iPhone 12 mini How many Mini owners here?

[mpavilion]

In the days before Touch ID, I would usually only PIN-lock my phone when I was taking the train or in other crowded/public situations like that. It’s true that my phone’s in my pocket most the time and pretty unlikely to be stolen while I sit at my desk or whatever.

 

[prazakj]

Security? Well, not concerned personally. I've never lost an iPhone, nor have I had one stolen.

Interesting how many people do this. I even had a friend who (back at that time) had 5s and never secured that phone with passcode even despite it was a first iPhone with Touch ID and unlocking the device was far more convenient. Hopefully you will never lost you iPhone or wishfully you will never have something personal in your phone which you would miss. Fingers crossed.

 

[taneff]

Passcode is annoying, I find myself often typing too fast and then when typing in my passcode one number is missing because I started when iPhone was not ready, very annoying. With masks of course TouchID would be very nice, but in general I like both. Without any masks on, I find FaceID much more convenient and "invisible". But they should at last give us an option to open Homescreen with Face unlock without swiping. Still have no idea why this wasn't implanted yet. A major thing imo.

TouchID with iPhone 13 Mini would be major. But from latest rumors maybe only iPhone 13 Pro get it, integrated in display. Let's wait and see. But I don't think masks will go away anytime soon and TouchID would be a massive feature. No need for display TID, but at least power button TID.

Still, it is no there. Fact.

I would also disable passcode when not in public transport or the city etc. But I need Apple Pay and you can't use this without a passcode enabled unfortunately.

 

[Fthree]

I had one for a few days and loved it. The reviews on YT seemed a bit misleading as they stated it would get through an 8 hour day with moderate usage. I did not experience this. Loved it but needs a bigger battery even if it has to become slightly thicker I’d be ok with that.

 

[yticolev]

I would also disable passcode when not in public transport or the city etc. But I need Apple Pay and you can't use this without a passcode enabled unfortunately.

Yes. I forgot about Apple Pay because I don't use it. I did a few times when it was introduced, but to this day, a couple of key credit cards I primarily use are not compliant. So it is off my radar - and my security preferences. If it did still work with an unlocked iPhone, obviously that would be a huge security issue. On the other hand, stolen credit cards still work in stores and gas stations without an issue.

 

[Pathfinder3]

I have the 12 mini in black (256gb). I use my 12 Pro as my daily, but every now and then drop my SIM in the mini. I wished they made a mini Pro (extra camera and stainless steel band)

 

[DeepIn2U]

I'm still loving my blue mini, my buddy made fun of my "small Phone" yesterday but there is nothing I feel limited on doing on this size phone, in hand and pocket it just feels like the right size to me

I was considering the mini and probably would of gotten it if it had a telephoto lens. For me it’s more important than the ultra wide lens. I went for the 12 pro but I would of liked the 12 mini I like smaller phones

Can someone explain to me what the difference is with this telephoto and current lens on the 12/12 Mini that so many are not happy with? What is to gain/lose, why it’s so important to many? Focal lengths and all that technical photo mumbo jumbo is lost on me to be honest (why is 1.2 bigger than 1.8 Lol like backwards arithmetic).

I have the 12 mini in black (256gb). I use my 12 Pro as my daily, but every now and then drop my SIM in the mini. I wished they made a mini Pro (extra camera and stainless steel band)

Solid choice ~ especially with Spatial, Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless audio coming in 6 days! Honestly this is THE first time I purchased an iPhone, heck ANY phone that wasn’t black or had any shade of black or dark grey as the primary colour.


For those of you that think/hope/wanted a ‘Pro 12 mini’ … just know it IS a Pro ~ without the lens and larger battery. Converting Videos, recording videos (no RAW okay, okay) - it performs JUST as well as the Pro models with little given up.

I’ve attached a pic of the 12 Mini I own beside one of the last great Sony Xperia Compact (Android) phone from 5yrs ago. In its day it was in every way a top tier phone in the industry. Apple gave us a MUCH better mini than what Sony ever did with their compact lineup. Physical size is so close, width is exact as well as thickness. Yet the screen size is incredibly different.

 

[prazakj]

Can someone explain to me what the difference is with this telephoto and current lens on the 12/12 Mini that so many are not happy with? What is to gain/lose, why it’s so important to many? Focal lengths and all that technical photo mumbo jumbo is lost on me to be honest (why is 1.2 bigger than 1.8 Lol like backwards arithmetic).

