Sandmarc’s $100 iPhone lenses are a must for photo nerds

I’ve been using the iPhone XS for a few months now, and I can safely say it is one of the top camera phones from the last year. And just as I was thinking about how I could dial its photography capabilities up a notch, Sandmarc sent me a couple of lenses made for the XS to try out: a telephoto and a wide-angle, each costing $99 and $89 respectively.

Here’s what you’ll find in the box for both the lenses: A case for the iPhone XS with slots for lens attachment, a clip-on mount (in case you don’t want to use a cap), a pouch for lenses, and a cleaning cloth. I’m not a huge fan of cases on the phone but I quite like the Sandmarc case with matt finish.

Here’s what you’ll find in the box for both lenses: a case for your iPhone with a slot to attach the lens, a clip-on mount you can use instead of the case, a pouch for the lens, and a cleaning cloth. I’m not a huge fan of phone cases, but I quite like this one, because of its lovely matte finish and compact design.

I quite like the build quality of the aluminum-coated lenses too. They don’t feel cheap, and fit perfectly into the lens slot on the case. Plus, they’re light enough that they don’t make your phone feel top-heavy when they’re attached to the case.

These lenses don’t need to be set up in any way – you can use them as soon as you attach them to the iPhone with the case or the clip-on mount.

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The telephoto lens is designed to allow for 2x optical zoom with the standard camera lens on the iPhone; you can also attach it to the telephoto lens built into the iPhone to get 4x zoom. The company claims that even the 2x optical zoom photo captured through the lens is crisper than the one captured through the phone’s built-in telephoto camera. But I’ll leave that for you to decide.

The photos below are in this order: 2x zoom from the Sandmarc lens, 2x zoom from the iPhone’s built-in lens, and 4X optical zoom using the Sandmarc lens along with the iPhone’s telephoto lens.

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Plus, you’ll get an additional boost to the digital zoom for anything above 4x. It’s a great tool to have when you’re trying to capture specific parts of the landscape from afar.

The wide-angle lens nearly doubles the field of view of the iPhone XS’ primary lens without much distortion that typically occurs when your optics are designed to expand your angle of view beyond 125 degrees.

I enjoy shooting with this lens, as it makes light work of capturing dramatic landscapes. If I had to choose between the telephoto lens and the wide-angle lens, I’d go with the latter any day. You can check out more shots here.

The telephoto lens will cost you $99.90 and the wide-angle lens will set you back by $89.99. You can add a macro lens into the mix and get the entire trio for $199.99.

These lenses are handy if you take tons of photos with your phone, and want more flexibility. While these prices might seem a bit high when you compare them to some lens packages available for around $30, Sandmarc offers a premium quality lens and a nice case.

You can check out the range of Sandmarc lenses for all the new iPhones including the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR here.