New Black Eye Pro Smartphone Lens Kit G4

Mobile camera lens company Black Eye has announced the launch of its fourth-generation universal Pro lenses for smartphones. Black Eye was founded by professional photographer Arto Ekman and professional snowboarders Fredu Sirviö and Eero Ettala. So you can guess they initially aimed their lenses at action photo and video makers.

Black Eye’s lenses use a simple “universal attachment system”. Which is a fancy name for a simple clip (that’s essentially as high tech as a clothes peg). The advantage of the clip is the lens can be mounted onto most smartphones and similar mobile devices – even a laptop’s webcam.

Currently, Black Eye’s portfolio features nine mobile lenses across three product series. There’s also a new Travel Kit G4, an upcoming Pro Kit G4 bundle and new cases for the iPhone 7 and later.

Black Eye Pro Kit G4

The Black Eye Pro Kit G4 is a set of 3 high quality lenses: Portrait Tele G4, Cinema Wide G4 and Fisheye G4.

The Pro Portrait Tele G4 translates to an equivalent of a 60mm telephoto lens, which is just on the very edge of what traditionally qualifies as a telephoto. Essentially, this lens will narrow the field of view and bring you closer to the subject, a little (2.5x).

“The Pro Tele G4 feels like shooting with a 50mm lens on a full-frame DSLR camera,” pro photographer Damon Beckford.

The Pro Cinema Wide G4 extends the camera’s angle of view to 120 degrees. Black Eye says that, despite the wide angle, the lens still allows for straight lines and distortion-free images. Made for capturing wider scenes, the company says the lens is ideal for travel, landscapes, video, and more.

The Pro Fisheye G4, provides 175-degree angle and is designed for shooting action sports, architecture, road trips, parties – basically, anything where you need to fit more in the picture. The lens makes it easier to capture landscape photos without having to resort to panorama apps and stitching.

Listed features:

Double-coated, hand-polished glass that produces natural colors and prevents unwanted reflections

Anti-reflection coating on all glass elements to prevent unwanted reflection and enhance the colors

Nano ground optics for excellent image quality and corner clarity

Hand assembled, and 100-percent quality checked

Works with dual lens devices

Use with front and rear camera

Optimized for mobile phones released 2018 and later

One down side of the clip mounting system is that the clip can cover the screen of your smartphone, blocking out manual controls on your camera app, or add-on apps such as FiLMiC Pro. Another problem with clipping the lens to your phone this way is they are not 100% fixed in place so they can be knocked off or nudged a few mm causing shadowing on the image.

If the lenses have a standard thread system (like Moondog Labs lenses) this allows you to mount the lenses using a grip which doesn’t obscure the screen. However, it seems Black Eye lenses mount to the clip using their own custom system – which means you are stuck using the clip.

Pricewise, the Black Eye lenses are not much cheaper than Moment lenses. Moment’s mounting system, while more expensive, removes the clip on issues.

On the other hand, clip on lens systems are faster and add less bulk to your smartphone – so it’s up to you which you prefer.

You can find the new Black Eye Pro Kit G4 here.

Lenses can also be purchased separately.

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