RedAdmiral Loc: Humboldt County, California

I recently bought one of those little kits with a handfull of clip on lenses for the camera in my cell phone. I mainly got them to play with and do a little macro experimentation. along with the macro, kaleidoscope, polarizer, cross screen filter, along with all that I bought the super telephoto lens. It's not all that great at extreme mags. It seems to have a bunch of chromatic distortion giving a reddish fringe on one side of bright objects and a blue on on the other side. Resolution is not all that great either despite using the tripod and remote exposure remote that came with the kit. I have gotten better resolution from other 12 mega pixel cameras. This is the best of a dozen shots of my neighbor's weather station on the top of his house. Probably 300 yards away against a forest. So, my question is, who makes a really good telephoto lens for cell phones?

(Download)

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Q: makes a really good telephoto lens?

Ans: A 300mm or longer lens mounted to an interchangeable lens camera, like a Nikon D7200, or Canon T7i, or Sony a7III and so forth ... For a cell phone? That's why cell phones can't quite replace cameras yet.

BTW: there's a cell phone (smart phone) photography section: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-135-1.html

fran120

I am using this lens
https://www.shopmoment.com/products/tele-58-mm-lens

Dan Thornton Loc: Corpus Christi, Texas

Samsung now offers a 10x optical zoom on their phones and it is quite good. Also, they make adapters for spotting scopes that work well. It is referred to as digiscoping.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

This kind of lens is not anythg new, it dates back to the 1950s and 60. They are called SUBLEMENTRY lenses. The original concept was to increase the magnification factor of the camera with fixed lenses There were many popular 35mm and twin-lens reflex cameras with non-interchangeable lenses. The performance of the supplementary lenses was usually mediocre to poor. There was indeed an increase in magnification but that came along with the introduction of a long list of optical aberrations some of which were the colour fringing and poor resolution in the sample image.

There were a few manufacturers that offered a different kind of supplementary lens. The Zeiss Contaflex and the Kodak Retina (called "convertible lense on certain models) come to mind. If I recall correctly, the front element of the fixed lens would be replaced by the accessory lens thereby changing the focal lenght- not the greatest but somewhat better than the add-on optic.

The deficiencies were not as apparent in small prints but became more obvious and problem ant at greater degrees of enlargement.

In the advertisements for the latest add-on cellphone lenses, they mention better construction etc, but there is no mention of image quality.

I suppose, if you shoot and only view your images on the cellphone screen, the effect may be sufficient. When you transfer the image to a larger screen or make prints, you will likely be disappointed.

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My experience with cellphone cameras is that although the lenses can be surprisingly sharp, they too lose quality when you zoom in, Perhas on some of the latest high-end modes with Leica optics, the performance may be better- I am not sure. This is not to disparage cellphone photography. I have lots of fun with mine and look forward to better zoom features with improved IQ.

ChrisKet Loc: Orange, CA

I’m having lots of fun with my new iPhone 12 Pro Max shooting raw format for sunsets, some landscapes and closeups; but found I could get the reach like I get with my Nikon D7100 and was contemplating getting that Moment lens you have, but wasn’t convinced yet. Now I’m sure I won’t get it. My photography is mostly around our travels and I make journals and photo albums of our trips, so I don’t need large wall hanging prints.

I posted in the Cell Phone photography section (which I highly recommend if you want to see what’s possible with you phone camera) and got a recommendation for a digiscope that has me intrigued:

https://www.phoneskope.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwktKFBhCkARIsAJeDT0jUZPjRAqZFmw_zB9t_ok-NUEOgdmfXplwOOMLx16oyFV7kGYNYm0caAv87EALw_wcB

I think I’ll continue to carry my Nikon for my vacation photos, but not use it quite as much while onboard the cruise ships.

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

No cell phone camera can match the quality of photos from a dedicated camera with interchangeable lenses. That said, cell phone cameras take very good photos with or without the clip on telephoto lens. The cell phone camera is the only camera that you always carry and have available whenever the opportunity arises.

gessman Loc: Colorado

If you want to see the potential in digiscoping check out Robert Wilson on Instagram and Facebook: https://www.instagram.com/robertgwilson1215/ and https://www.facebook.com/RobertWilsonPhotography

gessman Loc: Colorado

You might want to check out my post just above this one...