I was shooting my son’s school play a couple of months ago with my iPhone, as I don’t have a dedicated video camera any more. Because I sat up close, I wasn’t really able to capture the whole stage in one shot.
What I needed was a wide-angle lens. That’s where these PhotoJojo magnetically attachable lenses come in.
When you’re shooting video with an iPhone, there are times when you want a bit more control over the image without having to resort to a confusing app.
The simplest way to get an altered image is an attachable lens, and these magnetically attached lenses from PhotoJojo do just the trick.
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We got to check out a polarizing lens, a wide angle/macro lens, and a fisheye lens for some seriously fun video shoots. Each is useful, but for shooting video of a school play, the wide angle lens is absolutely fantastic.
The polarizing lens definitely cuts down on glare and helps saturate colors, which can help make your video or photos look quite a bit better when used in high-light/glare situations. Think of it as a pair of polarized sunglasses for your iPhone.
The fish eye lens does what you’d expect: bows out the whole scene from the center of the image, which can be a ton of fun if you’re shooting a music video or want to mess around with whimsical still images.
Photo: Elle Janecek/Cult of Mac
The macro/wide angle lens is a combination lens; simply unscrew the wide angle portion and you have a fantastic little macro lens, great for getting up close and personal with any photo objet. The wide angle is fantastic for shooting videos of large areas (like a stage for a school play, right?), letting you remain a bit closer to capture better sound.
The best thing about these lenses is that they’re super easy to attach to your iPhone, making switching between them a snap (or rather, a distinct magnetic “click”). They’ll attach to any smartphone, too, making this a scream of a deal for families with more than one.
All you need to do to get the lens attached is to stick one of the flat metal rings to the back of your iPhone, surrounding the camera lens with the ring. Each PhotoJojo lens has a magnet on its underside, letting you just touch it to the metal ring to make it stay there.
It’s not super strong, so it won’t mess with your iPhone, but it’s good enough to hold the lightweight lens in place. You’ll need to take your iPhone out of its case, of course, but when you’re using the lenses, you’re probably going for more than a quick snap shot.
Ultimately, these PhotoJojo iPhone lenses are a fantastic addition to my carry-around bag; I keep them all together via their handy little string leashes by attaching them all to the same carabiner. it’s like a keychain of photography lenses!
The three-pack of the lenses above will run you less than $50 on Amazon, making this a great deal for iPhonographers who want to add just a bit of oomph to their videos (and photos!).
