Review – Olloclip for iPhone.
Today I am going to take a tiny break from App Reviews and instead talk about the Olloclip for iPhone because it deserves a review all of it’s own.
I have always been wondering about external iPhone lens attachments and was very close to buying one last summer but the salesperson said it was crap and turned me right off getting one. Then recently I saw some pictures from a friend and could not believe how cool they were. He directed me towards Apple Distinguished Educator Bea Cantors iBook ‘Calling Nature’ which focuses on use of the Olloclip. In the book Bea takes amazing macro photographs of bugs amongst other things and I was more than a little impressed by the quality and had to go out and get my own. Investigating further I discovered that the Olloclip attachment comes with a fish eye, macro and wide angled lens. I checked around for prices and in the end ordered one directly from Olloclip in the US. I ordered it on a Friday and on the following Monday it arrived. Given that we don’t have weekend post here in Ireland it is incredible that an item could get from California on a Friday to me just a few days later. A+ service for sure.
I was impressed right away and was taking photos of everything in sight from food items to plants, clothing and everything in between. Unfortunately the weather has been fairly bad here recently so finding bugs hasn’t been possible yet but I look forward to going on adventures like Bea when the weather gets finer.
The wide-angle and fish eye lens work as expected but my main interest was the macro lens which lived up to all my expectations. The trick is to get in very close to an item to get a clear picture but if you get in too close it blurs. This took a bit of practice but once I got the hang of it there was no stopping me. However, do be careful with animals I nearly poked my cat’s eye out trying to get a close-up. Forgetting how the lens extends from the back of the phone I was greeted with a MEOWWWWWW. Needless to say I gave up on that idea. In the process of taking photos I was amazed by a close-up of a simple coffee grain looked like a dinosaur and how a gherkin had an uncanny resemblance to a crocodile.
Would I recommend this extension? Well it does cost about €70euro but once you get it you will forget about the cost I have had a lot of fun with it and look forward to using it more and more.
The Olloclip can be purchased from HERE
Bea Cantors free iBook can be downloaded from HERE
Below are a few images I managed to take so far with my Olloclip