Are any add-on lenses worth it for the iPhone 13 Pro?

March 2, 2022 1:58 PM

Recently got an iPhone 13 Pro, and am exploring how much it can replace my DSLR gear for photography. One option I'm considering is add-on lenses like the ones from Moment and Shiftcam, but I can't find reviews of them with recent iPhones (say, models 12 or 13). Have you tried them? Are they worth getting, considering the iPhone 13 Pro's has wide and telephoto lenses built-in?

If you have used these add-on lenses on the 12 or 13s, how did they work out for you? How good is the image quality? Do they add any capabilities that you cannot get from the iPhone itself? I'm mainly interested in near subjects and landscapes (so, not long telephoto), with some close-up photography, possibly macro, mostly in outdoor settings.

posted by StrawberryPie to Technology (2 answers total)

Best answer: I bought my moment lenses before I had the iphone 12 max and still like them very much. The multiple lenses on the phone makes things interesting because you can get different effects depending on which moment lens you put over which iphone lens. For example you can get some extreme close up macro shots using one of the iphone lenses, and more standard macro shots using the other. Stack the telephotos to increase the range, etc.

I have the telephoto and the super fish as well and the telephoto is still nice to have, even my main reason to have them was always macros, and it is great for that. I have gotten beautiful shots of spiders and insects using the macro, very clear, to my eye no noticeable vignetting or other distortion.

The superfish is just for fun really.
posted by acanthous at 5:53 PM on March 2, 2022

The optical zoom on the iPhone 13 just goes up to 6x. According to Moment's website, when the tele lens is combined with the telephoto lens of the Iphone 13 pro, you can get 4x more if you also use their app. So even closer if you're trying to catch something in a distance.

But it does sound like macro is probably the lens that would most interest you.
posted by kschang at 11:36 PM on March 2, 2022