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Smiling camera accessory gives the iPhone 7 Plus its first add-on lenses

Owners of the iPhone 7 Plus’ dual lens camera system will soon be able to add even more lenses to the smartphone. Announced earlier in December as an early Consumer Electronics Show (CES) preview, the Kamerar Zoom Lens gives the iPhone macro, fisheye and telephoto options in two sets of paired lenses.

While iPhone users normally have plenty of options, the new dual lens setup on the iPhone 7 Plus’ second lens makes the usual gamut of accessories incompatible. Kamerar is solving that issue with the first dual lens for the dual lens — a pair designed to sit over both built-in lenses, theoretically eliminating any alignment issues.

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The Kamerar’s case protects the smartphone’s sides and back while creating a small pocket to slide the lenses into. When users want to use just the built-in lenses (perhaps for that faked bokeh effect), the lens slides down for storage. A quick flip up aligns the extra lenses over the original.

The kit currently has two options, a fisheye fixed next to a telephoto, and a macro situated next to a zoom lens. Both lens’ sets slide in and out of the same case.

The fisheye/telephoto lens extends the built-in camera’s optical range with both a wider and longer telephoto. With the camera’s 2x optical zoom second lens and a 10x digital zoom, adding the Macro zoom lens extends that range for more detail in close-up shots.

Smartphone lens design company Ztylus crafted the optics behind the kit, while photography accessory company Kamerar molded the camera’s case and lens mount.

The iPhone 7 Plus lens accessory kit and case is expected to be released next week at a $45 list price. Ztylus says the lens kit will also be on display during January’s CES in Las Vegas.

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