Hardware: The iPhone Lens Dial, a three-lens optical system for your iPhone

Photojojo, the US photography accessory specialists are at it again. This time they've introduced another bulky monstrosity lens system for the iPhone, called the "Lens Dial".

Aimed at what they call "serious iPhoneographers", the iPhone Lens Dial will set you back $249 USD plus shipping.

The iPhone Lens Dial is made of aircraft-grade aluminium, has two tripod mounts (for portrait or landscape shots), and boasts three optical-quality coated glass lenses: Wide Angle, Fisheye, and Telephoto, which are selected by rotating the "Lens Dial".

Photojojo say why not "use the 0.7x Wide Angle for sweeping landscapes or get fun warped images with the 0.33x Fisheye" or "switch to the 1.5x Telephoto and get nearly two times closer to your subject."

For more information on this or other accessories, then check out the Photojojo website.

Source: What I See Now

Comments

[Gordon Fraser]

Beautiful and discreet...I might buy two!.....what were they thinking...

[rajkumar]

OMG!

At this rate i think we need a separate iphone-o-case case system just to carry the iphone and its camera accessories! Lol!

Reminds me of an old school multi-lens camera system i had seen once!

[Renise]

My only thought is that since it is tied to a specific case then it is limited to a specific form fact of the iPhone. They need to create a version that can be attached to any case and iPhone, especially future models of the iPhone, to make it viable in my eyes.

They need to take into consideration that unlike a DSLR, people will replace their iPhones about every two years and forcing them to repurchase this of $249 every two years is pretty unreasonable. Maybe they should have fleshed this one out a but more before releasing it.

[Richard Bailey]

You could get a half decent compact with zoom for that price with much better IQ than the iPhone 4s !

[espekayen]

My guess is that if you can afford to shell out over $250 on an iPhone accessory, then you probably won't be that bothered if you upgrade your iPhone in two years and the accessory no longer fits. You'll just go out and buy another one. Given the technology involved I have no idea if the price is a fair one, but I won't be getting it. If I had a higher disposable income, then yes, I would consider it, but for my budget it is rather expensive. I think it looks great, though.

[vincent-b]

There's a lot more to say apparently about these lenses.

- @Renise, you can detach the lens ring and replace the case, it's obvious on the photos.
- Lesnses are big, meaning you're using their center, less image distortion.
- the case has three tripod mounts, wich is really great.
- Photojojo's advertise it bad, they should show that most if all of the cropping disappear when filming because of the crop factor when shooting video on the iPhone. As I see this product, it's more aiming at filmmakers than photographers.

But it's definitely interesting. I'm constantly carrying lenses for iPhone and I think this is a good idea and not a bad design.

@gordon I think Photojojo's thinks well.

[RCG]

I'm so tired of seeing all these gadgets for iphone photography. It's enough that there are endless repetitive apps available, but the hardware attachments are getting just ridicules.
This isn't about photography at all. It's about marketing and selling products to make you believe you'll all be better photographers if you would only spend 2 or 3 more hundred dollars. Do yourself a favor and invest the money into a decent digital camera instead. Forget about the toys & just take pictures.

[Richard Bailey]

Check out this other iPhone Lens Dial case from Holga

http://shop.holgadirect.com/products/holga-iphone-lens-filter-kit-for-iphone-slft-ip4

It's only $25 but I don't think it's available in the UK yet.