Your phone's camera is (probably) already very good.
Photojojo recently introduced three phone lenses that'll make your photos look sick as hell.
Are these lenses a *must* for mobile photographers or just a gimmick? I reviewed them (on loan from Photojojo), so I could see for myself.
To use the lenses with a case, you need to place a removable plate on the inside of your case.
The plate is a mount with a little plastic nub that pokes out next to the camera. Line up the lens with the nub and attach.
After the lens is mounted, pull the bungee cord over opposite corners of your phone to fully secure it.
Let's start with my favorite model: the 180-degree, super subtle wide lens.
What I loved about this guy was how much information I was able to fit into one photo, without the often overly-dramatic look of a fisheye lens.
Without the wide lens.
With the wide lens.
The two, side-by-side.
You can capture a whole cenote that's ~200 feet in diameter.
With the wide lens, my landscapes felt more true-to-life. Everything in the photo appears a little bigger, a bit more epic.
Next up is the 10x magnifying macro lens, which gives photos a ~dreamy~ vibe.
And without the lens.
And now the two, side-by-side.
The lens's focusing distance is three millimeters, which means you need to get really freaking close to your subject.
The macro lens is great at capturing the texture of things like plants and food with a bokeh-esque look.
The catch is that you need to hold *very* still when you hit the shutter. It's tough to make photos look clear and in focus when you're outside and your hands are cold and shaky. But when you do get a good shot, the results are stunning.
Here's a photo taken with the 180-degree, full-frame fisheye lens.
And a photo without the lens.
And now the two, side-by-side.
Some fisheye lenses produce a dark circle around the photograph's edges but, with Photojojo's lenses, there's no light loss.
The lens doesn't work with waterproof, battery, or other generally bulky cases.
Photojojo hasn't figured out how to make their lenses work with bulky covers like Apple's smart battery case and Mophie's H2Pro yet.
This a big, big bummer. Why? Because the situations in which you need extra battery and protection from the elements are most likely the situations that you want to photograph. When you're out adventuring and doing fun, cool stuff, that's exactly when you'll want both your lenses and bulky, protective cases.
A workaround for the battery case is to get an external battery pack instead (they range from $15 to $35 on Amazon).
The lenses also doesn't work for cases that can fit extra cards or money, like the Bellroy's 3-Card offering. You'll have to stick with minimal, slim fit cases.
Flash doesn't work when the lenses are on.
The phone's flash produces a green-ish, reflective glow when the lenses are attached. It looks cool and lomo-esque with the macro lens, but is prohibitively obstructive with the wide and fisheye models.
This isn't a dealbreaker, but if you want to shoot at nighttime or in low light, you'll have to lug around an extra accessory to use flash with the lenses. Get a pocket flash or something similar. They cost around $25-$30 on Amazon.
Switching out the lenses is pretty annoying.
The Photojojo Iris series are high quality lenses offered at a not-outrageous price.
The Iris series is a good purchase for anyone looking to up their Instagram game.
