The Window X :: Getting close with a phone camera

No this is not an advert for an operating system or the next smart phone. It is the last, at least for a while, it my #StayAtHomePhotowalking series on TheWindow.

The cameras in smart phones have improved greatly over the last decade. They only have tiny lenses and thus their apparent depth of field appears very wide (almost everything in the image will be clear). They also can be taken very close to the subject (ie minimum focusing distance might just be a few centimetres. Their downside is they are not so good in low light and if you are really close you are likely to cast a shadow over the subject.

You could of course use  a magnifying glass between the phone and the subject, but there is generally a significant downside doing this, the focal distance of the magnifying glass might be 5 to 10cm meaning you must be further back from the object even though the magnifying glass is enlarging the subject, it is the distance of your phone must be reduces the size of the subject in your camera. Pretty much cancelling out the percieved subject size advantage.

I have a nifty little (and cheap) wide angle lens that clips over the camera lens and being a wider angle now I can get closer to the subject but now the perspective becomes extreme (which may or maynot help your image)

Hmm not many pictures of my window ... such is life