IPhone add-on upgrades your photo options

A COMMON question from those looking to do more with their phone’s camera is: “what external lens can I buy for it?”. I’ve often recommended Olloclip phone lenses in the past and they remain very decent. But I recently came across a couple of options from Shiftcam, particularly its 5-in-1 multilens case.

It’s important to say at the outset that these are only currently made for iPhones (and the latest, high-end versions of iPhones at that). So if you’re an Android user, this particular review isn’t for you.

The 5-in-1 multilens from Shiftcam is the most flexible, do-it-all option that it offers. It comes in two parts – a case and the slide-in lens attachment. This includes a telephoto lens, two macro lenses, a fisheye lens and a polariser.

The telephoto lens, though advertised as 4x, is actually 2x. But it doubles the iPhone 11 Pro’s own 2x telephoto lens into a 4x focal length. Of the lenses on this unit, I found this one to be the weakest, losing a little resolution in the photos I took with it.

The macro lenses are a different story. There’s one each for the iPhone 11 Pro’s own native wide (1x) and telephoto (2x) lenses. The 2x macro is particularly impressive, giving you startling detail on anything you point it at. You can also bring it to within millimetres of the object you’re photographing, which you can’t do with the iPhone’s regular camera lenses.

The fisheye lens is quirky but some may find it amusing.

One compromise you make when the multi-lens system is on the case is ergonomics: it sits a little awkwardly in pockets because of the bulge of the lens system.

But Shiftcam has designed it so that you can slip the multi-lens unit off the case completely to flatten the unit out, presumably for just such pocket challenges.

What’s fascinating about this accessory is that phone cameras are now good enough for external lenses to add real value at a fraction of the cost of standalone camera lenses.

So €100 is pretty good value if you think you’ll get use out of one or two of these lenses, especially since it comes with a case.