I have been using iPhone XS with telephoto lens before 12 mini. It was better for quick switching lens for catching objects which needed zoom. When you don’t have a telephoto on mini, you can take that good closer photos because you are using digital zoom. I’m not a professional, but I more likely would be using zoomed photos (even despite my past Instagram account teached me to not use it for quality photos) rather than ultrawide ones. I just don’t have a much usage for that lens.

 

[secretk]

Can someone explain to me what the difference is with this telephoto and current lens on the 12/12 Mini that so many are not happy with? What is to gain/lose, why it’s so important to many? Focal lengths and all that technical photo mumbo jumbo is lost on me to be honest (why is 1.2 bigger than 1.8 Lol like backwards arithmetic).

I can tell you why telephoto is important for me and why I rarely use the ultra wide. Not sure if it would help you though.

So ultra wide - useful when you can't zoom out with your legs and you want to capture a wide scene. This for me rarely happens. Usually I take photos outside and there I almost can always zoom out with my legs. Plus with ultra wide there is always some lens distortion that I highly dislike. I can take it only with architecture shots and even then I don't always like it.

Telephoto is supposed to be for zooming in when you can't with legs. I rarely use it for this as this lens is rather slow. This means that not enough light enters the sensor when taking photos. As a result the photos are rather grainy - at least when it comes to long distance landscape. Where telephoto is helpful for me is for close up shots of objects (especially flowers) at not long distance. It also helps with portrait photos with less obvious background blur (sometimes the portrait mode is way too much).

In terms of usage I can say for me it is:

1. Wide lens (for like 80 % of the cases)
2. Telephoto lens (19 % of the cases)
3. Ultra wide (1 % of the cases)

 

[prazakj]

I can tell you why telephoto is important for me and why I rarely use the ultra wide. Not sure if it would help you though.

So ultra wide - useful when you can't zoom out with your legs and you want to capture a wide scene. This for me rarely happens. Usually I take photos outside and there I almost can always zoom out with my legs. Plus with ultra wide there is always some lens distortion that I highly dislike. I can take it only with architecture shots and even then I don't always like it.

Telephoto is supposed to be for zooming in when you can't with legs. I rarely use it for this as this lens is rather slow. This means that not enough light enters the sensor when taking photos. As a result the photos are rather grainy - at least when it comes to long distance landscape. Where telephoto is helpful for me is for close up shots of objects (especially flowers) at not long distance. It also helps with portrait photos with less obvious background blur (sometimes the portrait mode is way too much).

In terms of usage I can say for me it is:

1. Wide lens (for like 80 % of the cases)
2. Telephoto lens (19 % of the cases)
3. Ultra wide (1 % of the cases)

Similar usecase for myself. Note: software with iPhone 12’s lineup is far more better than it was with my XS.

 

[DeepIn2U]

I have been using iPhone XS with telephoto lens before 12 mini. It was better for quick switching lens for catching objects which needed zoom. When you don’t have a telephoto on mini, you can take that good closer photos because you are using digital zoom. I’m not a professional, but I more likely would be using zoomed photos (even despite my past Instagram account teached me to not use it for quality photos) rather than ultrawide ones. I just don’t have a much usage for that lens.

I can tell you why telephoto is important for me and why I rarely use the ultra wide. Not sure if it would help you though.

So ultra wide - useful when you can't zoom out with your legs and you want to capture a wide scene. This for me rarely happens. Usually I take photos outside and there I almost can always zoom out with my legs. Plus with ultra wide there is always some lens distortion that I highly dislike. I can take it only with architecture shots and even then I don't always like it.

Telephoto is supposed to be for zooming in when you can't with legs. I rarely use it for this as this lens is rather slow. This means that not enough light enters the sensor when taking photos. As a result the photos are rather grainy - at least when it comes to long distance landscape. Where telephoto is helpful for me is for close up shots of objects (especially flowers) at not long distance. It also helps with portrait photos with less obvious background blur (sometimes the portrait mode is way too much).

In terms of usage I can say for me it is:

1. Wide lens (for like 80 % of the cases)
2. Telephoto lens (19 % of the cases)
3. Ultra wide (1 % of the cases)

Thanks guys. I think with the secondary explanation above I may understand a bit. Much appreciated.

