Adding a macro lens to your smartphone is a great way to expand the capabilities of what your mobile camera can do. In this Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens review I’m taking a look at what this surprisingly beautiful lens delivers for smartphone photography.
Firstly, this macro lens is impressively priced for its quality. Coming in at only $39.95 at the time of writing, it packs a punch. I have a pretty old phone (it’s over three years old which is positively ancient in smartphone terms) and I was genuinely impressed with the photo quality this little pocket lens delivered.
Pros
- Impressive photo quality even on my older smartphone
- Easy to attach to any phone with the included clip
- A screw-in pin holds the attachment firm so it won’t fall off during operation
- Lens clarity is excellent and only limited by phone’s capabilities
- Phone autofocus still works perfectly once within the focus range
- Includes two filters
- Sliding mounting makes it easy to line up with your phone’s camera
- Minimal vignetting
Cons
- Included bag doesn’t quite fit the lens with clip attached
- Clip covers the top corner of the screen which may block access to buttons
- Padding on the clip reassures that it’s not going to scratch the screen, but could be thicker
I received the lens from Apexel in exchange for an objective review. All opinions are my own.
Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens – Technical specifications
All technical specifications were taken from B&H.
- Macro lens with focal length 100mm
- Glass construction
- Minimum focus distance: 1” (2.5cm)
- Maximum focus distance: 3” (7cm)
- Weight: 5.6 oz / 159 g
- Universal compatibility, including iPhone, Samsung, iPad, HTC, ZTE, Xiaomi, Moto, Blackberry, Nokia
- Each lens housing is made using CNC precision for an accurate optical design
- Multilayered anti-reflective optical coated lenses to increase light transmission and reduce reflections
Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens – Ergonomics and build quality
Smartphone lenses like these have been around for a while, and the Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens has a fairly standard universal attachment. The lens screws onto a metal ring on the plastic clip. This ring moves up and down so you can easily position the lens to match your smartphone camera.
The clip feels sturdy and has the nice feature of a screw pin to put pressure on the hinge to lock the lens into place. There is rubber non-slip padding on the clip where it contacts your phone’s screen. This could be a little thicker and grabbier but it does the job.
The lens itself is metal and glass and feels good quality. It’s got a metal thread to attach to the clip mount, and comes with a lens cap for the front and a tiny one for the back on the threaded end. This means if you have other lenses in the Apexel range, this one is safely protected on both sides when you’re not using it.
Attaching the lens to the phone is easy: Clip on, line up, and tighten the threaded pin to hold it in place. I was easily able to immediately position the lens in the right place on my phone.
The lens slipped into place fine with my phone’s slimline case attached. On my husband’s Otterbox case, we couldn’t fit the lens in place without removing the Otterbox, so that’s something to bear in mind if you use an Otterbox or bulky phone case.
Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens – In the field
I was very impressed with the image quality of the Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens. As I mentioned, my phone is pretty old by smartphone standards so I wasn’t sure how well the photos would turn out. I was pleased with the results I got.
The lens is very easy to use. It feels like it’s securely attached to the phone, and I didn’t have any problem lining it up to take photos. Once in the focus range (which is pretty close, 1” to 3” approximately for it to focus), my mobile camera’s autofocus worked perfectly. It’s lightweight so doesn’t feel awkward on the phone.
Image quality and characteristics
This definitely fits the bill of a macro lens: I.e. a lens that makes the object bigger than 1:1 in the resulting image. It reveals a lot of beautiful detail, significantly improving the quality of my smartphone camera on its own. It picks up a lot of light and renders the image true-to-life.
Distortion and vignetting
I didn’t notice significant vignetting when the lens is lined up properly. You’ll notice the edge of the lens in your image when it’s not aligned. There is no distortion in the image at this focal length.
Chromatic aberrations, flares and ghosting
I noticed little or no chromatic aberration in my images. Flares and ghosting were evident when shooting backlit against the sun. However, because this is a macro lens with a limited focus distance, it’s hard to imagine a situation where flares like this would not be avoidable if you didn’t want them. In other words, if you’re getting flares and ghosting, then you’re probably trying for it deliberately.
Sharpness
The images taken with Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens were sharp within the limits of my phone camera. There’s two lenses at play here because the macro lens attaches to the phone’s camera. The above comparison between my camera on its own and with the macro lens attached show that the sharpness is the same thus simply limited by my phone.
Bokeh
The background blurs beautifully with this macro lens. Again bokeh is going to be dependent on the phone camera as well as the lens. The Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens certainly gives a smooth, pleasing texture to the magnified images.
Color rendition
I found excellent color rendition when testing for this Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens review. I used Radiant Photo Mobile to process the images and this brings out the detail. However even straight out of camera the images are rendered true color.
Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens – Final thoughts
Overall, I am very impressed with the quality of macro images I created for this Apexel APL-HB100MM Macro Lens review. This lens would be a great addition for macro photographers wanting a fun, very portable, inexpensive kit to use on the go with their existing phone hardware.
For photographing flowers and insects it delivers beautiful results with ease. Creators and craftspeople would also find a use for this lens: For photographing details, textures, embroidery, stitching, etc, it is perfect. Jewellery photography for showing off detail work in necklaces, earrings, rings and so on: This lens would make it a lot easier to capture quality photos on your smartphone.
