Question Macro lens for iphone

[Aldebaran]

I have an iPhone 11 Pro, which doesn’t have a macro facility, that is 13 onwards.

I have looked at macro attachments, are they worthwhile or am I just buying something else that won’t match my expectations?

Also the Pro has three lenses, which one does it fit over?

Thank you people🖖

[Silverlocks]

15 minutes ago, Aldebaran said:

I have an iPhone 11 Pro, which doesn’t have a macro facility, that is 13 onwards.

I have looked at macro attachments, are they worthwhile or am I just buying something else that won’t match my expectations?

Also the Pro has three lenses, which one does it fit over?

Thank you people🖖

I can answer this -

Some of my early photos were done with a Samsung Note 10 and a clip-on macro lens.  They're ok as they go but have one major issue in that they can only focus up to a few centimetres from the lens.  This makes it tricky to decently light the coins as the phone gets in the way, and the camera has a very narrow depth of focus (less than 1mm) and the whole assembly is small enough to be prone to diffraction effects.  This makes it tricky to get decent focus on coins.

As the lenses are quite cheap (mine was about £20) it's worth trying.  However, you would get better results with a phone hat has a periscope camera as it will be able to zoom on the coin enough without the macro lens.  Modern iPhones and quite a few modern Android models have these.   @Solachesis took his photos with an android phone that had a periscope camera.

You can see which lens to clip the macro extension over by running the camera app and just looking.  You might also need to take any cases off the phone, as they can get in the way of the lens (in between the lens and the phone's camera) and affect the focus.  You'll probably also need to get a tripod and a clamp for the phone and one of the little bluetooth dohickeys for remotely triggering the shutter.  I also used to use a little spirit level to make sure the phone was pointing straight down.

The last thing is that gold tends to confuse the software that auto-calibrates the colour settings, so you might want to get a grey card (a few quid off Amazon) and figure out how to lock the white balance on your camera app - point the camera at the grey card and lock the white balance once it's adjusted.

Edited March 6 by Silverlocks

[Spyder]

It seems like a lot of messing about unless you are trying to compete with Charliemouse in coin photos.  For ordinary coin photos, your iphone should be fine as is.  Problem with lens attachments, they are usually clumsy and cause more problems than they solve. 

[Aldebaran]

23 minutes ago, Silverlocks said:

I can answer this -

Some of my early photos were done with a Samsung Note 10 and a clip-on macro lens.  They're ok as they go but have one major issue in that they can only focus up to a few centimetres from the lens.  This makes it tricky to decently light the coins as the phone gets in the way, and the camera has a very narrow depth of focus (less than 1mm) and the whole assembly is small enough to be prone to diffraction effects.  This makes it tricky to get decent focus on coins.

As the lenses are quite cheap (mine was about £20) it's worth trying.  However, you would get better results with a phone hat has a periscope camera as it will be able to zoom on the coin enough without the macro lens.  Modern iPhones and quite a few modern Android models have these.   @Solachesis took his photos with an android phone that had a periscope camera.

You can see which lens to clip the macro extension over by running the camera app and just looking.  You might also need to take any cases off the phone, as they can get in the way of the lens (in between the lens and the phone's camera) and affect the focus.  You'll probably also need to get a tripod and a clamp for the phone and one of the little bluetooth dohickeys for remotely triggering the shutter.  I also used to use a little spirit level to make sure the phone was pointing straight down.

The last thing is that gold tends to confuse the software that auto-calibrates the colour settings, so you might want to get a grey card (a few quid off Amazon) and figure out how to lock the white balance on your camera app - point the camera at the grey card and lock the white balance once it's adjusted.

Thank you m’dear, I think you have answered my question😊

I know how good you are with photography and welcome your advice.

I think that I shall stick with my ‘snaps’, which seem quite reasonable, but I will buy some grey card or find some grey silk rather than my purple background.

xx

[Aldebaran]

9 minutes ago, Spyder said:

It seems like a lot of messing about unless you are trying to compete with Charliemouse in coin photos.  For ordinary coin photos, your iphone should be fine as is.  Problem with lens attachments, they are usually clumsy and cause more problems than they solve. 

I know that you’re right, as always, thank you😊

 

[Charliemouse]

On 06/03/2024 at 11:55, Aldebaran said:

I know that you’re right, as always, thank you😊

 

I generally agree with all of the above.

For further info, this is one of the first guides I did on here...

 

[Charliemouse]

Also, since I know you have an interchangeable lens camera, for a similar price to a plastic clip-on lens, you could try...

You will get far better pictures than any phone will produce.

[Aldebaran]

2 hours ago, Charliemouse said:

I generally agree with all of the above.

For further info, this is one of the first guides I did on here...

 

 

2 hours ago, Charliemouse said:

Also, since I know you have an interchangeable lens camera, for a similar price to a plastic clip-on lens, you could try...

You will get far better pictures than any phone will produce.

Thank you @Charliemouse, I will read your posts. 🖖

……..I have read your posts, really great.  Thanks again 🌞

Edited March 7 by Aldebaran