New mobile lenses hook onto your iPhone so you can snap high quality photos

Smartphone accessory lens manufacturer, ExoLens, is planning to develop a series of lenses that use optics and designs from optical manufacturer, Zeiss. The idea behind this collaboration is to make “iPhoneography” better than ever.

Yes, smartphone lenses aren’t anything new, but for the most part, they don’t necessarily improve the camera’s image quality. Equipped with macro, telephoto, and wide-angle, the Zeiss-ExoLens lenses are made from black anodized aluminum. The lenses, which were presented at CES 2016, are coated to reduce reflections and light transmission, and can easily be screwed into a metal bracket that slips on the iPhone 6/6S or 6 Plus/6S Plus.

The ExoLens wide-angle lens with optics on an iPhone 6S. Image source: lenspire.zeiss.com.

“The wide-angle and telephoto lenses offer excellent image performance with outstanding edge-to-edge contrast,” said Zeiss. “The macro lens features a zoom function — unique for accessory lenses of this type — for flexible image composition.”   

According to the company, the macro lens allows focusing from as close as 30 mm, and will convert the effective focal length of the iPhone lens to a 40-80 mm zoom in full-frame forms. The wide angle adapter will offer 0.6x magnification to make the iPhone lens act as an 18 mm, while the telephoto adapter has a 2x magnification that can deliver the appearance of a 58 mm lens.

The trio of lenses with optics. Image source: lenspire.zeiss.com.

The company has dubbed the macro zoom lens a Vario-Proxar because of its ability to vary the focal length of the camera lens and its ability to close-focus. Zeiss said it’s the only continuous zoom accessory for smartphones, and that it maintains coverage of the entire sensor while zooming in. Impressively, the magnification is such that objects as tiny as three centimeters can fill the frame.

Zeiss is also looking to support other non-iPhone devices. Currently there’s no word on the prices of the lenses, but they’re scheduled for a late second-quarter launch this year. 

 Source: lenspire.zeiss.com.