Moment accessory lenses make iPhone camera even sharper

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — We’ve all done it: Composed a photo on our smartphone, only to end up disappointed. "Gee, I wish there was a real zoom that would get me closer to the action," we lament.

Well, there is help, in the form of accessory lenses that snap right onto your smartphone. I’ve been taking a look at the selection from a company named Moment, and they’re good. They make the fabulous iPhone 7 Plus camera even better. 

Moment is a Seattle company that's bringing high-quality optics and real lenses to smartphones. The photos I’ve taken recently with the telephoto and wide angle lenses are super sharp and an improvement over the original.

Below is a before (iPhone 7 Plus) and after (with the Moment telephoto lens).

The lenses sell for about $100 each.

Here's a wide-angle shot on the sand, early in the morning. See how I got both the Pier and lifeguard station in the shot?

There have been many accessory lenses over the years, most notably from Olloclip, which sells tiny combo lenses that fit in your pocket. Quality is OK, but in my tests it's not up to par with Moment — lenses are much sharper.

But Moment's lenses are much larger, and you’ll need to pack them in a carrying case when you’re out and about.

The original lenses, when the company started three years ago, were attached to a flimsy plate that you taped to the back of the smartphone — not an ideal solution.

Moment is also selling cases to make the process easier.

A $30 plain case protects the smartphone, and has a hole on the back to screw in the lens. A new $90 case has a built-in battery to give you extra juice and a shutter button for composing and snapping your image.

You’ll need the extra juice. In testing the Moment wide lens, I went out the other morning and photographed the beach for 90 minutes. I got great showpiece shots, but my phone dropped from 100% battery life to 29%.

The Moment lenses are available in four sizes: Fisheye, Wide-angle, Macro and telephoto, and available for the iPhone 6, 6S and 7, and Google's PIxel. The company plans to release a version for the Samsung Galaxy S8 phones later this year.