Review : Smartphone Add-On Lens Kit

Photography has always been of hobby of mine, easily spending over thousands of dollars on DSLR bodies and lenses. When I had the iPhone, the ability to take beautiful photos on the go was a welcome addition to compliment my hobby. With the Lumia 920, the camera was one of the deciding factors in purchasing the phone so of course I've been playing around with the camera frequently.

These add-on lenses have been out on the market for quite some time but I never got the urge to try them out when I had the iPhone. However, this time with the stellar performance of the Lumia 920 camera, I decided to pick them up to spur some creativity.

These type of add-on lenses for smartphone are available all over the internet; some specifically geared toward the iPhone and others a bit more universal with a magnet attachment system. I personally purchased mine on eBay for just over $10 for a set of three lenses.

The lens set includes a Fisheye (seen above), a Wide Angle, and a Macro. The wide angle and macro lens is actually a two-piece set. When combined, it functions as a wide angle lens and when you unscrew the top portion, the bottom portion becomes the macro lens.

In order to attach the lens, you're given a small magnetic ring which you stick on the camera body itself, something that may not appeal to some users. Without this magnetic ring, the lens can still be positioned onto the phone but it's easily knocked off. The magnetic strip is very strong for it's size and quickly snaps into place and is very sturdy.

So, how well do they perform?

First off, please note that all photos are straight from the camera and any references to focal length are in 35mm equivalent.

With that said, let's check out the differences in field of view. The Lumia 920 has a 26mm lens which is already decently wide, especially compared to the iPhone 4/5 which has a 30-33mm focal length. The following are shots showing a normal shot, wide angle shot, and fisheye shot.

OEM lens

Wide angle

Fisheye

The preceding shots were hand-held so they aren't exactly in the same position, but you get the general idea of how the field of view changes with the different lenses. With the wide angle lens attached, you already start to see major vignetting in the corners due to the Lumia 920's already wide OEM focal length of 26mm. A slight crop can easily take care of those corners however. On the iPhone 4//5 this isn't a problem since they have a bit longer focal length of 30-33mm. With the fisheye lens, vignetting is inevitable; some like it, some don't. You could crop it at the expense of a bit of field of view. In any case, the field of view is nearly 180 degrees and can make for some creative shots.

In terms of photo quality, the wide angle lens performs a lot better than the fisheye, with the latter showing more of a noticeable decrease in photo quality at the edges/corners. With both lenses, there is some loss of color/saturation and sharpness. A bit of post-processing could help cover up most of these flaws however.

The macro lens was actually my biggest surprise as the quality far exceeded my expectations. With the macro lens attached your focus range will become very short (1-2 inches) and the depth of field is extremely shallow, especially with a fixed aperture of f/2 . You'll need to manually move the phone to focus properly and once it locks on, the quality is pretty amazing.

The shot above was the closest the camera would allow focus. Put on the macro lens and ...

The details are amazing and extremely sharp, especially coming from an add-on lens like this for a smartphone.

From these initial tests, I can definitely say that it's worth the $10 or so to play around with these lenses. Admittedly I haven't gone out and done a full test yet but from my initial observations I have no doubt that I'll enjoy using these add-on lenses. You may have to do a bit of processing/cropping to get photos to your liking, but for that extra bit of creativity and ability to get a wider angle, these lenses are a must have.

Aside from photography, the main reason I decided to pick this lens set up is for shooting video. I enjoy attending a handful of motorsport events and having the ability to shoot wide angle on the phone will definitely spur some creative shots, especially with the fisheye which suits this type of genre. Of course I can use my DSLR to shoot video as well, but the ease of use of the Lumia 920 along with OIS will definitely enable me to capture video easier.

I'll update with some more photos/videos when I get a chance and look forward to getting some interesting shots when the first motorsport event I'll check out in a few months comes around.

Rating : 4.5 of 5

Pros : Easy/solid attachment, above-average quality, creative uses

Cons : Slight photo quality degradation, some may not like attaching the magnetic strip onto camera

Depending on your location, your best bet on picking up this type of product is probably eBay.