Olloclip Macro Lens Is Ready For Its Close-Up [Review]

By

ollomacrokit

3-In-1 Macro Lens by Olloclip
Category: iPhoneography
Works With: iPhone 5/S, iPod Touch 5g
Price: $70

Olloclip’s 3-In–1 Macro lens is extremely limited, but that’s by design: It’s a set of close-up lenses for the iPhone 5/S and fifth-gen iPod Touch (using the included adapter) which let you magnify the tiny world around us and put these wonders where God intended: on Instagram.

What It Is

The Macro 3-In–1 Lens consists of the usual plastic Olloclip bracket which slips over the iPhone’s lens-corner and lines up the chosen optic with the iPhone camera. You can pick from 7x, 14x and 21x macro lenses. The 21x is on one side, and the 7x and 14 x are on the other side. Unscrewing the 14x lets you use the 7x underneath. The extra trick here is that the unit comes with two tiny plastic cones, which you use to stop your tiny dog from scratching the stitches on his head.

American Apparel hoodie, 14x
American Apparel hoodie, 14x

Or you could use them to place the lenses at the perfect distance from their subject whilst holding it all steady and diffusing the light source. Your call.

The Good

It’s a macro lens, for your iPhone. This is a lot of fun. When the review unit first arrived, The Lady and I took pictures of each other’s eyes, which sounds impossibly romantic but is actually pretty gross. And painful, if your girlfriend isn’t careful where she’s poking that plastic cup.

You can use the lenses without the plastic hoods to capture anything.
You can use the lenses without the plastic hoods to capture anything.

Probably the first thing you’ll do is to snap pictures of the tiny retina pixels on your iPad, and you won’t have any luck. That’s becasue of the plastic cones, which put the lens in the perfect spot to snap the surface of an object. If that object is glass, then it won’t focus on whatever is behind it.

Still, I like these plastic stands quite a lot. They also work well to stop you shaking and spoiling the images with blur.

The lenses themselves are fine. They’re as easy to use as any Olloclip. There is some distortion as the lenses bend any straight lines at the edges of the frame, but the free Olloclip app does a grand job of correcting this distortion or – if you like – exaggerating it for effect.

The Bad

$70 is a lot for a set of macro lenses. If you’re really into photomicrography (the real name for “macro” photography) then go ahead. If not, then just buy the regular 4-In–1 Olloclip which already comes with 10x and 15x macro lenses, as well as fisheye and wide-angles.

The Verdict

For enthusiasts only, the 4-In–1 does its job very well. I love the Olloclip range, which achieves the Apple-like balance of usability, quality and good looks. But unless you really plan on taking a lot of closeup pictures, I’d spend the extra $10 on the 4-In–1 and get a far more versatile iPhone lens

olloclipmacro

Product Name: : 3-In-1 Macro Lens

The Good: Easy to use, portable, beautifully made.

The Bad: Limited — only good for macro shots.

The Verdict If you want this specific setup, go for it. It’s great. But consider the other Olloclip options (olloptions?) first.

Buy from: Olloclip

[rating=excellent]

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