Lens attachments for your iPhone can bring a fresh point of view to your photos but there are drawbacks. Some force you to remove the phone’s protective case to properly fit the lens. Others require a sticky mounting plate.
The mount for the Iris lenses by Photojojo looks like a little girl’s ponytail holder with a silicon housing holding one of three pop-in lenses that is attached to an elastic cord stretching and securing snuggly to diagonal corners of your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.
Smartphones, led by the iPhone, have been a major disruptor to the camera industry thanks to ground-breaking software and sensors that produce beautiful photos and have many people leaving their conventional cameras at home.
A number of companies make lens attachments for the smartphone, including Moment, Olloclip, and Lensbaby. The new Photojojo Iris gets around the case issue with a special transparent device-specific attachment that goes between the camera lens and case.
The company claims the lens will work with most cases providing the case in less than 3 mm thick (which could exclude cases with built-in batteries or the ultra rugged drop-resistant cases).
The lenses became available today for pre-order on the website for Photojojo, a longtime vendor of fun photography products. The three lenses, a fisheye, wide angle and macro, can be pre-ordered for $99, a deal considering it will eventually retail for $140 and a single lens will run $49.
Review units were not immediately available. A gallery of photos made with the Iris lenses on the Photojojo website shows a high level of quality that make the pre-order price a bargain.
Here are two of those photos: