Review: Smartphone Kaleidoscope
Turn Your Phone Into a Kaleidoscope
We recently picked up the interesting Smartphone Kaleidoscopes Kit from Cool Things Australia. It is made by a company called IS Gift, and they sell a huge range of awesome STEM toys and products.
Related: Kmart Microscope Converter for Your Smartphone
It is a set of 3 kaleidoscopes that clip onto your smartphone, over your camera and turn your phone into a kaleidoscope. We thought it was a fantastic idea and excellent value too. Here is some information and our review of the kaleidoscopes from Curious Planet.
Overview of the Kaleidoscope Kit
The Smart Phone Kaleidoscope Kit from Curious Planet has three different kaleidoscopic lenses that attach to your smartphone, turning the camera into a kaleidoscope.
The lenses reflect light in different ways to create awesome patterns. You can view the images through the camera app, or take pictures and share them.
Our boys loved this kaleidoscope. They are still pretty young, but our 2-year-old was directing me around the house telling me what to take a photo of. It works on anything you can think imagine. Close up objects, far away objects, colourful objects and more. It turns the most boring object into amazing geometric designs.
What's in the Box?
In the box, you will find yourself four items.
3 x Kaleidoscopic Lenses: There are three different lenses in this kit that create three different designs. They screw onto the lens mount and are pretty easy to attach.
1 x Lens Mount: Once you screw on the lens of your choice, you use the lens mount like a clothes peg, and clip it over the camera of your smartphone.
Using the Kaleidoscope Attachment
Using the smartphone kaleidoscope is pretty straight forward. You screw on one of the lenses, and then clip it onto your smartphone.
Once it's clipped on, you open the camera app and make sure the lens is centred on the camera. Once centred, you need to zoom in a little to remove the outer ring from the shot.
From there, you find things to take photos of! Pictured below is a simple wooden car under the lens of the kaleidoscope. You can take pictures of landscapes, objects, people and more. Anything you can think of will look awesome with this camera attachment.
Our Review/Opinion
For $18, the Cool Things Australia Kaleidoscope is excellent value. Our kids loved it, and have used it multiple times. It is easy to use, and the fact that it fits any smartphone is great.
The only improvement I would make is to find a new way to attach the lenses. The screw mount is sturdy but makes changing them over a little harder.
We give this kaleidoscope smartphone attachment 4.5 out of 5.
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