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Consumer Reports joined Into Tomorrow this week to tell us about 3rd party lenses for smartphones:
If you like shooting objects close up with a macro lens, you’ll love the new Olloclip Smartphone Lens Kit, so says Consumer Reports. Their electronics spokesman James McQueen is here to explain why.
Traditionally, macro photography required a SLR camera and a specialized lens that could cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars up into the thousands. But recently, smartphone add-on macro lenses have come on the market, and they are affordable enough to serve as a holiday gift or spontaneous splurge.
Now, a new option from Olloclip provides multiple magnifications that let smartphone owners push further into macro shooting.
The company is one of several that arm photographers with a range of easy-to-use lenses that clip onto their smartphone cameras. Olloclip has already offered macro photography in two magnifications in its 4-in-1 lens kit, which also includes wide-angle and fisheye options.
But now the company has expanded its arsenal to include a $70 Macro Pro Lens kit that triples down on this kind of photography. The package provides three magnifications: 7x, 14x, and a truly powerful 21x.
Overall, we found the Olloclip kit to work very well. The Macro Pro Lens features an updated design that lines up with the phone’s front- and rear-facing cameras so you can quickly shift from one to the other.
For more info on this story, visit ConsumerReports.org.
Listener Brian and Chris both recommended apps they’ve been playing with:
My favorite app is ultrachron Timer. The lite version is free and the paid version has many cool adjustable options. It’s the coolest looking 70-80s digital age looking display that you would see on tv shows like James bond and knight rider. The timers have, stop watches, count downs, alarms you name it. I use it on a daily basis for a number of reasons. Thanks! Great show!
Thank you, Brian!
They say money is the great motivator. Well, my app this week is one that I have not used because it may end up costing me a lot of money. Pact is an app that will allow you to earn cash for staying active, paid by members who don’t. I would be in that latter category. Basically, you enter your workout goals into the app then add your bank account information and how much money you’re willing to put on the line of you don’t reach your goal. If you reach your goal, then you get rewarded for each day committed. However, if you don’t make your goal, then you have just lost that amount of money that you put on the line and it goes into that pot and dispersed to the other members that met their goal.The app is free for iOS and Android, but if you aren’t active, it may cost you in the long run.
