Olloclip Release Lenses for the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Olloclip Release Lenses for the Samsung Galaxy S5, Galaxy S4

On Thursday, Californian-based Olloclip announced the release of the Olloclip 4-IN-1 Photo Lenses accessory for the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 handsets. The Olloclip is a popular camera enhancing accessory for various Apple products and it’s great to see the company diversify into the Android sphere. The accessory consists of four feature lenses, fisheye, wide-angle and two macros, a 15X magnification and 10X magnification. Olloclip have engineered a quick-change system that is similar to that available for a digital SLR camera but still fits into pockets, purses and hands. Olloclip have patented the design, which allows the lenses to slide across the camera on the back of the device. The fisheye and wide-angle lenses are adjacent to one another and the macro lenses are revealed by unscrewing either the fisheye or wide-angle lense. Each Olloclip lens unit is constructed out of aircraft-grade aluminium containing advanced coated glass and multi-element optics. You can check out Olloclip’s video here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 already have an impressive main cameras, but let me go over these devices again. The S4 is Samsung’s 2013 flagship handset, based around either a 1.9 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor or a quad core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A15, quad core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 Exynos 5410 CPU, 2 GB of RAM and a 5.0-inch 1080p AMOLED screen. The main camera is a 13 MP unit. The S5 has been upgraded in most respects, packing a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801 CPU, 2 GB of RAM, a 5.1-inch 1080p AMOLED screen and an improved 16 MP rear camera with a very quick autofocus time of just 0.3 seconds and software-implemented image stabilisation and Selective Focus, to name just two features. The Olloclip is a great way to take advantage of the Galaxy’s already creditable camera skills, because it doesn’t change any of the camera software on the handset. Anything that you can do with the Galaxy without the Olloclip accessory, you can do with the accessory. This of course includes panoramics, dual shot mode and on the S5, recording 4K ultra high definition video.

The Olloclips cost $69.99 for both the S4 and the S5 version. As befits the slightly larger size of the S5 compared with the S4, that particular Olloclip is a little bigger but both weigh less an an ounce. The accessory is available to pre-order online from from their website and currently only in black. Olloclip do not yet have a confirmed shipping date but should be ready in mid-September. And as I see it, $70 is not much to pay for some clever enhancements to the camera, but what do you think? Hit us up in the comments below or in your favourite social network.