iPad Accessories

Trying Out that Big, Honking Telephoto Lens for the iPad mini

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Cat

As some of you may recall, I posted a couple weeks back about a rather huge iPad Telephoto Lens from Photojojo. They were kind enough to send me a sample unit for the iPad mini and today I had my first opportunity to give it a quick try.

To use the telephoto lens you place a companion back cover on the iPad mini and then screw the lens into a connector port placed around the back camera. I only spent a short while with the telephoto lens, but so far my impression is decidedly ‘meh’. I cleaned the lens of the iPad mini camera and the telephoto lens several times, but everything still looks extremely grainy when I have the big lens on.

I took a few shots around the house and the only two that are even vaguely worth sharing are the ones of our cat and dog, each taken from about 15 feet away from the subject. I love the McKayla Maroney Is Not Impressed look on the cat’s face. Very apt for the occasion. The dog is, as always, far more stoic:

Dog

I’ll spend a little more time with the telephoto lens and share more thoughts if I feel like there’s much else to say about it.

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X-Doria Offers New Collection of iPad mini Cases, Exclusive to Target

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X-Doria iPad mini cases

X-Doria have announced a new collection of iPad mini cases, available exclusively in Target and via target.com.

The collection includes three case designs, those shown above:

Featuring three Target exclusive designs including the SmartStyle in Pink Herringbone and Orange Bulbs and Dash Folio Cabernet, these cases provide an aesthetically pleasing and functional design, while keeping your device protected at all times. Along with these fashionable designs for Target, the retailer will also carry a wide array of X-Doria colors and styles in the Smartstyle, SmartJacket and Dash Folio Lines.

All these cases support the iPad mini’s automatic sleep/wake feature and can serve as a stand as nearly all cases of this type can. They’re priced at $39.99 each.

I don’t feel wowed by any of these designs, but I suppose if Target is your favorite shopping spot then you may want to take a look at these new options for protecting your iPad mini.

What do you all think of these? Will you be rushing to a Target store or online site to pick one up?

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Need a Big, Honking Telephoto Lens for Your iPad? Here’s One

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iPad Telephoto Lens

Well here’s a category of iPad accessory I have to admit I just don’t ever think about – add-on lenses for the iPad camera. In this case a big, slightly silly looking, telephoto lens. It’s The iPad Telephoto Lens, from Photojojo.

I got a PR approach about this one this morning, and I really like the product page for it. It does a good job of getting across what’s good about the telephoto lens, but also has a good sense of humor about the nature of this beast, and even about the act of taking photos with an iPad.

Photojojo acknowledges that you may look a bit silly ‘in this get-up’ but promises that you’ll end up with some ‘seriously super’ photos as the reward for using it.

So here are some of the promised benefits of using this lens on the iPad or iPad mini:

This lens adds 10-12 times telephoto power to your iPad.

It gets you closer to your subject without having to depend on your iPad’s digital zoom (a real pixel killer).

The iPad telephoto lens has a manual focusing ring to give you added control over its delightfully shallow depth of field. It also adds just a bit of vignetting and a dreamy lo-fi look.

And my favorite of all of them:

Capture concert photos from your back row seat like it ain’t no thang.

The iPad Telephoto Lens goes for $25 and comes in a 10X model for the iPad and a 12X model for the iPad mini.  For more details or to place an order, check out the iPad Telephoto Lens product page. I’m going to try to get hold of one for review.

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This I Gotta See: a $6.95 iPad Case

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Poetic Covermate iPad mini case

Here’s something you don’t see every day – an iPad case for $6.95. And it doesn’t look half bad – in fact, it looks pretty good in its product shots. It’s called the Poetic Covermate Case – for iPad 2 / 3 / 4 or iPad mini – and it costs less than the standard shipping fee for it.

The folks from Your Poetic mentioned this one in my iPad Accessories Google+ community, I took a look at the Amazon page for it, and I couldn’t resist finding out what a $6.95 case for the iPad mini is like. So I ordered one just a few minutes ago.

I’ll let you know what I think of the Poetic Covermate once I’ve had a chance to try it out.

In the meantime, you can see more detail or place an order at this Amazon page.

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Pad & Quill Announce the Aria for iPad Case

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Aria for iPad case

I posted a few weeks back about the gorgeous looking new Aria for iPad mini Case from Pad & Quill. Now there’s good news for owners of iPad 2/3/4 models – Pad & Quill have announced the Aria for iPad – and it looks just as handsome as its little buddy.

P&Q reckon the Aria for iPad is ‘the most beautiful case we’ve ever crafted’ – and that’s saying something give their track record for producing great looking cases. Both the  Aria for iPad and the Aria for iPad mini are hand crafted book design cases – made with a combination of boot leather and baltic birch wood.

Here are some of the cases’ other notable features:

  • Multiple self propping angles for viewing
  • Lightweight! Only 12 oz.!
  • Hand finished WOOD with a gorgeous satin finish 
  • Protects and disguises your iPad
  • Magnetic On/Off feature wakes and puts to sleep your iPad… by closing the book!
  • Classic PQ ‘Bookmark’ for easy device removal
  • Access to all functions on the iPad

[click to continue reading…]

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