Olloclip Review

Once the domain of much larger cameras, the olloclip 3-way gives iPhone 4S owners three interchangeable lenses in one compact little accessory. In another step toward making mobile phones the benchmark for casual picture-taking, the $69 olloclip attaches itself to the corner of Apple's iPhone and offers a fish-eye, macro and wide-angle lens, all in one.

Design and Setup

Click to EnlargeThe olloclip, available in red or black, is made of a sturdy metal, and like its name implies, clips onto the corner of your iPhone, laying on top of the rear camera lens. On one side, the olloclip has a larger fish-eye lens, and on the other, a wide-angle lens that unscrews to reveal the macro lens. Without any required apps or downloads, the installation of startup for this convenient add-on is immediate and painless. The clip fits tightly onto the iPhone, and we felt comfortable waving our phone around without worrying about the clip flying off.

Because it clamps onto the corner of the iPhone, the olloclip can only be used with the iPhone 4 or 4S's rear camera. Also, you'll have to remove any case you have protecting the phone.

Performance

Click to EnlargeImages taken with the different lenses looked good, and there are two caps included to keep the dust and scratches off. With fish-eye field of view, we were snapping away, making pseudo-creative 180-degree views of New York. It would be great to use for all-encompassing panoramas of stadiums and theatres.

In wide-angle mode, we captured much more of our surroundings than normal - twice as much, precisely. Broad, sweeping shots of the Manhattan skyline looked good as we shot from both the street and from above.

Click to EnlargeThe macro mode is particularly impressive, as it magnifies objects 10x. You'll be getting super-close to your subjects, too: The ring around our lens was basically touching our subject, and while it can be hard to get that close at times, the reward of a vibrant, detailed image was worth it. Even the most common images--we took pictures of leaves on a tree, a brick, even an elevator button--were very crisp and detailed.

Verdict

Small, sturdy and simple, the Olloclip is a must-have for anyone who enjoys taking photos with their phone. It essentially triples the types of images you can make, and does so for $69. While we wish we didn't have to remove our iPhone 4s' case, we liked the ability to switch from fish eye to macro in seconds. Try and do that with your point-and-shoot.