Like you, I was lost when it came to buying macro lenses for my phone. There are so many to choose from, especially in AliExpress where I bought mine. The price range also varies but I must say that even the most expensive is still affordable. There are all kinds of mobile lenses that are sold, not just macro. The three most common would be macro, wide-angle and zoom. In case you might be interested in something other than macro, let me share with you what I know as a layman.
Macro Lenses
Macro lenses, as you know now, brings your phone much closer to the subject and still retains its focus. They make small subjects bigger. It’s like a magnifying glass. And the closer you can get to your subject, the more details your photo will show. That’s the beauty of macro-photography.
Wide-angle lenses
Wide-angle lenses covers more area than what your normal phone camera does. Your photo will appear more curve-like. Depending on your personal preference, you might like it or you might not. I like to use it for landscape as it gives a different perspective. You clip the wide-angle lens over your phone camera – same as like the macro lens – and you take a snapshot, only one snapshot. It is different from the “panorama” function which takes several shots and combine them into one long photo (mostly horizontal). Problem is that this long panoramic photo will appear very small on your phone. One thing I note is that many companies sell macro and wide-angle lenses together as a package. Mine came in a package deal with both macro and wide-angle lenses (separate lens).
Zoom lenses
Zoom lenses are like what its name implies – it helps you to zoom in on subjects further away like birds and animals. In other words, it brings subjects far away closer to you. I have not tried this mobile lens yet but I’ll be buying one to test.
Check first : Built-in functions within your phone
Some new phones have all the above functions built in already and so you don’t need to buy additional lenses to clip on. My LG V20 has a very nice panorama function. The Huawei P40 has a 50x zoom and the Huawei P40 Pro has a 100x zoom. You can shoot all the way to the moon! Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro supposedly has a superb macro function built in. A lot depends on how well your phone performs the respective built-in functions. So do check your phones first before you buy any mobile lenses.
