I’d prefer a clip on lens than to hand hold a separate microscope lens that doesn’t need another hand in what is often an awkward or uncomfortable position. Not to mention that not everyone has a microscope to remove a lens from and possibly lose in the field.
Loss is Easy and why I prefer low to moderately priced lenses.
I own the Apexel lens and have used it a lot. I suspect that I initially chose it because it was the cheapest one on Amazon that looked like it would do the trick. After unknowingly dropping it during a hike I realized that, considering how cheap and tiny they are, I ought to have a spare in my pack. I found the one I dropped on my return trip, undamaged, so that was a nice surprise.
When I went to buy a replacement on Amazon the Apexel was more expensive than a similar lens branded as Xenvo, so I bought the Xenvo as my backup. When it arrived I liked the clip better, and it seems to take better pictures, so it’s now become my main clip-on macro lens, and the Apexel is the backup.
This is the Xenvo lens that I bought (it comes with a couple of other lenses that I don’t really have a use for): https://www.amazon.com/Xenvo-iPhone-Camera-Lens-Clip/dp/B01A6D2JVI/
Looking at Amazon right now, this other lens looks identical and ~40% cheaper. This low-end cheapo stuff is often copied from factory to factory in China, so It could be the same, or it could be worse or maybe even better than the Xenvo. It’s always a bit of a gamble but if I was in need of a backup now I’d probably be buying this one: https://www.amazon.com/NEEWER-Accessories-Compatible-Samsung-Smartphone/dp/B0F6C19RG7/
you can always buy microscope lenses on Amazon. I’ve noticed that I haven’t been able to find a phone based lense that gets magnification as high. The other option would be a loupe, but I ultimately recommend looking into microscope lenses if you want to get decent photos of small insects. there’s some reddit threads that discuss the ones best for use
heres some examples, im sure that you could get a clipon adaptor. you can also keep the lenses in a pouch
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Thank you very helpful
It is also likely that you would get best results with a phone with “tele” objective. Unfortunately those are usually not as good as the main camera. In any case, with those the image is likely to fill larger area on the sensor.
How do you photostack with a phone?
Edit: or did you mean using a 3rd party software afterwards on desktop?