Traditionally I’ve only used 1 camera iPhones or any phones prior to the 12 mini I know own. To me wide shots was never something I was concerned about nor even knew I wanted. Zooming in for Flowers etc is something I’d use - thus Telephoto would be ideal.

Oddly enough any close range subjects I’d take photos of - the single lens iPhones seemed to do just fine - even when zoomed in. (I have to search for a caterpillar pic I took with my old iPhone 8, 2 summers ago). Wider shots in the sky would always show up grainy - even now with the iPhone 12 mini, if it’s using UltraWide lens (I cannot tell), seems grainy unless it’s for inanimate objects like buildings/cars, etc … but birds in flight meh.


typically I try to take pictures of the sky or scenery within the city, usually that capture a season.

Christmas Tree lights:
Downtown Toronto Adelaide & Bay area
iPhone SE (’16)

Financial buildings in Fog:
Downtown Toronto, King & Bay area
iPhone 8 - correction iPhone SE (according to metadata - WOW).

New Moon in Sky:
iPhone 12 mini (5.23.2021)

Some 50/60’s old car:
neighbours restoration (no traditional seatbelts)
iPhone 12 mini (just by the driveway while walking by)

Building and sky:
iPhone 12 mini

Groundhog: bigger than it looks in pics
Centennial College, standing roughly 15ft away
iPhone 12 mini

Bank god in marble:
Scotiabank head office, Bay & King Toronto
iPhone 12 mini, taken across 4 lane street.

2 pics:
Lamp and tree with fence hiding rail tracks - taken at same time in twillight early spring
iPhone 12 mini (this was hard as my eyes were really blurry due to the wind)

Clouds hiding the sun:
tried to capture god-rays but missed
(I cannot recall if it was with iPhone 12 mini or with iPhone SE ‘16 as I just purchased my 12 mini the night before but cannot recall if I migrated to it before heading out that day.

Picture if East Downtown Toronto showing fog/clouds just above Lake Ontario
this was through huge double-paned 8ft office building glass.

These are typical pictures I’d take so I’m not certain if UltraWide or Telephoto would suit me better.

 

[Barbareren]

I don’t find photos (nor videos) taken by the 12 mini using 2x digital zoom any worse than 2x telephoto zoom on the X/XS, but then again I’m not a photographer, so… 🤷‍♂️ But low-light photos definitely look way better on the 12.

 

[secretk]

Thanks guys. I think with the secondary explanation above I may understand a bit. Much appreciated.

You are welcome 🙂.

Traditionally I’ve only used 1 camera iPhones or any phones prior to the 12 mini I know own. To me wide shots was never something I was concerned about nor even knew I wanted. Zooming in for Flowers etc is something I’d use - thus Telephoto would be ideal.

Oddly enough any close range subjects I’d take photos of - the single lens iPhones seemed to do just fine - even when zoomed in. (I have to search for a caterpillar pic I took with my old iPhone 8, 2 summers ago). Wider shots in the sky would always show up grainy - even now with the iPhone 12 mini, if it’s using UltraWide lens (I cannot tell), seems grainy unless it’s for inanimate objects like buildings/cars, etc … but birds in flight meh.

I have company iPhone 8 and I would use it in the past for taking photos before I purchased my iPhone 12 Pro so I am able to compare the two devices 🙂 (if you are interested). Also camera setup was one of the reasons I discarded the mini as an option because yes I do prefer the telephoto over the ultra wide.

Anyway back to the comparison. Without telephoto you cannot do some close up shots because the iPhone 8 would not be able to recognize the whole object and make it on focus. It would choose some area from the object and would focus only on that. Alternatively you can distance yourself from the object and take the photo this way, but then you have to crop in post processing.

I love taking close up photos and this is why I invested in the 12 line up.

typically I try to take pictures of the sky or scenery within the city, usually that capture a season.

Christmas Tree lights:
Downtown Toronto Adelaide & Bay area
iPhone SE (’16)

Financial buildings in Fog:
Downtown Toronto, King & Bay area
iPhone 8 - correction iPhone SE (according to metadata - WOW).

