Want to do better macros pen photos but don't have a macro lens?

[RayCornett]

Many of you may scoff at this but my cell phone does better macros than my normal camera which I use for professional shooting and such. I don't have a macro lens for it really.

Today I received this awesome little set of cell phone lenses to attach to my cell phone. Actually I attach them to my cell phone case using their magnetic disks.

The set comes with a fish eye lens as well as a macro lens and one other lens that connects to the macro lens to make pretty interesting wide angle shots.

I will get a lot of use out of the macro lens. Especially for pen photography. I am still getting used to it so I really only have one show worth image of one of my nibs, in natural light with the macro lens.

This is not a shot lit by studio type lights like some of my other stuff but look at how close in I can get.....You can see the wet ink inside the nibs breather hole.

I definitely recommend a tripod made for cell phones. I improvised for this shot. Laying my cell phone "camera side down" on top of compact flash memory card stacked on top of a tiny jar of silicone grease from fountainpensacs.com, then setting the camera to timer mode so I wasn't touching the phone to cause any shake blur, turned out to be just the right distance to photograph this nib.

The main drawback that I see immediately, though, is that all of the lenses are just wide enough to get in the way of your cell phone camera flash. So, maybe half of your image gets lit if you use the flash. I recommend other light sources such as lamps and such instead.

[earthdawn]

Nice Ray!

I was pretty impressed with the lens I got for my phone as well. Quite surprising they work as well as they do given the price.

[da vinci]

Interesting post Ray. Do you have an iphone?

[LagNut]

Ray, who makes your lens set? I am thinking about the purchase of one, but found I could do this by placing a loupe in front of the lens. For the price of a loupe, a cellphone case and some superglue, I could make my own, but that was the same price as the lens system Jon Santos was discussing. I'm wondering if this is the same one.

Thanks
Mike

[Robert]

Thanks Ray and Earthdawn. I, too, have an iPhone and would like to know who made your lens and phone tripod. Many thanks!

[Jon Szanto]

Daniel Kircheimer was the person we were posting about, but I can't find the info on his site. I'll look for the earlier posts and get back to you...

ETA: Ok, I'm back. That took a while, and Daniel has a separate site for this one product. I suggest any of you interested in an inexpensive and effective add-on for an iPhone (and looks like it would work with other phones) give a look at the iCroScope page.

[earthdawn]

$7.30 shipped lens
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-in-1-180-B...item3f2e423bfa

5.89 shipped suction cup mount
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Auto-Car-Win...item3ce2688cfa

So I put the phone in the mount and suction cup it to something nonporous and it keeps the phone steady. I then use books or whatever to place the pen on to get it just the right height.

works like a charm

[scrivelry]

Has anyone used this with less-sophisticated phones? Mine is not a smartphone, and I am wondering if these would work.

[stonerman33]

I've been meaning to try one of these lenses, but for now I just put a loupe over the camera... A travesty.

[LagNut]

Earthdawn,

That is cheaper than what I was thinking of. I think I'll give this a go.

The three lenses seals the deal...

Thanks
Mike

[LagNut]

Has anyone used this with less-sophisticated phones? Mine is not a smartphone, and I am wondering if these would work.

Have you tried just putting a loupe over your lens? If that works, and the placement of your lens meets the criteria on the eBay page, I can't see why it wouldn't work. A bit of duct tape would be all you'd need if you've got a loupe.

Cheers,
Mike

[bc.hiker]

Thanks for sharing this info Ray. I don't have a smartphone, but use an iPod Touch 5g instead, but it seems nearly everything that's iPhone compatible works on the iPod Touch. Will definitely look into this since I don't have any lenses with macro.

[I like mango pudding]

I downloaded a magnifying app for free but haven't figured out how to get the pic on here yet. I've also done the loupe over the lens thing too

[RayCornett]

Sorry I havent been replying. For those who wondered I have a Motorola Droid Razr XT912 with an 8mp camera. You can get the lens set for just under $16 after shipping and the macro lens alone is worth it:https://www.mobstub.com/smartphone-lens

[RayCornett]

This does work but can be sort of annoying if it is not lined up right and you move it just a little. I also used a 3rd arm contraption to hold the loupe sometimes. But this lens set is much easier to deal with.