Hi all! I’m interested in getting a iphone 17 camera attachment for both close up photos (small bugs) as well as further away photos (like birds). I’ve been using the iNaturalist and Seek in-app camera to ID critters down to their species, but I spend so much time trying to get the camera to focus on smaller bugs and I can’t even imagine how I’d get that to work for something like a bird further up in a tree or a rat from a distance at night.
If you have had any success with iphone camera attachments, I’d love to know!
I used the Apexel 50mm macro lens with an LED ring light up until recently. It’s relatively inexpensive and captures those small morphological characteristics that aid in identification. Take a look at my early observations for a quality reference. I’m using a cheap $250 android smart phone which is 3-4 years old, so photos with your iPhone are likely to be much higher quality.
Unfortunately, it was lost last week and I’ve upgraded to the Apexel 100Ultra clip-on macro lens which is due to arrive this afternoon. I’ll report back later today with example shots.
I’ve generally heard better things about clip-on macro lenses than telephoto ones. Macro can be a noticeable upgrade for small insects, whereas telephoto attachments often soften the image enough that they’re less useful for IDs. I’d look at Moment, Sandmarc, or ShiftCam. Those are probably the brands I’d trust most for iPhone camera attachments, though I’ve never used one.
These were taken freehand at 2x zoom.
Actinotus minor is smaller than my thumb nail.
