Smartphone camera accessories aren’t hard to find — but a new product is claiming to reinvent smartphone photography by integrating not just swappable lenses, but a light and a selfie mirror, too. RevolCam, a smartphone accessory with a universal fit, became a fully funded Kickstarter project in less than five hours and now has nearly 10 times the original funding goal.
RevolCam comes from the same company behind the ShiftCam, an iPhone 7 camera case designed to make lens swaps easy. The RevolCam keeps the idea of simple lens swaps intact, but expands on the concept even further, joining the ranks of multi-function accessories like the Smoovie MiniRig, with a light, mirror, and a non-specific fit for use with both Apple and Android smartphones, laptops, and even the built-in web cam on a laptop.
A trio of lenses sit on RevolCam’s clip-style design. These lenses rotate to swap the different options over the smartphone’s built-in lenses, offering a macro (20x magnification), fish-eye (160-degree view) and wide-angle lens (110-degree view) in one product.
At the top of the rotating lens trio, RevolCam uses a detachable LED light. Mounted on the device, the LED works like an on-camera flash, but expands the possibilities with brightness that can be adjusted just by twisting the light. The LED offers 230 different brightness levels and is powered by batteries that can be recharged through a Micro USB port.
Since the light is both continuous and battery-powered, the designer opted to allow the light to slide off the mount system for off-camera lighting as well. When the light is removed, a selfie mirror sits in its place, allowing selfie-snappers to use the higher resolution rear-facing camera while still having some idea of what’s actually being shot.
Despite the five-in-one feature list, the RevolCam measures at less than three inches at the largest point and weighs about 1.6 ounces.
Now a fully funded campaign, developer ShiftCam, based in Hong Kong, expects to begin shipping the RevolCam in November — though the product will undergo final testing and quality control this month. If the final development is successful, backers can pick up the RevolCam for pledges starting at $29.
