When we got our iPhone 3G last summer we were surprised at how much
we enjoyed the cruddy little built-in camera. Though it's pretty
limited—no optical zoom or flash and only blah picture
quality—having even a 2-mega-pixel camera on hand at all times has
helped us catch some fun, candid, weird, and occasionally memorable
shots to share with friends. (No we don't, as a rule, bring our
digital SLR with us when we go to the supermarket.)
There are now a slew of apps in the iTunes App store to help take
more interesting iPhone pictures including the buggy though
effective CameraBag program ($2.99). But along with photo software,
a couple of external devices have been created to improve iPhone
quality. One new one is Clarifi from Griffin which is actually a
case that slides over the iPhone 3G and includes a sort of pseudo
"macro" lens. Though it certainly won't rival the finest Macro
glass from Nikon, Canon and others, Clarifi does a very decent job
of pulling more detail from close-up shots with the iPhone's
camera. Without Clarifi you can focus approximately 18 inches from
your subject but with it you can get as close as four inches. Along
with helping get some nice shots of flowers, Clarifi will let you
take photos of close-up text, such as business cards. If you don't
want to use the close-up feature, just slide it out of the way for
normal photography.
And, of course, in addition to having a close-up lens, the
polycarbonate Clarifi case will help protect your iPhone while
still giving you access to the power switch, headphone jack, volume
controls and dock connector.
