At this point just get a nice, cheap mirrorless like the Sony A6000 with the 20mm f/2.8 pancake and you'll get much better results.
A 20mm lens on a Sony A6000 is nowhere near wide enough.
I know these take really high end photos and the results are that of DSLR. But That looks a little ridiculous attached to the iPhone.
Cheap and mirrorless don't go in the same sentence anymore. Prices for SLRs have been going back up.
ExoLens and Zeiss have teamed up to create some high-quality lenses designed to take iPhone photography to the next level. At $200, the ExoLens PRO with Optics by Zeiss Wide-Angle Kit for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus is almost the price you'd pay for a standalone camera, but the lens is distortion free, compact, and enhances the range of images you can capture with your iPhone.
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There are dozens of inexpensive lenses on the market, but most of the cheaper options are unable to measure up to the quality you get with the $199 Zeiss/ExoLens combo.
Design
The ExoLens PRO comes in a padded box and ships alongside several mounts to fit different sized iPhones, including the iPhone 7, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 6s Plus.
Right out of the package, the ExoLens PRO stands apart from other lens options. It's over an inch tall and similar in circumference to a standard pill bottle, with a solid weight to it. The outside of the lens is made from aluminum, and the glass of the lens itself is protected with caps on each side when not in use. Zeiss branding is on the side of the lens, which looks more like a small DSLR lens than a standard iPhone lens.
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Inside the box, there are two carrying bags for the lens and any accessories, along with an aluminum lens hood and an installation guide.
Click here to read more...
Article Link: Review: ExoLens' Wide-Angle Zeiss Lens is Bulky, but Takes Distortion-Free Photos
This a good point, and one that vexed me for several years as I was buying olloclip lenses and then having to buy new ones every year when I upgraded my phone. Eventually I stopped buying them.Lenses last forever and don't become obsolete.
Phones quickly become obsolete after a few years.
Will they be selling mounting kits for future iPhones so you can keep using these expensive lenses into the future?
Joking aside and in all seriousness now:I can see a lot of uses for this, but not for general regular folk.
This performance doesn't look like it's worth the cost at all. In 70% of the situations you can simply walk closer to the object, or crop a photo after taking...
You're describing a telephoto lens, not a wide angle lens, which is the subject of this article. To achieve the same effects as a WA by foot you'd have to move farther away and that's often not possible. And the lens changes perspective entirely.
Cheap and mirrorless don't go in the same sentence anymore. Prices for SLRs have been going back up.
"these" take really high end dreams. not photos. Real high end photos you take with Leicas and/or proffesional dSLRs. Photos that you take with an iphone -no matter what lens you attach on them- are a jokeI know these take really high end photos and the results are that of DSLR. But That looks a little ridiculous attached to the iPhone.
Joking aside and in all seriousness now:
What's the use case of this, really?
I myself am an amateur photographer and I take along my DSLR virtually all the time. Yes, it's not as practical as just taking your iPhone out of the pocket, but neither is handling this monstrosity.
And the picture quality and detail or control over the picture of seriously ANY cheap DSLR blows ANY phone's camera literally out of the water, even with crappy kit zooms.
There have only been a few cases using "real" cameras, where the camera's sensor was actually the limiting factor for me, rather than a decent lens or my photographic skills (or rather lack of them). But with the iPhone - Zeiss - combination, the pinhead-sized sensor of the iPhone would definitely be holding me back, even I am just an amateur/hobbyist.
So if this "thing" is limiting, even for an amateur photographer, it's fair to assume it's absolutely useless for a professional. And "general folk" as you put it, would probably (I think) not give a damn about a 200$ - strap-on.
So not to be mean or bashy, maybe I overlooked something, but really: WHO is target audience of this?
These people wont even bother to look for an addon lens to take photos. Most of them done even know how to take photos. For these people the phone camera is more than enough. A phone is a phone, cameras were added as a convenience and were never a main function. It's as taking your car keys and adding a camera, thats how silly it looks like. Or like taking a hammer and adding a camera.Someone mentioned real estate people, that's possible. Those instagramers that do it for money?
I actually don't know! Enough for them to make multiple versions of these over the years!
Plus, you won't be able to afford a cheap mirrorless to go along with your iphone 8.Cheap and mirrorless don't go in the same sentence anymore. Prices for SLRs have been going back up.
My take on this -- and I've worked with cameras and with pro photographers for many years -- is that it's a probably a nice optical enhancement to your phone camera, but unless compactness is everything, one might get more "bang for the buck" by putting that money toward buying a separate camera. Highly recommend dpreview.com for buying advice.Truthfully, I don't have a lot of knowledge on these micro lens. I trust your judgment though.
but it isn't a whole lot wider than what you get with the built-in camera (18mm vs 28mm)
The iPhone 7 comes with a "28mm equivalent lens"-- mildly wide angle. According to the product literature, this Zeiss ad on lens reduces that to "18mm equivalent".
Now, if one purchases a APS-C camera (alpha a6500, say) it will sometimes come with a 16-50mm lens kit...
16mm is wider angle than "18mm equivalent" isn't it?
Not so fast. Because the Sony a6500 uses a APS-C sensor, its 35mm equivalent will be 24mm. To get the equivalent field of view, one would probably want to pick up a 12 mm lens. (or a ultrawide zoom)
Or go full frame, and leave this equivalence nonsense behind.
Who is this targeted at? Professional users, like realtors, who commonly need to take high quality wide angle photographs and are currently doing so with a second camera.
$200 for higher quality, less to carry and a streamlined workflow is a no brainer.
Good Realtors understand their business is selling homes, not taking pictures -- they leave that to those who do that for a living.