New Moon in Sky:
iPhone 12 mini (5.23.2021)

Some 50/60’s old car:
neighbours restoration (no traditional seatbelts)
iPhone 12 mini (just by the driveway while walking by)

Building and sky:
iPhone 12 mini

Groundhog: bigger than it looks in pics
Centennial College, standing roughly 15ft away
iPhone 12 mini

Bank god in marble:
Scotiabank head office, Bay & King Toronto
iPhone 12 mini, taken across 4 lane street.

2 pics:
Lamp and tree with fence hiding rail tracks - taken at same time in twillight early spring
iPhone 12 mini (this was hard as my eyes were really blurry due to the wind)

Clouds hiding the sun:
tried to capture god-rays but missed
(I cannot recall if it was with iPhone 12 mini or with iPhone SE ‘16 as I just purchased my 12 mini the night before but cannot recall if I migrated to it before heading out that day.

Picture if East Downtown Toronto showing fog/clouds just above Lake Ontario
this was through huge double-paned 8ft office building glass.

These are typical pictures I’d take so I’m not certain if UltraWide or Telephoto would suit me better.

For most of those photos I would use the wide lens. The ultrawide I honestly rarely use. It is just not something I care about.

Here are some photos I took during a recent trip:

This photo is a bit trickier to take as I need to force the phone to focus on the background and not on the pure foreground. The 8 finds it more difficult to make this sort of photos the way I want them to be. Note that I use the Portrait mode quite often to take close up photos for flowers and as far as I know you need at least two lenses setup on an iPhone to achieve that.

Another case where I played with focus and made sure that rock is on focus and not the leaves.

Close up photo of a flower using the portrait mode on the phone.

I used the wide lens for those kind of photos. Be aware about lens flare with those kind of photos! Snapseed does seem to be able to remove them in post processing.

For this one I did use ultra wide as I did not have enough space to zoom out with legs. This building is on top of a peak and you cannot play a lot with space. However notice the slight lens distortion.

Btw having multiple lenses setup potentially helps for night photography. Phone sensors are small and not a lot of light enters the sensor when taking photos. Computational night photography usually would use info from multiple sensors to compose an image.

 

[taneff]

I think in everyday life zoom lens is much more appreciated but when traveling, esp in nature, the ultra wide is very nice indeed. For two years now, since iPhone 11, I don't own a camera anymore. I am no photographer and the only time I miss a camera is wildlife etc., when I need to zoom in quite a lot. So maybe I will buy a cheaper zoom camera for vacation or sunsets and sunrise. Otherwise I am so fine with iPhone's camera. But even though I almost exclusively use the normal wide lens in day to day life I would love a Pro camera setup too. But I always think you can zoom in photos digitally, you will only sacrifice some quality. But zooming out is not possible. So Ultra Wide is ok.
And I wouldn't want to sacrifice weight and size for that, otherwise I would have bought the 12 Pro.

And we all know there will never be a Mini with a telephoto lens, a t least not for the next maybe 5 years. Unfortunately.

 

[secretk]

I think in everyday life zoom lens is much more appreciated but when traveling, esp in nature, the ultra wide is very nice indeed.

Interesting that you have used the ultra wide more 🙂. At least more than me 😀.

For two years now, since iPhone 11, I don't own a camera anymore.

This was my idea to buy the iPhone 12 Pro btw. I have some old Sony mirrorless camera with exchangeable lenses. It is not super heavy but still heavy enough for me and it takes up space. Plus the money I would pay for such camera plus cheaper phone is the same as what I paid for the iPhone 12 Pro. Either way I am not professional photographer and I realized that for my needs, the iPhone works.

I am no photographer and the only time I miss a camera is wildlife etc., when I need to zoom in quite a lot. So maybe I will buy a cheaper zoom camera for vacation or sunsets and sunrise. Otherwise I am so fine with iPhone's camera. But even though I almost exclusively use the normal wide lens in day to day life I would love a Pro camera setup too. But I always think you can zoom in photos digitally, you will only sacrifice some quality. But zooming out is not possible. So Ultra Wide is ok.

I actually find that I lose more quality than I would like when it comes to zooming 🙂. However this is personal preference. I actually miss real macro lens the most btw. However that is something that does not exists on iPhones.

And I wouldn't want to sacrifice weight and size for that, otherwise I would have bought the 12 Pro.

And we all know there will never be a Mini with a telephoto lens, a t least not for the next maybe 5 years. Unfortunately.

Yep, true.

