One of the things most cell phones lack is optical zoom for the embedded camera. Sure, many of them provide digital zoom, but that’s mostly just enlarging a portion of the existing image and results in a lower quality photo or video. The people over at usbfever.com were kind enough to send me one of their products that aims to deliver the optical zoom we’ve been missing (for the iPhone, anyway).

The iPhone Zoom Lens

The product usbfever.com sent me is a 6X optical zoom lens for the iPhone. It came with the lens, the snap-on case, a neck strap, a user manual and a microfiber cleaning cloth. I love when companies include the microfiber cloth because you can never have too many.

Although I found the user manual to not be all that helpful and ended up putting it aside, it really isn’t necessary for this product, in my opinion. The application of the case is pretty obvious and the lens just slides into the case. I will probably never use the neck strap. The lens does not have protective covers for either end, so it’s best stored in the box it came in which is small enough to keep in the car without being in the way.

Photo And Video Zoom On The iPhone

The best test of a product like this is to snap a regular photo and then one with the lens from the same spot, so that’s just what I did. In my conference room, I snapped the first photo without the lens and the second with it attached. Both photos were taken from about 4-5 feet from the subject, although this lens kit would be most useful outdoors.

Normal	With Lens

(Click here for the full set of photos)

As you can see, the lens did a great job of bringing my subject a lot closer in the shot, but it came with some fuzzy edges. I think I could have adjusted the focus a little more, but it was a little awkward to do because the lens has a just a tiny little bit of room to move in it’s connector. I had slightly better results as shown in the video below.

Initially, I also had a hard time removing the case from my phone, but I had less trouble with it after I found that it’s easier to start from the side edges and work your way around. I think the case design could be better if the lens connector wasn’t glued on. If it was, instead, part of the molded case, I’d just keep the case on the phone all the time. With caps for both ends of the lens, I could then carry the lens around more freely and slap it on the phone in an instant for a quick zoom photo.

In any case, as is, the product does as advertised and is a pretty cool addition to your iPhone accessory collection.

Conclusion

This product really feels a little more like a cool novelty than a practical accessory, but it’s also under $20, which makes it a very affordable novelty item. That said, it is a pretty cool thing to have handy when you want to get a photo or video with your iphone and need to zoom in. The low price is certainly a selling point for anyone who needs a little convincing that they actually need a zoom lens on their iPhone.

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