REVIEW – These days, no matter where we go, it is hard not to see someone taking photos with their smartphone. Whether it is while on the go, or in a park or on the beach, smartphones allow anyone to capture the moments they want to remember. The Kodak Smartphone Photography kit provides any smartphone user with a selection of camera gear to further enhance their photography results.
What is it?
The Kodak Smartphone Photography Kit includes accessories to support the creativity of a smartphone photographer. The kit includes a combo lens with Wide-angle and a Macro options, a tripod that turns into a compact handle, and a ring light.
What’s in the box
1 x Wide-Macro Lens
1 x Lens Cap
1 x Lens Pouch
1 x Smartphone Portrait Light
1 x Charging Cable
1 x Smartphone Tripod
1 x Travel Case.
Design and features
Features
- 100° wide-angle and 15x macro lens: Create unique wide-angle and macro shots with this 2in1 smartphone lens with AR+-coating and a universal clip attachment system
- Tripod: Rugged tripod that turns into a compact handle. It allows horizontal and vertical shots for limitless creativity. Works with small cameras as well
- Portrait Light: For better lighting conditions and style. Illuminate your subjects, highlight the unique features and remove wrinkles. Works with front and rear cameras
The kit includes several accessories. The phone mount as shown below, is adjustable to accommodate various widths, has a built-in mount on the back to hold the shutter remote, and has a 1/4-20″ mount to allow it to be attached to any tripod. On the circular edge of the shutter remote, there is an on/off button, and on the top flat side, there is the large round shutter release button. There is also a small green LED that flashes continuously once the power is on.
The ring light has a spring clip that is used to attach it to the phone, and a yellow rubber cover that protects the micro USB port that is used to charge its built-in internal battery. As shown below, the left side of the yellow rubber flap permanently covers the on/off button.
There is the spring clip that has the lens mount built-in and has the lenses attached to it with a plastic cover over the larger ultra-wide angle lens. When you unscrew the ultra-wide-angle lens, there is the macro lens below it.
Kodak also includes a desktop tripod with a built-in adjustable ball mount.
Performance
Attaching the accessories to the phone is quite easy, with the only real adjustment being the need to ensure that the lens is placed correctly over the phone’s camera. Connecting the remote shutter release to the phone’s Bluetooth is simple and really easy. Once I turned on the remote, it immediately showed up in the list of available devices on my phone.
The first issue I encountered when testing with an iPhone 8Plus, is that the ring light would immediately begin to slide off of the side of the phone. The clasping grip is not adequate to accommodate the slimness and smoothness of this phone.
The next 2 photos show my decision to mount the ring light on the top side of the phone so that there are no issues with it remaining in place.
The photo below shows the ring light in operation on the smartphone. It provides three levels of brightness.
When using the included tripod, in order to ensure proper stability the legs have to be opened to the widest. There is no locking mechanism to lock them into a smaller footprint.
Since Kodak included a macro and a wide-angle lens, I wanted to include a close-up comparison between the two lenses. I found that the macro lens provided clear and sharp pics, but it was difficult to get the same focus and quality with the wide-angle lens at a close distance. However, it did perform better at a longer distance from the subject.
Macro lens:
Wide-angle lens (Same shot and distance from the subject as above):
Wide-angle lens (Distance landscape shot through a window):
With some amount of editing, all of the pictures above can be made to look decent and in the case of the macro shot, very sharp.
What I like
- The items included in the kit
- The flexibility
- The build quality
- The portability
What I’d change
- It does what it is designed to do reasonably well
Final thoughts
This Smartphone photography kit is a nice addition for someone that uses their smartphone for most of their photography. Even as a photographer, I find it useful when I need to quickly shoot some product photography at close range for small items. The inclusion of the portrait light, the shutter release remote and the changeable lenses is a great feature. I have enough use for the kit and I do like it.
Price: $59.99
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Kodak
