Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

REVIEW OF [Upgraded Version] Amir® 2 in 1 Professional HD Camera Lens Kit, 0.6X Super Wide Angle Lens + 15X Macro Lens, Universal Clip-On Cell Phone Lens for iPhone 6s /6/5, Samsung Galaxy & Most Smartphones First, let me give you a little background about me as a photographer. Through the years, I've carried around a series of prosumer cameras, from the Olympus C-2100UZ to the Minolta DiMage A1 to the Sony Alpha A300. I always lugged around a big, bulky purse because I used a fashionable camera bag for my handbag. When I upgraded to a DSLR, I had not only the heavy camera, but lenses to deal with, too. I had a compact Sony Cybershot I loved, so I used that for a while. Flash forward to the time of excellent smartphone cameras by Samsung. I pretty much ditched my DSLR and compact camera in favor of the immediacy of editing and posting to social media. I got excellent photos with my Galaxy S2, Note 2, Note 3 and Note 4. As the camera software got more sophisticated, I found I could get the images I wanted more easily with my phone than I ever could with my DSLR. I had to sacrifice a zoom lens, of course, but that was okay for most of my shooting. Like they say, the best camera you can have is the one you have with you. I always have my phone with me! HOWEVER, though I was firmly in The Land of Good Enough when it came to my mobile shots, I did miss being able to do macro shots. I love to photograph gardens, insects and other small details of life. I wanted to selectively focus on my subjects and blue the background. These things just weren't possible without doing editing after-the-fact. I've seen add-on lenses for smartphones advertised on Facebook and other websites, but they've always looked chintzy and I doubted their quality. When I saw this lens kit, it looked like it was made well and I wanted to give it a try. I am so glad I did! THE BUILD: The lens body is heavy-duty, solid aluminum. There is nothing lightweight and cheap about the housing. The glass is nice and crisp, too. I love that there is a both a snap-on lens cover for the front of the lens and a threaded cover for the back of the lens, too. THE FIT: The spring on the clip portion is nice and tight, with a protective layer of foam that keeps it from marring the phone screen. I was not able to use this lens kit with an Otterbox Commuter series case on my Samsung Note 4 phone since the bezel is deep and the clip didn't fit level on the case with it. My slim-fitting OEM case, however, poses no problem with this lens kit. THE GLASS - .6X WIDE ANGLE: The wide-angle lens is what you see when you remove the kit from the box. It is a combination of the macro lens screwed onto the wide-angle lens. This combination allows a .6X expansion on the field of vision you see with your phone's camera lens. If you want to fit more of your family in for a portrait or you want to show more of a sweeping landscape, this comes in handy. However, realize you will get some fisheye effect with this just because that's how these lenses work. I noticed that there is some blurring around the far edges of my photos when taken with this lens. I don't know that I will use the wide-angle very much in day-to-day shooting because my phone already does great panoramas and has a good wide-angle lens to begin with. THE GLASS - 15X MACRO: To use the macro lens, you must unscrew the smaller lens from the back of the wide-angle lens. Be sure to put the cap on your wide-angle lens to protect the glass from scratches and dust. Screw just the macro portion onto the lens clip's threaded portion. You're now ready to see where this lens kit really shines. I am impressed with the 15X macro! Keep in mind two things and you will not be disappointed. First, you can't adjust the lens to manually focus. You must focus by moving your phone closer to your subject. Second, you will have a shallow depth of field. What does that mean? It means you will have nice crisp details of your subject close-up, but the background will soon drop off and blur. Personally, I love this for creative photography. I am including photos showing the difference between photos with and without the add-on lenses. I did some in video while explaining how they work. THE TAKEAWAY: Though I'm a little underwhelmed with the wide-angle lens, I can see where it will be handy for certain uses. I adore the macro lens. The images I get with the macro are crisp and bright. It does take some getting used to before you can easily focus in that sweet spot of about 1 1/2" from the lens. When you do, it's magic. :) I do wish they had included a second set of lens covers that would protect the macro lens by itself. That and the slight blur around the periphery of the wide-angle field of view are my only negatives. * I got this product at a discounted price in exchange for an honest review.