Sandmarc

The less things I have to carry, the better.  Phone, wallet, keys and thats usually about it.  Dont need things weighing me down and one less thing I have to worry about not forgetting in Starbucks.  We are trying to travel often and there is this stigma floating around that you need to lug around a giant bag of camera gear if you want to capture all the epic moments on your epically planned trip.  Trying to minimize my footprint, physically and figuratively, my main takeaway from a trip is what I've learned about that locations culture, the people, and of course the experiences.  Hard to focus on that shit when I have to worry about my backpack full of gear.  And how awkward is it to have to ask a random stranger to take a photo with my giant Nikon and 35mm art lens?  If there was only a solution to to capture every moment beautifully (and non-invasively) with much less effort.  Let me introduce you to Sandmarc iPhone lenses.

Lets be real, how many of us started on Instagram using our crappy iPhone 3G cameras.  And then picked up a DSLR when you learned how to be one of those cool people that posted photos on Instagram that were not from their phone.  We have strayed so far off of something so simple *Queue Buzzfeed quiz on things you will only get if you are a 90's baby*

So stoked to work with Sandmarc and their take on mobile photography.  While the iPhone market may be saturated with little gadgets to help said photographer, Sandmarc is pushing the limits of what iPhone can do these days (Android phones, too, but do people still use those?).  When you think iPhone lens, you think one of those flimsy, plastic feeling things that you dont mind losing.  I got the iPhone X Wide Lens and taking this baby out of the box was a real surprise.  This thing is huge, heavy and feels great in my hand (thats what she said).

This set comes with an iPhone case which is very slim fitting and does not add much weight to your phone.  You can screw the iPhone lens into the case and use that if you would like.  But if you are like me and like to keep it naked (your phone), the next option is what really drew me to Sandmarc products.

Each of their lens options come with a 2nd option, a clip.  Its a simple little clip that you can screw the lens into and it mounts onto your iPhone camera.  This is a pretty big draw for me because I can keep my phone completely naked and when I feel the need to go from some epic shots, just pop this clip out, stick it on and boom, art.

The quality and build of this lens is incredible and you will not see defringing, vignetting, or sharpening loss around the edges of photos, much like other iPhone lenses on the market.  I am amazed at the quality of photos this thing can help me take with my iPhone that I will be working on a project with Sandmarc for my next trip.  Looking forward to that, will post some photo samples in April!