Mobile photography continues to take off. What once was a elite club with huge cameras is now just anyone that has a smartphone. The iPhone has been proven one of the most popular devices to shoot on, but sadly there are a few drawbacks. This is where Olloclip has stepped in, taking a generally solid camera and making it a bit more pro.
Having had previous experience with the 4s version, it was time to take the iPhone 5 out for a spin. What does the Olloclip provide your mobile photography? Is this the ultimate device on the go?
In this review I’ll be looking at a couple of different products from Olloclip that would be a good indication of the type of products you would use with your day to day photography. That being said, let’s make a quick note – I am by no means a professional photographer. I’m more in the middle zone, neither a newbie or a pro but a “prosumer”.
Let’s begin with a look at the outer exterior of your phone. How, pray tell, do you expect to swap out Olloclips on the go without a snazzy new case?
Ollo Quick-Flip Case
I think we’ve all seen our share of cellphone cases. Generally each case is designed around a core function. Ollo crammed a surprising number into the quick-flip case. While it’s primarily built around the actual lenses, it seems Ollo understood what most photographers want in a multi-purpose case. The entire case is built around the iPhone’s camera. To attach the case, simply remove the bottom portion of the case slide and then you are set. While doing so you might have noticed the bottom portion of the case contains not one but two separate Tripod mounting screws, covering both shooting styles (vertical and horizontal). Even better, you can always leave the bottom portion attached to the Tripod. This adds extra mobility when running from interview to interview.
A small movable slider gives you better access to put the Olloclip onto the iPhone. My personal favorite was the hot shoe mount. This allows you to attach additional items to your case. This allowed us to have an LED light for on-the-go interviews and really complimented the lenses.
Olloclip 3-1 Lens
The actual camera is a pretty ingenious little design, essentially a double-sided camera lens. One side of the lens is used for wide angle shots, the other for fish-eye. If you unscrew the fish-eye lens, the macro lens is found just below. The lenses all come in a little bag to carry them, with lense caps. Also included is a small rubber piece for mounting with the iPod Touch. For a more in-depth look at the Olloclip Wide check out my review with the iPhone 4S
Olloclip – Telephoto Lens
Much like the first Olloclip, the Telephoto lens is laid out roughly the same. It’s a clip that sits on your iPhone with 2 lenses. The first lens is the telephoto, which helps you zoom 2x times the normal iPhone would let you. On the other side there is a polarizing lens to lessen the impact of the sun in your photos. Both of these lenses quickly became the go to when it came to my day to day shooting.
The 5 version of the Olloclip is compatible with the 5s.
Day-to-Day
While it’s nice to tell you about the functions and designs of the devices, I would rather talk more about my practical experience taking them out for a test drive. As luck would have it, I had the perfect opportunity to prove the existence of a creature that shouldn’t exist in my climate. I am of course talking about parrots.
A little background. I live in a more rural part of San Diego. Rural means that there are plenty of barnyard animals nearby. It wasn’t until recently we started hearing an odd noise from outside. After careful examination, we determined it was a flock of about sixty parrots. Despite my best attempts at explaining this to my father, he implied I was full of it. So as Saturday morning started and the sun came up, I quickly suited up my iPhone for the discovery of the century.
Actual use of the Olloclip is a little difficult. It’s highly recommended that you suit up… (put the case on) before attempting anything on the fly. After you get that together, swapping lenses is simple enough after a little practice. Adding the tripod really helped the shots and made it a lot easier to attempt to capture the birds on film. Though it wasn’t until the telephoto was busted out that I was actually able to achieve my goal.
Quality
Shot quality obviously relies solely on you the photographer. While the lenses do help, they buy no means makes you a professional right off the bat. You simply have to play with them and get used to them. But once you get the knack for them down, they do really enhance the iPhone’s camera capabilities.
Overall 9.0
I would recommend the Olloclip to any high-end photographer in your life, or anyone that simply wants to start learning. They are invaluable tools that can really help you produce better video and photography.