A New Tool (or Toy)

I've been using my cell phone camera (a Samsung Galaxy S) for most of my pictures.. (err. well I can't remember the last time I used my old Canon PowerShot for anything!!)   The camera phone resolution is good enough for web use, but the macro feature isn't all that powerful.  After reading a post on the T-Gauge.net Forum in which a member was showing photos in need of macro focus, I did a search on Ebay and  found this.  The price was right so thought I'd check it out.  It's a small add-on lens to the phone camera, which is secured by means of a magnet in the lens itself.  You can attach a self-adhesive metal disc that holds the lens in place on the phone as well, although mine has a metal plate that works.  Here are some test photos.  

Above, the up-coming Bombardier Bi-level coach, to be paired with this:

The FP7/9:

And some closer views of the "experiment" track:

While I think I need to do a little more experimentation to get the best results, it's an improvement over the standard camera in my phone.  Now to complicate matters, I just ordered a new smartphone (Nokia 928).  This has a really nice Carl Zeiss lens on it, and it may have a good macro feature already.  It does have a much larger sensor (i.e. more megapixels) We'll see!

I have been working ballasting the P&W layout so will update the blog with that and more macro photos soon.