From the course: Photo Gear Weekly

Smartphone accessory lenses

From the course: Photo Gear Weekly

Smartphone accessory lenses

- I'm sure just about every photographer has heard the old saying that the best camera is the one you have with you. The idea being, is that you want to have some sort of camera so you don't miss out on a photographic opportunity. It might not be the best camera for the particular scene or subject, but at least you'll get a photo. And for many of us, the camera that we always have with us is a smartphone. The problem is that smartphones aren't exactly flexible when it comes to photography. The built-in lens is a fixed, focal length lens. In this case, with my iPhone, I have the equivalent to about a 30mm lens, pretty close to what this lens would give me with a digital SLR. So a very compact package, but not exactly flexible. With some smartphones, we have multiple lenses and other tricks that enable us to zoom in on the scene and still retain good image quality. Usually with a smartphone, it's better not to zoom in because it's typically digital zoom and you don't have any way of getting a wider view, except through the use of accessory lenses. There are a variety of options available when it comes to accessory lenses for a smartphone. I'm using an iPhone here, and I happen to have the Moment lenses. As I've mentioned, the default lens here that I'm using with this smartphone is right about 30mm in terms of effective focal length. If I want a wider field of view, this lens will give me the effective view of an 18mm lens, a pretty good wide view, and this other lens will give me a 60mm effective focal length, not exactly telephoto but certainly getting me a little bit more reach compared to the default lens in the camera in the smartphone. Now in this case, I'm using a case specifically designed for my phone that accommodates the Moment lenses. There are some adhesive attachments that you can use to also attach the lenses. A variety of different solutions with different accessory lenses, but with this case, it's very easy. I can just line up the dot and then give it a twist of 90 degrees and that lens is now attached. So in this case, using my smartphone, I can now capture images at a wider field of view, and if I want a longer reach with my smartphone, I can attach that longer lens. So again, in this case, a 60mm effective focal length to give me more reach to my subject. So just a couple of examples, two lenses in this case, that give me a wider view or greater reach with my iPhone but there are a variety of different accessory lens options for different smartphones.

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