Review : 12X Telephoto Lens for Nokia Lumia 920
With cameras becoming better and better in smartphones these days, it was only a mtter of time until companies came up with the idea to produce special equipment for them. I recently ordered a lens for my Nokia Lumia 920 that adds a 12x zoom.
Considering the pretty low price of around $25, depending on where you order it, I was rather skeptic about the overall quality of it. When I finally received it after about 3 weeks – I should mention that it has been shipped all the way from China – I was very surprised, to put it mildly. Not only is the build quality astonishingly good, but aren’t also the photos taken with it too shabby.
Package Content
The package comes with the aforementioned lens, a tripod, a mount bracket to apply the lens to the tripod, a case for the Lumia 920 to mount to lens to, 2 rubber covers to protect both sides of the lens from dust, a nice little bag and a little cloth to clean the lens.
Assembly & Usage
Mounting the lens to your device is done within just a couple of seconds. Just pop your device in the case and screw the lens to it. That’s it. If you want to use the tripod, you will need to apply the mount bracket to the lens before putting it on the case. The tripod is perfect for taking time lapse pictures of the sky for example. Unfortunately you cannot use it without the lens itself.
The lens offers a fix 12x zoom, so it’s best to use it with objects that are at least 10 feet away. On the front side of the lens you can adjust the focus until your desired object appears crisp and sharp in the viewfinder.
When using the lens you will notice that the image in your viewfinder is more shaky than you’re used to. This is of course due to the high zoom level. But thanks to the great optical image stabilization in the Lumia 920 you can still take great shots even without using the tripod.
Image Quality
When using the lens and reviewing the shots afterwards, you’ll notice that the corners of your pictures are slightly darker than the rest. Bright areas have a noticeable blur and blue-ish effect surrounding them. That being said the results are still impressive and with a bit Photoshop (or Gimp2) magic you will get some great photos. Of course the lens can’t replace a real DSLR camera. But it’s definitely great to have it with you when you don’t want to carry around your heavy professional equipment.
Sample Photos:
Video Sample ( With and Without Zoom)
Where to Buy from
You can buy this product from Amazon
