{"id":1003,"date":"2009-01-19T17:29:51","date_gmt":"2009-01-20T01:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.perivision.net\/wordpress\/?p=1003"},"modified":"2009-01-29T13:16:13","modified_gmt":"2009-01-29T21:16:13","slug":"review-of-griffin-macro-lens-for-the-iphone-camera-sweeet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.perivision.net\/wordpress\/2009\/01\/review-of-griffin-macro-lens-for-the-iphone-camera-sweeet\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Griffin Macro lens for the iphone camera … sweeet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally, my clarifi case arrived.\u00a0 And so as promised, I did a few experiments… First though, the case itself.<\/p>\n

It’s a nice case, a bit too smooth for me which makes me fear I will drop it at some point.\u00a0 I may place a grip sticker on it. The case comes in two pieces, so install is easy.\u00a0 Griffin also included a protection screen and a cleaning cloth.\u00a0 Nice.\u00a0 Now, on to the images..<\/p>\n

\"clarifi_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I first started shooting and looking at the images on the iphone, I was disappointed.\u00a0 It really did not seem to make a difference.\u00a0 Then I downloaded the images using TouchCopy.<\/a> Wow, it really did make a difference.\u00a0 One of the reasons I got this case was because I like to take pics of bottles of wine I like, but I can never get a good shot.\u00a0 As you can see, the lens made a huge difference, a difference I could not discern on the iphone screen. The main advantage of this lens is for text however, and again, promise delivered. What I would really love to see next is the ability to swap lenses in and out.\u00a0 I have a feeling we may see this for other phones very soon.<\/p>\n\n

Based on a post from ‘And now all it’s all this<\/a>‘, seems that the iphone performs best between 2 feet and 5 feet.\u00a0 When I took pictures of my cat, I tried to get as close as possible while still keeping a clear shot. I was able to get withing 3 inches before it lost focus. The Griffin site<\/a> specs 4 inches as its nearest point with the macro, 18 inches without.<\/p>\n

{update} <\/strong><\/em><\/span>@hughbaun pointed out that I should include a bit more information on the focal length of the iphone.\u00a0 A few months back I can across a great article doing a few information real world test. I posted this at the end of this article…<\/p>\n

The list price is $34.99, however if you type Macworld2009 in the discount code box, it will knock off $8.75 bringing the price to $26.24.<\/p>\n

Each shot is in its ‘raw’ format.\u00a0 I did not crop nor edit the images.\u00a0 I also took these by hand, so take the images with a grain of salt. Also, (for you wine people out there) I used BV just because it was handy. \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Normal<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Macro Lens<\/h1>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"wine_norm\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"wine_macro\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"cat_norm\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"cat_macro\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"para_norm\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"para_macro\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"text_norm\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"text_macro\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

{update}<\/p>\n

I read this a few months back and found it useful when I think about shooting with the iphone.\u00a0 Go to his blog and read the complete article, I fully recommend it. Link here.<\/a><\/p>\n

So what is<\/em> my iPhone\u2019s depth of field? I set up a tape measure and a target on a nice sunny day and started shooting pictures at one foot intervals. The target I chose was the book Engineering Properties of Steel<\/em><\/a> by ASM<\/a>. The cover has a nice mix of fine and bold lines, and the white, blue, and red colors would contrast well with the green that would make up the bulk of the background. Here\u2019s a resized version of one of the photos:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After downloading the photos, I opened them in Preview, set the view to Actual Size, and took several screen captures. The screen captures are done as PNGs so there are no compression artifacts other than those from the camera itself. Here\u2019s the capture for a distance of 1 foot:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Obviously not in focus, but better than I was expecting for being so close. Here the capture for a distance of 2 feet:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is quite good. Here\u2019s the capture for 5 feet:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is acceptable, but you can tell that it\u2019s starting to get fuzzy. As you would expect, the photos for 6, 7, and 8 feet got steadily worse, although they weren\u2019t terrible. By 9 and 10 feet, though, I considered the photos out of focus. Here\u2019s 10 feet:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The book is very fuzzy, especially when compared with the grass in the foreground. And you can also see in these last two captures how blurry the fence and the spruce in the background are. They\u2019re about 40\u2032 from the camera.<\/p>\n

Related Posts<\/H3>