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Review: Easy-Macro Cameraphone Lens
There are a number of macro lenses made for the iPhone and most of them work really well. The problem is that many of them require that you either use a special case that the lens screws into or you have to use some other kind of contraption to secure the lens to your iPhone. A macro lens gives you the ability to take pictures from a short distance and is best used to capture small detail. Flowers are a popular subject for macro lenses, but you can find some other very creative shots taken with them. The Easy-Macro Cameraphone Lens by Muses Consolidated, LLC, has to be one of the most simple and effective designs for a camera accessory I've ever encountered. It's a misnomer to call it a cover, as it is actually just a very thick band that stretches across your phone with a lens mounted into the band. The hardest part is aligning the lens correctly, so that the band doesn't cut across your iPhone lens. The lens offers 4x magnification and is made from optical-grade acrylic. The synthetic rubber band is 1mm thick and 3/8 inch (9.5mm) wide. You simply stretch the band around the iPhone and position the macro lens over your phone camera lens, and you are ready for your closeup, Mr. DeMille. (I don't recommend you take macro pictures of people, unless you are documenting pores or other unsavory skin conditions, although you can get a nice shot of your fingerprints.) The Easy-Macro has been tested with a variety of devices from the fourth-generation iPod touch up to 10-inch tablets. It is only limited by how much you can stretch the band, but guaranteed to work on devices up to eight inches wide. Currently, the band is available only in blue (except for some special lenses made in red for Lancôme Paris), but Muses Consolidated is investigating the use of other colors. I used the Easy-Macro on my iPhone 4 and tried it horizontally and vertically, with and without my Mophie Juice Pack battery case. I crawled around a local pond amidst the goose poop and other unidentifiable brown goo to capture pictures of amazingly small flying creatures and teeny flowers. I even made friends with a damselfly who elected to pose on my knee for all of 10 seconds! Unfortunately, the Juice Pack turned out to be a tad too thick to use the Easy-Macro length-wise and I tore the band while wrestling it on. Adam Hicks, inventor and president, thinks that it was a manufacturing defect and that the band should not have torn as it did. You can see from the picture below that it did not tear off the lens, but the band itself developed a hole. The only reason you might want to put the Easy-Macro on length-wise is if you want to use the iPhone flash, which actually puts too much glare in a closeup photo, but it was interesting to test it. The lens is secured to the band with glue and to date, each lens is hand-glued to the band. The glue is their secret sauce and works very well. Muses Consolidated will gladly replace the product if it accidentally tears as it did for me. The replacement product sent did not exhibit the same problem, but the band got stretched out from using it on my thick Mophie case. It took a day for it to contract to fit the iPhone without a case again. In the rare case of a broken band, Muses Consolidated requests that you send the broken product back and they'll replace the Easy-Macro free within 30 days of purchase. After that time, they will replace the product for US$5 (plus shipping for International customers) as part of their Customer for Life program. The site claims, "with Easy-Macro you get a perfect macro shot every time." Unfortunately, that's just not true. As with any new lens, you need to practice to get a good macro shot in which the focus is where you want it, plus learning to hold the iPhone perfectly still is a black art. Once you've mastered shaky hands, uneven surfaces and adjusting the lens correctly, then you can get a perfect macro shot every time. A successful Kickstarter campaign for a redesigned lens was completed in September. The product, expected to ship in 2014, includse a redesigned lens with more contact between the lens and band. Muses Consolidated's hope is to reduce the labor-intensive assembly time. The Easy-Macro sells for $15.00 and comes wrapped around credit card-sized laminated cards with instructions. I think the current product is a good choice for a holiday gift because it's inexpensive, provides hours of fun and is easy for anyone to use; plus it costs very little to ship to someone. You can see a selection of a photographs I made in the slideshow below.
Kickstarter hits a million backers, impoverished design students rejoice
Despite these shaky economic times, people still have the time -- and money -- for modded Arduino kits, iPhone lens and air guitar mods. Kickstarter users have now pledged over $100 million to projects, with the number of backers leaping from around 250,000 in September last year to over one million. The crowd-funding site is marking the occasion with visualizations of its vital statistics, showing, among other things, that one-time backers make up the bulk of investment. With over 13,000 projects green-lighted so far, projects still vying for our investment dollars include a caterpillar-tracked smartphone robot, a bike light that attaches to your spokes generating an 8-bit light show and an energy recovery unit that picks up on heat from a dryer exhaust. If the idea of heat exchanges gets you all hot under the collar, check out Kickstarter to help give the creators a fiscal foothold.
Olloclip three-in-one lens for iPhone 4 review
The age of lugging around a pricey DSLR kit just to capture casual fisheye, wide-angle and macro photos may be nearing its end -- for some of us, at least. Designed by a startup duo in California, the Olloclip was the first project featured in our Insert Coin series, and we were thrilled to learn not only that it was successfully funded, but that the device is ready to ship to both early supporters and new customers just two months later. The accessory brings the functionality of all three lenses to the iPhone 4, and it does so well enough to warrant leaving your pro kit at home on occasion -- assuming, of course, that your photographs aren't responsible for putting food on the table. While a bargain compared to its professional equivalents, $70 is a lot to spend on any iPhone accessory, so the lens's price tag may not sit well with some users. Also, design limitations mean you won't be able to use the lens with other devices, and there's no way to guarantee compatibility with future iPhones as well. Nonetheless, we had a blast shooting with the Olloclip, and we think you will too. Head past the break to find out why.%Gallery-128329%
Insert Coin: Olloclip three-in-one lens for iPhone 4 (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. We typically prefer to mount our macro, wide-angle, and fisheye lenses directly on a DSLR, but lugging around a pro-level kit isn't always an option. The olloclip adds some flexibility to your iPhone 4's camera, complimenting the built-in lens with a three-in-one optic that clips onto the phone and can be stored in your bag or pocket when not in use. The attachment includes three lenses: a 180-degree fisheye on one side, a wide-angle lens on the other, and a 10x macro that's revealed after unscrewing the top of the wide-angle. Based on the intro video, the wide lens appears to have some rather significant barrel distortion, so we hope inventor Patrick O'Neill and designer Chong Pak are able to work that out before this hits production. A $45 pledge to this Kickstarter includes one olloclip, which you're getting at a 25 percent discount. Lenses should ship 4 weeks after the project hits its $15,000 funding goal -- if it does hit that goal -- and are expected to retail for $60.
Magnetic / detachable lenses suddenly make cellphone cameras fun
Not that we haven't seen patently absurd lens attachments for mobiles before, but we've yet to come across any that were this universal (and be to honest, this useful). Sure, one could argue that a detachable wide-angle, fisheye or 2x telephoto lens made for a cellphone camera is more likely to do nothing than something, but we prefer to look on the sunny side of things. In other words, it's totally worth $16.99 just to be able to make your subjects pause as you whip out the correct lens for the occasion... which you're photographing on your C905.[Via OhGizmo]