 

[Closingracer]

Can someone explain to me what the difference is with this telephoto and current lens on the 12/12 Mini that so many are not happy with? What is to gain/lose, why it’s so important to many? Focal lengths and all that technical photo mumbo jumbo is lost on me to be honest (why is 1.2 bigger than 1.8 Lol like backwards arithmetic).




Solid choice ~ especially with Spatial, Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless audio coming in 6 days! Honestly this is THE first time I purchased an iPhone, heck ANY phone that wasn’t black or had any shade of black or dark grey as the primary colour.


For those of you that think/hope/wanted a ‘Pro 12 mini’ … just know it IS a Pro ~ without the lens and larger battery. Converting Videos, recording videos (no RAW okay, okay) - it performs JUST as well as the Pro models with little given up.

I’ve attached a pic of the 12 Mini I own beside one of the last great Sony Xperia Compact (Android) phone from 5yrs ago. In its day it was in every way a top tier phone in the industry. Apple gave us a MUCH better mini than what Sony ever did with their compact lineup. Physical size is so close, width is exact as well as thickness. Yet the screen size is incredibly different.

I take more Zoomed photos than I do with a wider lens. It’s just how I use my phone. A physical optical zoom will create a better photo than a digital one whenever there is good lighting. In dark lit rooms a digital zoom might be better because the lens on the main shooter allows more light to come in than the smaller telephoto lens. But I don’t take much photos in night so I’m fine. It’s my preference and if the mini had one I seriously would of considered it because the fact every phone now has an OLED screen which is so much better imho

 

[Closingracer]

I think in everyday life zoom lens is much more appreciated but when traveling, esp in nature, the ultra wide is very nice indeed. For two years now, since iPhone 11, I don't own a camera anymore. I am no photographer and the only time I miss a camera is wildlife etc., when I need to zoom in quite a lot. So maybe I will buy a cheaper zoom camera for vacation or sunsets and sunrise. Otherwise I am so fine with iPhone's camera. But even though I almost exclusively use the normal wide lens in day to day life I would love a Pro camera setup too. But I always think you can zoom in photos digitally, you will only sacrifice some quality. But zooming out is not possible. So Ultra Wide is ok.
And I wouldn't want to sacrifice weight and size for that, otherwise I would have bought the 12 Pro.

And we all know there will never be a Mini with a telephoto lens, a t least not for the next maybe 5 years. Unfortunately.

Which is why I appreciate that the iPhone has the ultra wide lens. My preference in a 2 lens setup like the mini and 12 is the telephoto over the ultra wide but thank god I get both with the pros

 

[prazakj]

This was my idea to buy the iPhone 12 Pro btw. I have some old Sony mirrorless camera with exchangeable lenses. It is not super heavy but still heavy enough for me and it takes up space. Plus the money I would pay for such camera plus cheaper phone is the same as what I paid for the iPhone 12 Pro. Either way I am not professional photographer and I realized that for my needs, the iPhone works.

Yep, agree. I would like to see triple lens on iPhone 13 mini (possibly, still highly doubtly) because I just love to use high-end photography on a small footprint. Mini is perfect for me for daily using. 🙂 I also understand, that it could be quite hard for Apple to miniaturize that much.

 

[DeepIn2U]

@secretk

Excellent shots! Now I think I got it.
Pine Cone & Flower in Portrait mode - using the non-UltraWide lens.

Tall building, I'm not sure I can see the distortion (unless the right-inner edge at the peak is what you're referring to)?

BTW, excellent shot across the large body of water (lake?) and mountains in the background. Lens Flare, if this is those sun-spot or light reflections that show up in the image Grrrrr - I've notice that the 12 mini has this ALL the time, more than any other phone I've owned. Not sure if it's the coating or lack thereof on the lens.

Is there a way to disable to purposely not use the UltraWide lens on the 12 mini using the native iOS photo app?

Thanks everyone.

 

[secretk]

@secretk

Excellent shots! Now I think I got it.
Pine Cone & Flower in Portrait mode - using the non-UltraWide lens.

To be honest I am not sure how the phone does it. I use Portrait mode. In terms of cropping I can see that Portrait mode is the same as using telephoto lens. That being said I don't know which two lenses the iPhone uses it - I believe it is the wide and the telephoto and not the wide and the ultra wide. I know that iPhones with single lens cannot do proper portrait mode but I am not sure how exactly is done.

