The iPhone 5 carries the best camera Apple has ever put in a smartphone, which is on top of that very easy to use without delving into option menus and submenus, as the phone mostly takes care of everything for itself.
Still, it is just a smartphone camera, and, this side of Nokia's PureView phases, those are generally laughed at by pro photographers except for casual snaps. The iPhone's strength, however, is that there is a whole accessory industry built around it that charges any shortcomings and comes up with amazing solutions to make your phone better in almost every aspect.
This goes for iPhone 5 camera cases, too, and, while there are many exciting projects on Kickstarter or at major accessory shops that will give the 8 MP camera even greater capabilities, we are rounding out a few below that you can buy now, or are just around the corner. These turn the iPhone 5 into a 14 MP camera with optical zoom, add telephoto, fisheye and wide angle lens, or simply aim to fix some shortcomings, so check them out in the slideshow below.
Five Apple iPhone 5 camera cases
Five Apple iPhone 5 camera cases
Leave it to will.i.am to use small caps all over a title, and that's how foto.sosho V.5 gets named. The most camera to add to an iPhone 5 camera, it turns the phone into a 14 MP shooter with 5x optical zoom lens in vintage leather looks. The camera case, if we can call it that, is arriving soon, and, judging by the prices of similar casings will.i.am has put out for the iPhone 4/4S, it won't come cheap.
An innovative contraption, the iPhone Lens Dial puts your handset into a sturdy aluminum case, and a dial rotates three types of lenses in front of its 8 MP camera sensor - Wide Angle, Fisheye, and Telephoto - and there are two tripod mount holes for using the phone in portrait or landscape mode.
Made of billed aluminum, the mCAMLITE case for the iPhone 5 adds wide angle and macro lens to your handset, as well as 180 degree microphone for recording better sound with your videos.
The Little League baseball game of your son, or a rabbit in the back yard, sometimes you just need simple and effective way to get closer to your photo subject. The iPhone Telephoto Lens provides just that - for only $35 you get 12x telephoto for your iPhone 5, plus a tripod thrown in for when you need that utmost stability.
The camHoodie makers hope to capitalize on the purple ens flare effect that small optics like the one in the iPhone 5 are prone to pretty often. The idea is pretty simple - put an additional light barrier before the lens, and slap a case around it, so it's a win-win for both the iPhone 5 chassis, and its 8 MP camera.
