Hi everyone,
I need recommendations for a good iPhone 15 Pro clip-on macro lens to inspect tiny insects on avocado leaves (mites, thrips, small flies, scale crawlers). I’ve tried a couple of Amazon digital microscopes but they were not practical, so I’m looking for real-world suggestions.
Has anyone used Apexel, Moment, Olloclip, or another attachment that works well outdoors for close insect inspection?
Thanks!
I have used the Apexel macro lens, both 12x and 24x, for photographing many similar small insects. I do like the convenience, but you do have to get very close, and it’s pretty impossible to get decent pictures of anything on the move. If you are looking for the detail to identify genus or species, it generally won’t give that kind of resolution. I only use the 12x in the field, the 24x was much too fussy. Here’s an example of the image quality: whiteflies: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/276792775 and thrips: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/211550209
hello @ctmiami
I’m probably not the one who will provide the best answer. however, is this your first time with microlenses? did you tried things like photo stacking and adjusting light?
I have a Moment 25-mm M-series macro lens. It works great in situations where you control light and movement, for example, photographing plants at home under artificial light. I have some sample photos online.
I tried using it in the field but the quality of the results do not outweigh the inconvenience, even with the excellent Moment phone case. Without control of light and movement, macro photography with an iPhone is a crapshoot. I’m not sure if that’s true of all smartphones but I’d be surprised if it isn’t.
I had great experiences with the Olloclip on iPhone 7 then upgraded to 13 pro to use the newer inbuilt macro lens.
I was surprised to see the iPhone 7 w Olloclip performed similarly well to the iPhone 13 pro with no lens… even my pics using a loupe with iPhone 7 seemed similar to me.
Even if 13 pro has a better sensor/lens, the software makes it unusable due to the lack of control on focus - most of the time, I get close to the subject but it fails to focus on the point I wish… and selecting focus point on screen fails.
How do other people deal with this?
Do the Moment lenses or others work on the newer phones ok despite the automated lens selection and limited fixed focus options? The way the newer phones will flip between the 3 lenses, when I’ve tried just using a loupe with a 13 for example… it simply didn’t seem to work as it would confuse the software as to which lens I wanted to use.
Unsure if you’re able to on iPhone, but on my Google Pixel I’m able to turn off the macro zoom when using a clip on lens. Let the lens do the heavy lifting. Maybe it will make the phone lens hopping/focus less of an issue.
I have a 13 mini with a moment macro lens and got decent shots a lot of the time, but also ran into the problem you mentioned.
The easiest way to fix it would probably be to install a 3rd party camera app that lets you have full manual control, but I honestly find using these more of a hassle than the problem I tried to solve.
I use a proper camera now and couldn’t be happier with it
Set focus using some other object that fills the view and lock it by holding your finger on the screen until it flashes and shows the box indicating that focus and exposure are fixed. Then re-frame to the subject your taking a photo of and move the phone back and forth for fine focus.
Yeah, I do this sometimes using my finger… it just isn’t practical though with insects as it often scares them off…
I tried this too - I subscribed to Halide I think its called, but yes, didn’t adopt it or really get it to work for some reason… maybe I needed to persevere.
I use two camera bodies and a phone usually when properly recording. But sometimes only the phone is fast enough or to hand… I can’t carry my cameras with me all the time.
The iPhone 7 with Olloclip remains a killer combo!
Actually it wasn’t the Olloclip - it was the Ztylus Revolvr I got after that really nailed it. That design was a game changer for me with phone recording. Recommended on the other macro thread by @carrieseltzer I believe.
I’ve always been curious about the Moment lenses… but they seem pricey and I fear I would lose them.That was what made the Revolvr so good - the integration into the phone case…
I agree 100% about the Olloclip with the older phone - I still have my Olloclip and am considering finding a used phone just for that purpose. Ztylus with my iPhone 11 was quite good as well (esp for convenience) but I never got quite the sharpness as with the Olloclip. I now have a Moment with a more recent phone and it’s OK but really not great. I mostly take photos with a “real” camera and macro lens now. There are trade-offs and there are some ways that the up-close phone camera photography is superior; you can get different angles more easily and if the bug flies away it’s easier to see where it’s gone.
