Howdy from cold and snowy Colorado! I have a friend who has an iphone which she's trying to use to video playful river otters from her deck (she lives on the Colorado River.) She's wondering if there's any kind of attachment she can get for her iphone that will allow her to zoom in further to get a closer video of these cute critters. (She doesn't want to get down to the river level, because she's afraid she'll scare them away.) If anyone knows of anything, I'd appreciate info, so I can pass it on to her. Thanks for your ideas and suggestions!
There ARE 'add-on' accessory lenses that clip onto the iPhone, but I don't know how well they work. I can't imagine that they would be significantly improve your iPhone photography. You have not mentioned which model iPhone that your friend has. The current model, the 14, and even going back to the 12, have multiple cameras to get somewhat closer to the action without the need to use the digital zoom feature, which doesn't really work that well.
I bought a mid-priced clip-on macro lens for my wife's iPhone 12. It gave mediocre results and was very difficult to get the subject in focus. This was a macro, not a telephoto lens so I can't authoritatively speak about how well a telephoto lens works but I suspect the same. The other issue, is that the lens had to be clipped directly to the iPhone body so if your friend has her phone in any sort of jacket or covering, it'll have to be removed. And, of course, you can't leave the clip on lens attached to the phone and expect to slide it into your pocket.
My wife uses Moment lenses for her iPhone and they give decent results. You have to buy one of their cases for your phone that their lenses attach to. We tried a less expensive clip-on lens that did not give good results.
Thank you! I'm passing the info on.
Good info for her to consider - thank you for taking the time to reply!
Thanks. Yes, she said the in-phone zoom doesn't give her a very clear video and what you CAN see is a bunch of little black dots against the snow. Dare I suggest she buy an ACTUAL CAMERA with a good zoom?!? :-) A bridge camera, maybe? I have the Canon SX60 and it would do really well in her environment. Too bad she lives 75 miles from me!
jgangjr wrote:
My wife uses Moment lenses for her iPhone and they give decent results. You have to buy one of their cases for your phone that their lenses attach to. We tried a less expensive clip-on lens that did not give good results.
I use a Moment telephoto attachment, so I second jgangr's reply.
Thanks, Henry P! Great info!
Just a quick tip. Never use the zoom function on a phone when videoing. Video without zoom then zoom on playback only. Much better results will be had.
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.