Olloclip’s new four-in-one lens is going to beef up your iPhone’s camera

When it comes to your smartphone, it’s all about the camera these days. Blame selfies. Olloclip’s new 4-in-1 quick-connect lens has been unveiled today and promises being a tool to create “great art”. For R700 (US$70) the olloclip 4-in-1 camera clip offers fish eye, wide-angle, and two macro lenses that fit in your pocket, oh and on your iPhone as well. That’s four lenses to take your Instagramming obsession to the next level.

The company says its technology functions similarly to larger DSLR cameras, except for the fact that it’s small enough to easily fit inside your pocket and that it weighs less than 30g of course. “Simple, elegant and unobtrusive” says Olloclip.

The fish eye and the wide-angle lenses are on opposite sides so you just need to flip the clip over to swap lenses. To use the 10x and 15x magnification lenses you just unscrew the fish eye or the wide-angle.

Both the wide-angle and the fish eye lenses have been improved to create sharper images with less lens distortion and enhanced clarity overall. You’ll get about 18mm focus distance with the 10x macro lens that will allow for greater depth of field.

“We wanted to enhance the new features of the iPhone 5s camera, including the five-element lens, autofocus matrix metering and dynamic local tone map that ensures more true-to-life color, while also complementing the iPhone’s aesthetic look,” said Patrick O’Neill, founder of Olloclip.

The company successfully managed to raise near US$70 000 on Kickstarter back in 2011. Similar to its predecessor, the 4-in-1 clip is designed from aircraft-grade aluminum and precision-ground coated glass optics. The olloclip 4-in-1 is available in red, silver and black and is compatible with all iPhones, starting from the iPhone 4.

Pew Research claims more than 82 percent of smartphone owners are using their phones to take pictures. So far this year, there’s been a massive uptake in this area of innovation. From Nokia’s Lumia 1020 pixel beast to Sony’s Lens-Camera clip-on that literally turns your smartphone into a DSLR, the alternatives are incredibly exciting.