Moment New Tele - Review 2022

Improver lenses for smartphones have been around for a long time, simply optical quality has underwhelmed on inexpensive lenses, and others that have delivered strong image quality accept been hampered by convoluted attachment mechanisms. Moment'due south system, which is available on an á la menu basis, includes four lenses, the New Broad, New Superfish, New Macro, and the New Tele ($99.99), which nosotros're reviewing here. The New Tele magnifies your phone's lens by a 2x cistron, and if you have a dual-lens phone information technology can be used to turn its 2x lens into a 4x.

Compatible Phones

Because the organization requires a fitted case, information technology'southward not uniform with every telephone. Simply information technology works with a bunch. A standard case, priced at $29.99, is bachelor in your choice of textured blackness finish or a wood grain walnut chocolate-brown. It'due south bachelor for the near popular phones from Apple (iPhone 6/6s, iPhone half-dozen/6s Plus, iPhone vii/8, iPhone vii/8 Plus, iPhone X), Google (Pixel, Pixel 40, Pixel 2, Pixel two XL), and Samsung (Galaxy Note viii, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+).

I received the black case for the iPhone viii Plus for testing. It'due south nondescript, and so if y'all prefer a flashier look you'll probably desire to go for the walnut stop. Information technology'due south also a chip bulky. It probably protects my phone a bit amend than the normal Apple leather instance I utilise, but the Moment case is thicker all around, in part because there has to be enough depth to support the bayonet lens mount system.

If you're an iPhone user you can opt to spend $99.99 on a battery case, available for the iPhone vii/viii or 7 Plus/8Plus. Information technology's finished in blackness, and patently adds more than girth to your telephone due to the battery. Moment says information technology tin can accuse your telephone to 90 per centum capacity. The battery case as well adds physical shutter push, then your phone feels more like a point-and-shoot, and it includes an external Lightning connector rather than micro USB. Unfortunately, the Lightning port on the case does not work with Apple's headphone dongle, which is a large downer for anyone who still uses wired headphones.

Y'all tin can certainly use whatever of the Moment lenses with your standard phone camera app without result. But Moment offers an iOS app—nothing for Android—that tunes the photographic camera settings for the add-on lens you're using and adds EXIF data, so you know which lens yous used for a specific shot. Adding EXIF info requires you to do some work—you have to recall to set the app to match the lens you accept attached.

Image Quality

Moment makes four lenses as part of its New series—the New Macro, New Superfish, New Tele, and New Broad. These replace the company'due south kickoff series, which now bear the Original moniker, and are on sale at closeout prices. Because the lenses are available individually you can opt to pick and choose. If you lot're not a fan of a a tight field of view you tin can skip the telephoto option, and some photographers may feel that carrying both ultra-wide and fish-eye lenses is redundant.

Moment New Tele : Comparison

If you don't own a dual-lens telephone, the New Tele is going to take some entreatment. It turns your iPhone's 28mm main lens into a standard-angle 56mm lens, the same effect you get from an iPhone Plus or X's secondary rear lens. We saw better resolution from the iPhone 8 Plus' 2x lens on its own, as compared with its main lens with the New Tele attached.

Moment New Tele : Comparison

The New Tele can also be mounted to the secondary lens on your phone, extending its achieve further, to about a 112mm field of view. That's tighter than you'll get from any smartphone, and while results are not as sharp as the Wide or Macro lens, they're still useable for Instagram and Facebook. The existent question on the Tele's usefulness for dual-lens phone owners is how frequently yous need to shoot at such a tight angle. If it's only on rare occasion, it's i you lot tin skip.

Conclusions

Going whole hog with the Moment lens series is a costly proposition—you can go an entry-level SLR or mirrorless camera for around $400 if you shop effectually, later all. But thankfully each lens is sold separately, and so yous can selection and cull which eyes are best suited for your shooting style. The smartphone has all merely replaced the entry-level betoken-and-shoot camera in the marketplace, and the latest models tin do a agglomeration—portraits with a shallow depth of field, in-camera panoramas, 4K video, and Raw capture to name a handful.

Addition lenses tin expand those capabilities. We've looked at a few through the years, just each has had its own set of issues. The Imvio kit was inexpensive, just really murdered prototype quality. Photojojo'due south Iris was better, but a weird elastic string mounting method made it an impractical accessory. The Moment lens arrangement sidesteps most problems we've seen with smartphone lenses. Optical quality is quite good overall, and the bayonet mount system is secure and practical.

The New Tele lens is an appealing improver if y'all use a single-lens phone, as it narrows the scope of your lens, giving it the field of view that's just a little bit tighter than a standard-bending prime. But it'south an addition you can safely skip if y'all've got a dual-lens phone—we saw sharper results from the iPhone 8 Plus' secondary lens on its own versus adding the New Tele to its master optic. It's possible to employ information technology to farther extend the reach of your phone's secondary telephoto lens, simply you may detect the usefulness of that feature to be limited as well.