Mini-lens of last resort – first trial

Fits nicely into a small camera case (not included)

Goofy-looking, but fun

Taken with Canon DSLR with 100-400mm lens for comparison

Taken with cell phone camera without zoom, or mini-lens

Cell phone camera with zoom, without mini-lens

Cell phone camera without zoom, with mini-lens (oops, the mount slipped)

Cell phone camera with zoom, with mini-lens - verdict: better than nothing!

  I got this cute little clip-on mini-lens for Christmas, and I finally tried it out in the cemetery the other day. I’ll get the downsides out of the way first:
-It is NOT a telephoto zoom lens. It is a fixed lens which takes advantage of the zoom feature on the phone itself. The adjustable ring is just for focus. The claims on the packaging are fake news.
-Your subject will need to be sitting still – you’re not going to be snapping off skulking warblers or Peregrines in a stoop with this.
-You have to practice – practice deploying it from your bag and uncapping the lenses, practice putting on the clip and screwing on the lens, and especially practice zooming and focusing with the phone camera app.
-It’s not a Canon lens (I’ve dropped and dinged mine many a’time – the thing’s a tank), it’s basically a toy. It’s made of plastic, and cost 20$. It will eagerly break if mistreated.
-This won't take the place of your 'big lens'. It's strictly for emergencies only, when you're caught without optics.
  All that being said, it’s a decent and fun little bit of ‘optics of last resort’ toy to keep in your non-birding bag. I wrapped mine in an old Korean ‘cooling arm band’ and it fits nicely into a small camera case with the clip.
  The results actually surprised me, and kind of reminded me of the “World’s first digi-scoping” stunt I pulled off in the ‘80s with a Bazooka Joe spy camera and a spotting scope (Click here!). I didn’t mess with it too much, but when I saw a stationary squirrel, I whapped it on out.
  The lighting was poor, no doubt it would have done better with some sun. Also, I only just realized this now, but while I did focus using the cell phone, I forgot to fiddle with the little focus ring on the lens itself, so there’s a chance I could have gotten a sharper image. None of the images were edited or cropped in any way.
  I can’t wait to try this out on the next Western Kingbird I see sitting on a traffic light on St. Catherine street.