I’ve been using an Ollo Clip for a few weeks now, and it’s a well established, very cool product for the iPhone. I’ve been using the 4S version, and the 5 version was also recently released.
So – why buy an OlloClip? The iPhone camera, like every other cellphone camera, is limited primarily by two things – it’s sensor size limitation (can’t change that) and it’s optics. People generally don’t want to tote around a heavy/large lens attached to a phone simply for a bit higher magnification, or wider field of view. The OlloClip addresses this by providing 3 lenses in one package. It’s a small package, easily carried in a shirt or pant pocket, yet it greatly expands the use of the iPhone. Below is an example of how the macro attachment on the clip provides extended camera capability. This means documenting things like product damage, or using it as a hack magnifying lens, are easy to do.
On the other extreme is the use of the wide angle and fisheye lenses. Now, as a pilot one of my big beefs is that my pictures never convey the sense of perspective one feels in flight. There is simply something missing. Some of this is due to the extremely high dynamic range nature of aerial photos, but it’s also simply limited by the field of view. Sure, you can carry a big DSLR and a fisheye with you, but what about when you simply want to snap a quick pic of a cool view while in flight? This is where the Ollo Clip really shines. Here’s an example of a photo I took with the stock iPhone.
And here’s the same field using the fisheye lens from the OlloClip:
And I had to add a sunrise pic:
Of course, this can also present a similar perspective to any shot inside a vehicle, and it will work with video (slightly cropped down due to the iPhone’s video cropping) as well as stills.
In summary, for $60 you get a major increase in what your phone camera can do. Well worth it to capture some of those moments which will never come again.