Tom's Guide Verdict
The olloclip Macro Pro lens set has good image quality and a range of macro zoom settings, but you'll need a steady hand with the longer macro zooms.
Pros
- +
Offers many macro lens magnifications
- +
Produces good-quality images
- +
Works with iPhone 7, 7 Plus
Cons
- -
Clip blocks the top of the iPhone screen
- -
Too snug to work with most phone cases
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Want to take a closer look at small things? The olloclip Macro Pro lens set is the way to go. This set of two lenses, clip, stand and instafocus hood allows you to zoom in on the smallest things, with macro magnifications of 7x, 14x and 21x. Combine that with the digital zoom of the iPhone camera app, and you can get a lot closer.
The addition here from the other olloclip systems is the instafocus macro focus hood, which clips on the front of the lens. Attach this and put the target object underneath, and it holds the phone at the right distance to keep the object in focus. The translucent plastic lets in a nice soft, even light to illuminate the object.
It works as long as the object is flat (like the surface of a piece of wood), keeping it nicely in the short-focus range of the macro setup and holding the camera steady. The hood doesn't work as well with 3D objects like flowers or bugs, though; anything more than a few millimeters tall will go out of focus. Macro lenses are difficult to focus, as the depth of field is very short; this is especially true with the 21x macro lens, because the larger the macro zoom, the smaller the depth of focus.
We also found that the Ollclip system blocked the top of the screen on the iPhone 7 Plus that we used for testing, and the single lens system means that you can't use the dual cameras of the iPhone 7 Plus, either. If you try and zoom in with the digital zoom of the built-in iPhone app, the screen often turns blank as the iPhone tries to switch to the second camera, which the clip covers.
Bottom Line
Despite these issues, the olloclip Macro Pro set can take impressive images. Although the captured images are a little soft, they are of impressive quality for the price of the set, and the three macro-zoom options mean you can go from a photo of an entire flower down to seeing the individual stamens.
For those curious about nature (or those who just want to take a closer look at the horrifying things that live around us), it's a great accessory.
