I tested this $329 smartphone lens against the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera — here’s what happened
I tested this $329 smartphone lens against the iPhone 17 Pro’s camera — here’s what happened
Publish Date: 2026-02-28 05:15:00
Source Domain: www.tomsguide.com
Listen, I love my iPhone 17 Pro, and have very few complaints about its camera. It does everything I need a smartphone camera to do… which is to take copious photos of my dogs and the occasional picture of my wife and/or family. For more serious photography, I have my Fujifilm X-E4 and Fujifilm X-T5.
Not everyone is as lucky as me in owning a mirrorless camera, though, which is why iPhone lenses are a thing. The best iPhone lenses provide a moderately affordable way to boost your smartphone’s capabilities — by adding a better macro lens, for example, or a more characterful lens for video or portraiture.
There are loads of smartphone lenses out there: from anamorphic video lenses through to fisheyes and macros, and on to super telephotos, like the Sandmarc 10x super tele lens I’ve been delving into this week.
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This lens has a 10x magnification, which is equivalent to 200mm on a full frame camera. That’s longer than the optical reach of my iPhone 17 Pro’s 8x lens, although the built-in lens can digitally zoom to 10x (and far beyond) to match framing.
The Sandmarc 10x costs a whopping $329, so I wanted to see how it fared against the iPhone’s built-in lens. Is it worth the spend? And are iPhone lenses worth it at all, for that matter? Read on to find out.
Peter Wolinski
Senior editor, reviews & cameras
I’m Pete Wolinski, senior editor here at Tom’s Guide and in charge of our reviews and cameras coverage. I oversee all smartphone lens testing, so I’ve used plenty of them. Follow me on Instagram to see my photography.
Sharpness (or lack thereof)
I’m gonna get a major issue with the Sandmarc out of the way first: this lens is not sharp. In fact, it’s anything but. Much of that is to do with the optics themselves. When you use a smartphone lens, you’re placing glass in front of an already finely-tuned and calibrated optic (your phone’s built-in lens) — it’s almost never going to come out sharper…
