Review of Prototype OOWA 2.5X Telephoto iPhone Lens

Photo made with iPhone6

Photo with iPhone6 and OOWA telephoto lens.
As a photographer and photojournalist who uses his iPhone as a primary work tool for making pictures, I miss the option of switching to a telephoto or wide-angle lens like I can with my digital single lens reflex cameras.
While producing my iPhone photo-a-day project called That Tree in 2012 and 2013, I mastered the art of being a human zoom. In the process I discovered that some compositions were impossible to produce with the built-in iPhone lens alone. There were no ways to overcome these visual and compositional limitations without add-on lenses. Certain perspectives can only be captured photographically with wide-angle or telephoto lenses.
In search of ways to change the lens perspectives with my iPhone, I tested add-on lenses from several prominent manufacturers. I have produced acceptable image quality from some of their wide-angle lens adapters but the telephoto lens options I tried left me disappointed by their limited edge-to-edge sharpness.
I recently had the opportunity to test two different prototype generations of the new OOWA 2.5x telephoto lens developed by DynaOptics. www.oowa.life The OOWA telephoto lens has greatly expanded the creative opportunities available with my iPhone by allowing me to compress near and far objects or shoot from farther away capturing perspectives I could not achieve without it. Throughout this post are several example images made with my iPhone6 alone and with the OOWA Telephoto lens attached.

Photo made with iPhone6.

Photo made with iPhone6 and OOWA telephoto lens.
Pros:
*2.5x magnification!
*Good edge-to-edge sharpness.
* I like the active and solid engagement of the mounting system and case for attaching the OOWA lens to an iPhone.
Cons:
*The lens produces a warm color shift and a loss of contrast in some shooting situations. (Note: This was correctable in post processing on the iPhone)
*The prototype case is slippery.
Note: I’ve provided my feedback to the team at OOWA and they have said they will be able to address the color and contrast concerns as well as the texture and feel of the case for their upcoming production models.
I look forward to using the final production model.

Photo made with iPhone6.

Photo made with iPhone6 and OOWA telephoto lens.

An Iowa Sunset! Photo made with the iPhone6 alone.

Photo made with the iPhone6 and OOWA 2.5x telephoto lens.
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