iPhone 3G zoom lens channels delights paparazzi, channels luminous flux
Gadget purveyors par crapulence Brando are selling this iPhone "Mobile Phone Telescope"... a six inch long zoom lens mounted via a crystal case to the back of your iPhone 3G. Despite the name, the gizmo does not actually appear to telescope, meaning that the effective thickness of your iPhone is a pocket bursting seven inches. And looking at the example images, the suggested customer seems to be iPhone-touting paparazzi who need a way to dash off a few long distance shots of the Brajelina vacation bungalows.
Still, it's not all crapgadget... the copy eloquently describes the real advantage of the design as "to run of rays can effectively avoid the contortion of image, and makes the super wide angle, the larger luminous flux, the higher visual acuteness, good for color reduction, which makes the high quality of photography." Indeed! If there's any area in which the iPhone 3G dropped the ball (besides supply of demand, 3G chipset, Mobile Me, App kill switch, battery life, etc.) its in its innate ability to channel larger luminous fluxes.
Apple iPhone 3G Mobile Phone Telescope [Brando (Thanks, Mark)
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For some reason, the intro to the Flintstones came to mind here. You know, the part where the drive-in burger waitress sets the tray on the side of the car and it tips over. *Imagines a bunch of iPhones tipping over*
I bought one of these for my original iPhone a few months ago...what the heck, I found it for $4. I completely forgot I ordered it by the time if showed up from Hong Kong (I ordered it to pad out an order of just as crappy Buddha Jukeboxes I was giving away as gifts).
Kinda interesting, other than the case is crap and you'd NEVER want to keep it on your phone. I keep it in my car in the glovebox for the few times I know I might be going out. It is absolutely impossible to use without stabilizing your hands. Not even for quick crap photos...the iPhone just isn't that quick...though I have gotten some interesting textures this way.
Not to say it is all bad...I have used it on campouts and otherwise when I didn't feel like bringing my craptacular Aiptek HD camera. With a little planning you can get some decent shots...or at least decent in comparison to what you are working with in the first place!
For the price I paid, I already got my money's worth...never piss on the crappy stuff...you'd be surprised how fun this stuff can be (and hackable! that's the reason I bought the above Aiptek cam...to hack the hell out of it).
Since I'm sure some people are wondering:
Exifer finds no metadata for the photos, so no evidence that they're legit one way or the other (not that you can't fake that stuff really easily anyway).
Additionally, hey, if you're cheap enough to buy this, maybe you can stabilize it with the string and washer camera stabilizer for a dollar:
http://www.diyphotography.net/just-a-washer-and-a-bolt-an-ingenious-camera-stabilizer.
did you ACTUALLY SEE IT in the flesh? Or are you judging it vicariously?
The iPhone version looks a bit impractical, but they have another couple of models that could be kind of neat for those of us who don't have iPhones.
I'm not sure that they're $25 worth of neat, but they seem to have tripod mount options so that could make for interesting photos if you ever want to shoot something with a decent optical zoom using your camera phone (I know I've wanted to on occasion, but I'm not sure I'd want to have to set up the adapter, lens and tripod just to get the shot).
Still though, I might actually pick up one of the universal versions (at least I could keep it through multiple phone upgrades until they add decent optical zoom to camera phones)