We have certainly featured SANDMARC’s leather iPhone cases around here more than once – I have raved about how great they are time and time again, but another place where the brand’s expertise really shines is in the iPhoneography space and its collection of lens attachments. I have recently had a chance to give its 2024 Telephoto 6x iPhone zoom lens a go in person for a few weeks after it debuted in February, and now it’s time to weigh in and give up some hands-on impressions in the latest edition of Tested with 9to5Toys.
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Hands-on with SANDMARC’s Telephoto 6x iPhone zoom lens
SANDMARC says it made its new iPhone Telephoto 6x lens to “further expand the zoom capabilities of the iPhone.” And that it very much does. It screws onto the included case or one of its Pro Edition Leather cases – my personal favorite cover and the one I’m using right now – with an onboard manual focus wheel to dial in the perfect shot.
It carries a $159.99 MSRP, but using our exclusive 9TO5TOYS discount code will drop your total down to $143.99 shipped.
Take a closer look at the specs:
- 6x Zoom
- Multi-Element Glass
- Adjustment Focus Wheel
- Included Case
- IncludedLens pouch
- IncludedFront and back lens caps
9to5Toys’ Take
It is indeed all about the pictures and the users experience, but let’s firstly quickly get some thoughts on the build quality out of the way.
Once unboxed you’ll be presented with a sweet little all black zipper case of sorts. Structured but not overly protective; spacious but not overly cumbersome – it’s large enough to fit the SANDMARC Telephoto 6x lens, which comes wrapped inside of another fabric soft bag, some small accessories, and the caps to protect the glass on either end of the lens rig itself. The actual box is just your plain old usual thing, but once you unwrap it, it’s a really nice premium package overall.
The actual lens itself is no joke. It is a solid metal piece of kit with that matte photography-gear black finish. It feels weighty and well made, but not so heavy that the SANDMARC cases can’t support it while it’s attached and hanging off the back of your Apple handset. The focus dial feels great too – smooth and satisfying but not loose or difficult to use.
This is not some cheap housing to throw some lens glass inside of, the whole thing has the look and feel of something that costs this much – the build quality is very much what I hoped it would be.
Play now let’s talk picture quality. It can certainly capture an image with much better detail at much further distances than iPhone 15 on its own. I have always been mostly impressed with the camera options iPhone 15, and especially iPhone 15 Pro. In fact, I never really thought I’d ever need one of those lens things some folks use, but this is super cool and fun to use.
***Note: There’s a very simple setup procedure on the software side of things detailed here. Short form version is you just need to engage Macro settings in the Camera section of the iOS settings, and then hit the little onscreen flower icon when you go take your first pic with the lens.
Subjects, structures, and anything else way off in the distance, something so far away you can barely see it even, is now front and center and up close and personal in your iPhone’s viewfinder.
I found it quite easy to use the onboard focus wheel to dial in the best possible settings – this clearly varies depending on the distance and conditions, but it doesn’t take a professional to get decently sharp image on something ultra far away.
It is, however, worth mentioning that I found the further the subject the harder it was to get the image stabilized. This, at least for me, was expected to some degree. It just kind of makes sense this would be the case – you’re trying to focus in on something super far away so it’s going to be a touch shaky as every movement in your hand is magnified because of it. Not so much that I couldn’t take decent pictures, but it is something to keep in mind for folks looking to go a little more pro with it. The lens, like most lens or photography sessions for that matter, could really benefit from a good tripod (SANDMARC makes a really good one I reviewed previously and still use to this day, but anything decent will likely do the trick) or something like it, just to stay your hand while dialing in the focus. The images this amateur iPhone photographer snapped and included in this post for comparison’s sake were all taken entirely free-hand with no physical stabilization method.
I certainly take a ton of pictures for reviews around here and in my personal life, but I’m admittedly no professional photographer. Having said that, it really doesn’t take much to see how fantastic this zoom lens can be. All things considered, it’s a fraction of the price of a hardcore camera setup, and especially so when you consider it just connects to the iPhone you were going to purchase anyway.
Buy the SANDMARC Telephoto 6x iPhone zoom lens
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