Summer photo focus: upgrade your smartphone camera with clip-on lenses

VACATIONS are prime times to shoot selfies, landscapes or groups of friends and family.
Over the course of a week, Relaxnews is focusing on photography, with a pick of cameras, tools and gadgets to get the best out of summer snaps.
While smartphone cameras already offer extraordinary picture quality, a simple add-on can help take things to the next level.
This can turn a cell phone into a real rival for "genuine" cameras, capable of taking specific shots such as wide-angles or macro photos.
All this is possible thanks to a French startup called Pixter and its intriguing clip-on lenses.
Pixter's range of lenses can turn any smartphone into a spectacular camera.
Each lens has a specific function, with models including the Fisheye, to recreate the famous distorted effect over a 180-degree angle of view, the Polarizer, to improve color rendition by reducing reflections and the reverberation of light on different elements in the photo, and the Ultra Macro, offering 6x magnification for capturing close-up detail, etc.
Pixter lenses can be used with any smartphone camera, whether front- or rear-facing. The glass lenses are specially treated for an anti-reflective, anti-scratch and anti-shock finish.
Starter lenses (Fisheye, Wide Angle, Polarizer and Ultra Macro) are priced $34.90 (RM149).
The Pixter Starter Pack of three lenses (Fisheye, Wide Angle, Ultra Macro) is priced $54.90 (RM235).
Pro lenses (Super Fisheye, Telephoto, Macro Pro and Wide Angle Pro) each sell for $54.90 (RM235). The Pro Pack of four lenses costs $154.90 (RM664). — AFP Relaxnews