- Most people don't know
that the lenses on your phone aren't just lenses.
They're more like completely separate cameras,
each with their own image sensor.
So if you've ever experienced lackluster performance
from your phone's telephoto or ultra-wide cameras,
it's probably because they're equipped with smaller
or lower-resolution sensors,
with slower lenses that capture less light.
That's where the idea of products like this come from.
If you put an accessory lens over the top
of your main shooter, in theory,
you get the best of all worlds.
Creative flexibility and a higher quality image
without the bulk of a traditional camera.
But most people do know it's going to take a lot more
to convince me that this can replace this.
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Accessory phone lenses are nothing new
and they've gotten a lot more refined over the years.
These feel great.
They're really quick to swap
and they're really conveniently sized
compared to normal lenses.
But there's a problem.
At a cost of $120 each for these wide and telephoto lenses
they really need to outperform my phone's stock cameras.
Can they be justified?
Actually, yes.
But it's complicated.
Here's our first photo of
downtown Vancouver's Olympic village,
starting with the ultra-wide on the iPhone stock
and the 18mm Moment lens on the iPhone's primary shooter.
At first glance, they aren't that different.
The field of view is different
which causes the perspective to change a little bit,
like how the bridge looks shorter in this photo.
Once we punch in, though, the story changes a bit.
And we start to see one of the benefits
of an external lens setup like this.
Our Moment's setup definitely delivered a better result.
Dark parts of the scene demonstrate the better dynamic range
of the main shooter and the image isn't as soft
as the iPhone stock ultra-wide.
It's particularly noticeable in the back buildings
where the lines on the stock ultra-wide
start to become mushy
while they remain relatively defined
on the Moment lens setup.
To see if this result can be replicated for cheaper,
we also grabbed this $45 Xenvo lens from Amazon.
For starters, it's really finicky to place
compared to the phone's case twist system on the Moment.
No matter where I put it, I got heavy vignetting
every single time which gets old fast.
And even if it fits your phone better,
there's also a shocking amount of distortion
towards the edges of the frame.
To be clear, the Moment lens isn't perfect
in this regard either, but it's so much better
than this generic clip-on.
I'll focus just on stock versus Moment
for the rest of this video.
On to the telephoto lenses.
The first thing that stands out to me here is
how amazing Apple's deep fusion has gotten.
This 65mm shot looks great.
In comparison, the 58mm moment setup is a touch wider
at first glance and seems not as punchy.
It's hard to tell exactly what's happening here
until we zoom in and wow.
The supports on the buildings look so much more defined
on the stock telephoto.
And I had to double-check
if the Moment setup was out of focus.
It wasn't. What a plot twist.
Of course, this could be a one-off.
Let's see how we do in an indoor scene.
This is a very challenging shot due to the beam of sun
coming through the window.
And once again,
the stock telephoto was clearly the better performer.
I don't even have a good explanation
for how much worse the Moment setup is here
except, I guess, that maybe something about
using an accessory lens interferes
with Apple's auto exposure.
Once again, multiple attempts didn't really
improve the capture quality much at all.
The Moment ultra-wide lens on the other hand
was a much stronger competitor, sort of.
Linus and I both found the image noticeably warmer
which isn't a big problem.
It's just something we noticed.
And as for clarity, it's a little complicated.
At the edge of the frame this lobster sign
above the cash register becomes illegible with the Moment.
But look at these nuts.
In the center of the frame Apple's AI sharpening is clearly
compensating in the stock photo,
while the Moment setup retains a much more natural look.
Up to this point, it feels like the Moment lenses
can deliver better results,
but it can end up working against Apple's own
multi-shot compositing and AI cleanup.
Fascinating.
For sanity, then, we moved on to a Note 20 Ultra
to compare the results.
In this photo of a statue
our 12 megapixel stock ultra-wide did a pretty good job,
retaining detail in the shadows
and has overall minimal fringing,
even on difficult objects like our flagpoles.
