Christmas Gift Ideas: Camphone Accessories
Christmas season is just around the corner, and with it will follow gift buying. As always, people will be wondering what to get their loved ones. A mug or a picture frame would suffice for casual friends or an article of clothing for a relative. However, with the current economic crisis that we’re in, gift buying might not be as practical as before.
Illusion Lens
With almost everyone having a camphone nowadays, it’s not a bad idea to check out camphone accessories as a gift. Since almost all phones have cameras and most people avail of this particular feature of their phones, one cool gift suggestion is the phone accessory called Illusion Lens.
“Illusion Lens” is a phone accessory made for the phone’s camera. What they do is to add a filter directly on your phone’s camera lens to give your shots certain effects. I happen to have 3 of these accessories and I find that their effects are cool. The effects I have are: “Fish Eye”, “6 Image Mirage” and “Starburst”.
The Fish Eye effect is probably the most popular one. If you use this accessory, the resulting shot will have the effect similar to that of what you see when you peep through the peep hole on hotel doors. The illusion creates the effect of having the subject of the photo appear round and close to the camera but still has the background fit in the shot.
The next effect is the 6 Image Mirage illusion. The effect is similar to a kaleidoscope effect where the subject appears 6 times in the photo in a pentagonal pattern. It’s also very cool if you use the accessory to take a video and move the camera around as it creates a psychedelic effect.
The last one I tried was the Starburst effect. Essentially, what this effect does is to place subject in focus while blurring out everything else. The blurring appears in a radial pattern with lines that go from the middle outwards. It’s a cool effect for putting your subject in highlighted focus.
The material of the product seems to be made of hard quality plastic. To attach it to your camera, you need to remove the cover for the adhesive. Then you place the adhesive side and attach it to the camera lens. To remove, you simply pull it off.
What I like about it is that the adhesive doesn’t leave a residue on your devices. I think this is because you don’t leave it on your device for too long. I tried putting it on and pulling it off several times and the adhesive was still strong enough to hold on. I also like that there is a cover provided for the adhesive should the accessory not be used. Since the accessory is just attached to your device, your shots will have a vignette. I find this to be okay since the vignette adds a cool effect on the photo. Also, I would advise that you try to keep the adhesive part clean by washing it with water with a little soap.
So if you’re a Secret Santa and you know that you picked loves to take photos on his cell phone, then this is the right gift for you to buy.
Where to Buy
Illusion lenses can be bought through their Multiply Site (http://illusionlens.multiply.com/). It can also be bought from National Bookstore, Fully Booked and other leading bookstores in Metro Manila.
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About the Author
Techie Kid is a multi-niche blogger, photography enthusiast, WordCamp 2008 organizer, Philippine Blog Awards 2009 organizer, and Philippine Blog Awards 2008 Bloggers’ Choice Awardee.
