WSJ: The Secret to Better Phone Photos: New Lenses

Want Better Instagrams? Add-Ons for iPhones and Galaxy Phones Improve Your Shots

You can take incredible photos with the latest Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones. But old-fashioned cameras still have one major advantage: real lenses.

My secret is a collection of keychain-size lenses that attach to my phone when I need them. For snapping concerts—as well as cityscapes, fancy cappuccinos and sunset selfies—these add-ons help the basic lens built into the phone zoom in or get a much wider view. These lenses may feel gimmicky, but some of them are actually good.

At a Sam Smith concert I attended in January, he looked like a singing tadpole from my nosebleed seats. But when I snapped on a telephoto lens on the iPhone 6, I was able to take an awesome little clip of the Grammy winner dancing.

The question of whether a phone is the only camera you need is moot now that the phone has become the only camera most of us carry. The question now is how to get better shots out of our phones beyond jazzing them up with filters.

“These lenses open up so many more possibilities,” says Pei Ketron, an iPhone photographer known as @pketron to her 829,000 Instagram followers. She’s tried them all, and usually carries at least one with her

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-secret-to-better-phone-photos-new-lenses-1423592055