonder if there really is a market for this device at this price.

[Gorgehiker62]

I actually have one that slips on my i-Phone, however it only cost $8 and does an amazing job. Plus you can reverse it for either telephoto or fish-eye. Granted the quality doesn't compare to my Leica or D7000, but it's certainly amazing. And it simply slips over the corner where the lens is!

Gorgehiker62

[Gorgehiker62]

And lest I speak without providing some sort of documentation I purchased it at Niftyspot.com. I receive regular "deals" from them and in this case the add-on lens was $8.99 with free shipping. I see now it is $50 which is what they said its original price was, but since I can't say anything about the quality I'd question how much it's really worth. I can say that everyone tells me the pictures are great!

http://niftyspot.com/phones-accessories ... -lens.html?

[Splintercat]

I picked up a 5-lens set from Photojojo for about $100, still experimenting with them. The main complication is that while they're advertised to work on "your phone or phone case", the fact is that the little magnetic mounting rings need to attached to the glass on your iPhone -- not a case. This means carrying your camera around without crash protection, so kinda worrisome. I bought a bumper-style frame for it that allowed for the magnetic ring to work, but had to stack three of them to bring them flush with the bumper frame (so that the lenses would seat property).

It's a little hinky, but if they pictures work out, then I suppose it will be worth it. I pretty much view it as a novelty thing -- never intended to replace a dSLR or quality lens, but fun to work with.

At some point, I'll post some demo photos.

Tom