As for the Moment, this is what it was made for.
The main shooter on this phone is a whopping 108 megapixels.
So when it face planted, I was shocked.
I'm not trying to be mean, but this isn't great.
This lens flare is one thing,
but the fact that it's orange is another.
And we got this weird blue fringing
on the edge of our statue.
Detail wise, I can find places where it's a little sharper
than the stock if I looked for them,
but considering the 9x increase in pixel count
and the fact that the object is optically closer,
I'm not calling that a W.
And here's the Note's telephoto versus the 58mm Moment lens
attached to the main camera.
I think the stock lens edges a win here.
It's tighter to begin with, offers better detail
and has less ghosting overall.
Some people might not like how noisy
and processed it looks compared to the Moment setup,
but to my eye, it's worth the trade-off
for the additional warmth that we've now confirmed
comes from the Moment lenses.
And the bokeh here is not the most appealing.
And yet, for some reason, this video is not over yet.
That reason is video. Look at this.
In this darker-lit studio scene
you can see that the ultra-wide camera
on the iPhone is significantly worse
than the primary shooter with the 18mm Moment lens.
The stock image has a lot of unpleasant-looking noise
and lacks sharpness which is especially noticeable
on the spinning globe and this clipboard at the back.
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And this same scene on the telephoto tells a similar story.
With the noise and the overall detail improving dramatically
on the Moment.
This seems to confirm our theory about deep fusion
or other multi-shot compositing techniques working
against a clip-on lens setup like Moment's.
The thing is, no lens setup, especially one for $130,
is optically perfect.
And no hand is perfectly steady.
So when you've got multiple shots that need to be combined
for better dynamic range or sharpness,
the Moment's imperfections can end up
multiplying themselves.
Video, by nature, doesn't lean so heavily
on these kind of processing techniques.
Double-tracking on the Note 20 Ultra, the ultra-wide
and Moment 18mm are honestly
very similar in performance here.
There is a minor difference
in the dynamic range of Taran's shirt.
On the Note's primary shooter with the Moment lens,
but even punched in 200% noise and detail are very close.
So I don't know if it's worth the price,
but at least it's functioning as intended,
giving me additional shooting options.
On the telephoto and the 58mm on the primary camera
is a bit wider than the Note stock telephoto.
Detail wise, they are again quite similar,
but I will give the edge the Moment setup
with the slightly more pleasing bokeh.
It adds the background of this shot.
However, if range matters more to you,
then the stock telephoto on the Note wins here.
The last and most interesting lens Moment makes for video
is their Anamorphic.
This is the one I personally use the most out of the bunch
because it's the one that you simply can't replicate
from a stock camera on any phone.
For those unfamiliar, anamorphic shooting allows you to
shoot ultra-wide cinematic footage
with a standard aspect ratio sensor.
See, I could shoot ultra-wide like this,
but then I'm giving up valuable resolution.
So instead I can use a lens that squeezes the image
while I'm shooting, then I can unsqueeze it in post,
or if you're lazy or want the convenience,
Moment has a $10 app that includes an on-the-fly desqueeze,
so you can preview your work immediately.
This lens is a little bit more expensive at $150,
but this is exactly the kind of thing that can add
a lot of cinematic fun for future JJ Abrams
who want to play with lens flare.
So in conclusion, if you're the kind of person
who makes a lot of videos on your iPhone,
I can see the Moment lenses or something similar
potentially being very useful to you.
But for everyone else the stock ultra-wide and telephoto
on the iPhone and other phones in this class
are likely all you need.
Unless you need more,
in which case your money is probably better spent
on a decent secondhand body and a basic lens,
which this is not, even if it's less convenient to carry.
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So thank you guys for watching.
Let me know in the comments down below
what you think of the Moment lenses.
Do you use them?
Have they been useful to you in your life?
And if you guys want more camera videos,
I've actually just done a bunch of them on short circuit.
We have a video coming up on this camera,
the Fuji GFX 100S, very soon.
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