iZZi Slim Lens Case Goes Up Mano-a-Mano Against Olloclip [CES 2014]

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The new iZZi Slim on the right, with a red alloy Orbit Pro behind it on the left. Photo: Eli Milchman

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LAS VEGAS — Think the only serious, affordable quiver of lenses available for iPhone 5/S iPhoneography are the ones from Olloclip? Nope. Wrong.

iZZi Gadgets has actually offered a lens case for the last year or so in the Orbit Pro, a machined alloy case and four-lens — wide-angle, fisheye, telephoto and macro — carousel (it looks like three lenses, but as with Olloclip’s lenses, the wide angle unscrews to become a macro). The obvious difference, besides the alloy case, is that the Orbit Pro keeps all the lenses on the phone and swappable by a simple rotation of the carousel, compared with the Olloclip method of sliding lenses on and off the iPhone. But the Orbit Pro is bulky, suffers from slight vignetting (darkened corners) and carries an eyebrow-furrowing $240 pricetag.

Now iZZi has fixed all that with their new iZZi Slim. They’ve move the lenses closer to the case, eliminating the vignetting; the case is now made of plastic, making it much slimmer and lighter; and the price? $100. Which is less expensive than the $120 of the combined Olloclip 4-in-1 Lens and Quick-Flip case combo.

Lens quality is identical to that of the Orbit Pro, because the two models share the exact same lenses carousel. Jayson Guzman, iZZi’s CEO, even told me that the lenses used on the iZZi were made by the same supplier as the lenses used by a rival. Hmmm…

Of course, the Slim sacrifices a little on the step down from the Orbit Pro. For one thing, it loses the tripod mount, strap attachments and grip. The Slim ships next month.

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