Tall building, I'm not sure I can see the distortion (unless the right-inner edge at the peak is what you're referring to)?

Yep, the right side. It is not super big but have in mind that I dislike distortion so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

BTW, excellent shot across the large body of water (lake?) and mountains in the background. Lens Flare, if this is those sun-spot or light reflections that show up in the image Grrrrr - I've notice that the 12 mini has this ALL the time, more than any other phone I've owned. Not sure if it's the coating or lack thereof on the lens.

I am talking about green dots (in this case it was smear around the sky and water that I had to remove) that you would see on the photos. Usually happens when you take shots when you position the phone (the lenses) against the light source/sun. Though yes sometimes I see light reflections that annoy me too.

Is there a way to disable to purposely not use the UltraWide lens on the 12 mini using the native iOS photo app?

Thanks everyone.

I do not think that you can disable it but you activate it if you tap on 0.5. Unless you do this, the phone should use the wide lens by default.

 

[Closingracer]

To be honest I am not sure how the phone does it. I use Portrait mode. In terms of cropping I can see that Portrait mode is the same as using telephoto lens. That being said I don't know which two lenses the iPhone uses it - I believe it is the wide and the telephoto and not the wide and the ultra wide. I know that iPhones with single lens cannot do proper portrait mode but I am not sure how exactly is done.

Yep, the right side. It is not super big but have in mind that I dislike distortion so I try to avoid it as much as possible.

I am talking about green dots (in this case it was smear around the sky and water that I had to remove) that you would see on the photos. Usually happens when you take shots when you position the phone (the lenses) against the light source/sun. Though yes sometimes I see light reflections that annoy me too.

I do not think that you can disable it but you activate it if you tap on 0.5. Unless you do this, the phone should use the wide lens by default.

The iPhone uses software to do portrait mode when you don’t have a telephoto lens. The iPhone was doing it since the XR

 

[secretk]

The iPhone uses software to do portrait mode when you don’t have a telephoto lens. The iPhone was doing it since the XR

Thanks for the clarification! Do you have an idea if my assumption is correct though that it needs two lenses setup to do it or this is not a requirement and it is more about CPU and computation power?

 

[taneff]

Interesting that you have used the ultra wide more 🙂. At least more than me 😀.


This was my idea to buy the iPhone 12 Pro btw. I have some old Sony mirrorless camera with exchangeable lenses. It is not super heavy but still heavy enough for me and it takes up space. Plus the money I would pay for such camera plus cheaper phone is the same as what I paid for the iPhone 12 Pro. Either way I am not professional photographer and I realized that for my needs, the iPhone works.

I actually find that I lose more quality than I would like when it comes to zooming 🙂. However this is personal preference. I actually miss real macro lens the most btw. However that is something that does not exists on iPhones.

Why don't you try Moment lenses, wide, macro, telephoto, anamorphic? I owned the telephoto and macro but sold both of them because I used them rarely. Only downside, besides the 100$ and up price, is you have to use them with one of their specific cases. You mount them on the case. And not all of their cases are for lenses, you have to be careful.
I rarely use a case so it was a little annoying. But for going out and also traveling it might be worth a shot. Quality is excellent for such a tiny lens. And they did have a filmmaker case which was very thin and light. shopmoment.com ...

Yeah, every one has different usage of anything and everything. I think it would be like maybe 70% wide, 18% ultra wide, 12% telephoto usage...

 

[Closingracer]

Thanks for the clarification! Do you have an idea if my assumption is correct though that it needs two lenses setup to do it or this is not a requirement and it is more about CPU and computation power?

It’s more cpu dependent. The XR at the time had one lens

 

[secretk]

Why don't you try Moment lenses, wide, macro, telephoto, anamorphic? I owned the telephoto and macro but sold both of them because I used them rarely. Only downside, besides the 100$ and up price, is you have to use them with one of their specific cases. You mount them on the case. And not all of their cases are for lenses, you have to be careful.
I rarely use a case so it was a little annoying. But for going out and also traveling it might be worth a shot. Quality is excellent for such a tiny lens. And they did have a filmmaker case which was very thin and light. shopmoment.com ...

Because they are not sold in my country. I have found them in other places but delivery fees are sometimes more than the actual price of the lens.