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Nexus 5 huge camera ring actually holds a magnet for add-on lenses

By Victor Hristov

Published: Dec 05, 2013, 9:51 AM

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Nexus 5 huge camera ring actually holds a magnet for add-on lenses

You've probably all seen the Nexus 5 and the huge camera ring on its back. It’s nothing like we've seen before - much bigger than the camera rings on any other phone, but if you think it’s there just for the looks and no practical purpose you’re wrong. Turns out, that camera ring actually holds a magnet that you can use to snap little add-on lenses enabling effects like wide-angle, fish-eye, telephoto and so on.

Such lenses are easily available for a few dollars (just search for 'magnetic lens' in popular e-tailers) and can make shooting with the Nexus 5 much more fun.

Keep in mind, though, that not all of these lenses fit well as some have different polarization and the magnet actually repels them instead of snapping on. To be perfectly sure it works you can simply ask the seller if that particular lens is compatible with the Nexus 5’s magnets.

Also, as big as the camera ring is, the magnet is still not all that strong, so while most lenses seem to fit fairly well, bigger ones could easily slip off or not fit at all. This will thus find best use with smaller lenses.

The last disclaimer to all this is that the brilliant idea is somewhat flawed by the lazy auto-focus of the Nexus 5 that becomes even slower to lock focus when used with a third-party lens. Ah, Google has told some publications that a software update aimed at improving the camera is coming, but it's not known whether it'd fix that.

Still, the magnetic ring is a nice touch that went under our radar initially. It's this kind of attention to detail and small touches that we find particularly exciting, even if discovered a bit late. Right below are a few images of the Nexus 5 with a snap-on lens and the samples shot with it.

Nexus 5 camera ring magnet /all images courtesy of Patrick Schroedl

source: Android Central, XDA Developers

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Victor, a seasoned mobile technology expert, has spent over a decade at PhoneArena, exploring the depths of mobile photography and reviewing hundreds of smartphones across Android and iOS ecosystems. His passion for technology, coupled with his extensive knowledge of smartphone cameras and battery life, has positioned him as a leading voice in the mobile tech industry.

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