rcorne001 Loc: Cary, NC

My son-in-law is looking at iPhone attachment telephoto lenses. I thought it would make a great Christmas gift, but know nothing about them. A quick search show them running from $20 to $75. He would use them for casual photos, family snapshots, etc., so I don't think a "professional" grade is warranted but on the other hand I don't want some cheap thing that looks as if it were a gumball machine prize. I believe his phone is a couple years old.

Recommendations and suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I have a set my daughter gave me.
Not the best quality in the world, but they work.
But I have to take the phone out of the case to use them as the case is too thick for the lenses to mount when the phone is in the case.

rcarol

I have a set and they are not worth the money they cost. In fact, they are not worth owning even if free.

rck281 Loc: Overland Park, KS

Why would anyone ask if a $20 lens is any good?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

rcorne001 Loc: Cary, NC

Perhaps if you would take an extra 5 seconds and actually reread my post you would see I mentioned the SEARCH returned results in that price range. Not that i thought they were any good.. Sheesh.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

FreddB Loc: PA - Delaware County

[quote=rck281]Why would anyone ask if a $20 lens is any good?[/quote

Because it’s for a phone, not a camera

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

All sarcasm and snarkiness aside (is that a word ?) here's the drill:

Sublemtry telephoto and wide-angle lenses have been around for a long time as were diopter filters or lens attachments. They were popular in the day when there was a plethora of 35mm and other popular film cameras with fixed lenses. There were never as good as to IQ, acutance, sharpness, or mitigation of aberrations as actual interchangeable lenses. They did, in a manner of speaking, work, in that , in the case of telephoto modes, add some magnification of distant subjects. There was also another monocular device like Bushnell's Biniphoto rig- half a binocular fitted to cameras and there were many other telescopic devices on the market that were are somewhat better than the more inexpensive supplementary accessories.

Nowadays, it seems that some of this merchandising and marketing approach has been reincarnated for cellphones. The might be slightly better than the so-called zoom feature in some cellphone cameras. To date, I have not found the built-in zoom feature of any value in my latest cellphone.

It might be fun to try one out if only a small investment is made. It might be surprisingly good for what it is meant for, or totally disappointing.

All this anti- cellphone rhetoric is silly. I do photography for a living and have all sorts of sophisticated gear but still enjoy fooling around with my cellphone camera. Nowadays, a trip to McDonald's with grandkids will set you back 20 bucks- so why not experiment with a cheap toy! Some the ads say they will refund your money if you are not satisfied!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Most definitely!!!!!

Too many riding tall horses.

Still a camera, just in a different box.

Domtom999

I bought an xyz adapter from celestron. I ordered it from b&h for around $55. It allows me to mount my cell phone to my “is” canon binoculars which provide a pretty good picture. Sure it not as good as my slr but still it was pretty neat to those who like gadgets. Ofcourse if you can lug around binoculars, adapter, and cell phone, you could just take your camera. The point is, the adapter would make a great gift and it is very tough and solid. Don’t buy any of the cheaper adapters available. They are crap and flimsy. You’ll never get a decent picture from them as they are too weak to hold the optics steady enough to get a picture. The xyz adapter lets you mount your cell phone to any pair of binoculars, spotting scope, or telescope with an eye piece you can clamp onto. I know it’s a bit early but Merry Christmas.

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

I am only familiar with Moment lenses of which my favorite is the 18mm wide. Moment makes quality lenses for your smartphone but their price range is around $100.00. Also, you would need to use their moment Phone case in order to mount the lens.

ggenova64

Check out olloclip.

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Actually, I just moved up from my IPhone 8+ to the 13 Pro Max. I don't have a need for my Moment lenses anymore.

mymike Loc: Tucson, AZ

I just bought Sandmark ND filters for my IPHONE to shoot video. I have not used them yet.