My wife and I went to Copenhagen for the weekend to shoot 7 models together. We stayed in this awesome Scandinavian-styled apartment with a lot of wood finishing and great character. I wanted to try out the Moment Superfish lens to shoot some interiors, typically what I think these lenses will mostly be used for.
What I’ve Learnt
This type of photography is an art form that needs mastering, and it’s not a type of photography you can just be good at because you know how to compose, shoot portraits, or light well.
For one, in the images you can see that I was composing from eye level, which gives this strange sensation of the image being off balance. But, if I shot it from mid-waist, it would’ve been more interesting and would’ve complemented the shot and apartment in a better way. I only noticed this viewing the photos after I've returned back to Paris. It's probably because during the shoot I was amazed by the app and what I was able to achieve with this lens and my iPhone X.
The Lens
It’s a great lens if you want a low-budget solution for documenting your apartment if you’re planning on renting your apartment out on Airbnb. But, it’s not a professional solution. The lens works well with the app, and you can set up exposure and ISO.
The App
With the latest update of the app, you’re also now able to reduce the distortion typically found with fish eye lenses, but only up to a certain point. It gets very muddy on the edges of the images, and bends walls in a way that would fail as a good image if viewed from up close or if printed. It might be my inexperience in getting it right in camera, and if not, it can also be something they’ll surely be able to fix in a future update. The point is that they give us the ability at a price much lower than any other fish-eye lens and software.
What I Liked
It's a neat way to say thanks for your stay at an apartment when you are able to send the people who own the apartment some images they could use for marketing it on Airbnb or any other rental agency. Is the SuperfIsh lens from Moment something you're looking at getting? If not, why not?
What I Didn't Like
Although I had the ability to reduce the distortion, it made the edges of the images quite muddy. But, it's one of the only fish-eye lens systems I know of that lets you reduce distortion in-camera.
My Overall Opinion
I enjoy the lens, and it’s fun to see the world in this fish-eyed way. It leads to interesting compositions and pointing the camera at things and places you wouldn’t usually think of shooting. So that’s a positive. It’s also quite cheap and goes for $99.
What I really like about Moment’s offering, is that they focus on giving a total solution. They have the lens, the phone cover to mount the lens to, and then they have an amazing app that makes the whole experience of shooting much more fun. And, they’re giving us all of this at a fraction of what a fish-eye lens, the distortion-reduction software like Photoshop and camera would cost. So there is a lot of credit and respect due for the creation of this low-budget but good quality products, and if you’re in the market for a fish-eye lens, or would like to see what the possibilities are with regards to the app and the distortion reduction, it’s a good option.
