The Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens and Schneider iPro Lens System side by side

Many of you will have read my reviews on the Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens and the Schneider Optics iPro Lens System, and some have asked which is best, so in this post I will try and answer that question, as best as I can.

The Macro
First up, the Olloclip is the only lens of the two that has a macro option, so it's 1-0 to the Olloclip.

Above: The Olloclip Macro Lens.

The Fisheye
Both the Olloclip and the iPro lens systems include a Fisheye Lens, and whilst the centre sharpness is good on both, the iPro is marginally better. With the distortion associated with a Fisheye lens, sharpness may not be the most important element when choosing a fisheye, however if you look at the sample photos below, you will notice the iPro lens offers a slightly wider field of view compared with that of the Olloclip, and so by a cats whisker, the Schneider lens wins this round.

Above: This photo was taken with the Olloclip Fisheye Lens.Above: This photo was taken with the iPro Fisheye Lens (notice the extra field of view).

The Wide-Angle
For me, and probably many of you, the wide-angle is the most important and most useful lens found in both of these kits. Both lenses enable you to take photos with a wider field of view, making them ideal for landscapes, cityscapes, or anything where you want to capture in a single shot, a wider angle of view to that of the iPhone's standard lens.

When it comes to picture taking, whilst the Olloclip offers acceptable clarity and sharpness, of the two, it is the Schneider iPro Wide-Angle lens that is noticeably better, producing clearer and sharper results. Also, compared to the Olloclip, the Schneider iPro lens offers a noticeably wider angle of view. Whilst these features alone may not be overly important to some, it is the lens distortion that makes these two lenses stand so far apart. Whilst the Schneider lens cleverly corrects the distortion associated with an ultra wide-angle lens, as the sample shots below show, the Olloclip badly suffers from, and is let down by image distortion, and so in this final round, it is the iPro lens that is the clear winner.

Above: This photo was taken with the Olloclip Wide-Angle Lens (notice the distortion around the coast line and the near step).Above: This photo was taken with the iPro Wide-Angle Lens (notice the extra field of view).

The Extras
If you've read my full reviews of both of these lenses, then you will be aware of each manufacturers chosen method of fitting their offering to your iPhone and the little extras that come with each lens, like the lens caps and custom carry pouch/lens cloth supplied with the Olloclip to the lens carry case supplied with the iPro, that doubles up as a grip/tripod mount, but this side by side comparison review isn't about these extras, it's all about the lenses.

So now for the big question, which is best, the Olloclip or Schneider iPro?
Despite the iPro Lens System winning more rounds in the head to head, there isn't an easy answer to this question, as both lenses are good, and it all depends what you are looking for in an add-on lens kit. If you want to shoot macro, then it has to be the Olloclip, or if you're looking for a reasonable quality lens at a reasonable price, the again the Olloclip ticks the box, however if want the best quality add-on lens currently available for your iPhone, then as the above photos show, it has to be the Schneider iPro.

The Schneider iPro Lens System (my full review can be read here) is currently priced at $200* from Schneider Optics, whilst the Olloclip 3-in-1 Lens is priced at $69.95*, and is available direct from Olloclip (my full review can be read here).

*Prices are excluding shipping costs.

Comments

[G]

Please do a side by side review between Owle Bubo and Ipro. :) thanks

[DanIP]

Thanks for this post. I've heard good things about both lenses but It is great to see the side by side comparisons.

[Ed]

I have to disagree with you on the wide angle comparison. The iPro looks terrible. Look at the edges of the image. The rocks far left then the chain on the pole bottom right. The iPro is way too blurry. The Olloclip is clear as a bell in both areas. The iPro might try to correct for the wide angle distortion but it does so very, very poorly. I'd take the image quality of the Olloclip over the iPro any day of the week. The barrel distortion of the Olloclip is acceptable for a wide angle lens. In face the Olloclip looks to be a wider angle lens compared to the iPro but I am not sure what they are both rated as.

[Jim]

Ed, you shall compare them in video mode, you will know which one is wider in field of view. Olloclip's wide angle looks wide only because of the distortion. For iPhone4/4S, because FOV in
video mode is smaller than in still mode, the difference between Olloclip wide angle and ipro wide angle is more obvious. I did a side by side test. Ipro's wide angle is about 15% wider than Olloclip's.

By the way, for any wide angle lens, one of the most difficult thing is to correct its distortion while keep as sharp as possible on the edge. If you don't think the distortion is the issue, then you shall use the fisheye instead of the distorted wide angle because fisheye is even wider.

[iSellMyiPhone]

Very cool product! Seems like a well designed lens :) The side by side comparisons were nice.

[lens42]

I designed a macro lens that I think takes better shots than the Olloclip. This is DIY device that you can print at Shapeways:
http://www.shapeways.com/model/328790/
It takes a nice glass lens from Surplus Shed (a high quality surplus lens seller) that costs only $4 so the total cost is under $15 (i.e. way under $70). Check out the metric ruler shot on the Shapeways page and compare the distortion to other similar devices.

[Mike O]

I think one advantage of the iPro is that when/if the form factor of the next iPhone changes, Schneider can release a new case for it that still supports the lenses.

With the Olloclip, you may be out of luck as it depends upon the body of the phone.

That of course depends upon whether Schneider updates the case and sells the case without the lenses but that seems more likely than the iPhone body not changing.