The Moment macro lens uses the Ultra Wide lens on my iPhone 12 mini. While I was researching the Moment lens, I realized there was no way to manually switch between the two lenses on iPhone (which was a showstopper) so I decided to try the Moment (software) camera as a drop-in replacement for the standard Apple Camera. In short, that was a disaster!
Today the Apple Camera has a feature that lets you manually choose the desired lens so you can use the Moment lenses with iPhone out of the box. There are still reasons for considering a non-Apple camera (e.g., the focus issue mentioned above) but be aware that not all camera apps are created equal.
I have an iphone 13 mini and I’ve been using a $12 clip-on lens for years without issue. Definitely recommend for something super easy/cheap. It won’t give you the highest-quality pictures but it does help and get things more identifiable. Obs I’ve taken with this setup:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/321505542
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/317472287
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/312580158
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/304650434
Clip link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H1JY95E?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
Interesting. Good to know re: GPS accuracy of 2nd party software.
I’m on an iPhone 13 pro with iOS 18.6.2 … I don’t get the sense I can choose a lens exactly (?) … if I want to do a macro shot of a blade of grass there is no way to flip to focus on the blade of grass afaik without using a finger or something and having the finger remain in view
Is it different on newer iPhones / software? Or am I missing a basic feature haha?
Googling it, it seems I should be able to run iOS 26 which surprises me… I figured iOS updated automatically to the newest / optimal version…maybe I need to update!
I think the clip on you mention wouldn’t work on a 13 pro, or at least give much advantage by the look of it ( which I guess is same for OP if on a 15)
I chose the 13 pro because it was the earliest newest model at the time, with macro inbuilt. According to the Amazon link you shared, its incompatible with a 13 pro it seems…and/or in any case your clip-on obs don’t look like they are getting much closer than with the inbuilt lens on 13 pro it seems (?) - e.g.
But good to know for older phones!
I think my issue with the clip-ons before was that I kept losing them too… the Ztylus Revolvr design solved this issue for me really well.
Ah I see, my bad. I saw someone else mention the mini. Yeah the only advantage is that it’s cheap and gets me closer than the in-built does. Seems moot with the pro models though
Let my try to explain what I mean by “choose a lens”. If you buy a Moment macro lens, you also have to buy a Moment case for your particular model of iPhone. The case makes it possible to attach the macro lens to the iPhone.
My iPhone 12 mini has two built-in camera lenses (the iPhone 13 pro has three). The Moment case forces the Moment macro lens to sit on top of one of the built-in lenses (the so-called Ultra Wide lens). If I attach the macro lens, open the Apple Camera app, and take a photo, the app needs to be using the Ultra Wide lens (obviously).
Open the Apple Camera app and notice two small round toggle buttons at the bottom of the photo frame. On my iPhone 12 mini, one of the buttons is labeled “0.5” while the other button is labeled “1” (your mileage may vary). The Ultra Wide lens corresponds to the button labeled “0.5” so I need to press that button before taking a photo with the Moment macro lens attached.
Interestingly, that pair of toggle buttons didn’t exist two years ago. There was no way to manually select a built-in camera lens, and so the Moment macro lens was not usable with the Apple Camera app.
A quick note on this.
I went with the Moment system for my iPhone 12 and wasn’t too impressed with their cases (and I bought enough of them too…). And note that I do realize that my setup is dated, but this may be useful for folks in a similar scenario.
I went with the Speck Presidio case as the Moment drop-in fits and the case seems much more quality in my experience.
The lenses are good, but depth of field is a thing with the macro and the telephoto only improves a shot so much…
if you want to get identifiable photos I recommend holding up microscope lenses to your phone camera
I usually use a nearby leaf or my leg. Using your finger or hand means more movement, often close to the insect, which is more likely to scare it off. And to lock the focus often takes both hands anyway.
I found Apexel products very cost effective and does the job well. You need to play around to get to know the products and how they attach.
Well worth the investment.