Phone lenses have been around for a long time to enhance your existing smartphone’s camera, with the usual options being an ultra-wide, telephoto or fisheye lens to offer creative solutions. These lenses allow you to be a filmmaker wherever you are, as long as you have your smartphone and chosen lens. But some are more of a novelty than a pro solution. Is the Moment wide 18mm a good choice?
Moment Wide 18mm Lens: Specification
Dimensions: 27.58 x 39.5mm
Weight: 73.1g
Resolution (Axis): 300+ LP/MM
Resolution (Corner): 250 LP/MM
Lateral chromatic aberration: <1px at edge
Distortion: <0.5%
Equivalent focal length (over iPhone Wide Lens): 18mm
Minimum focus distance: 0.75" (19.05mm)
Lens coating: Multi-layer
Moment Wide 18mm Lens: Key Features
The Moment Wide 18mm lens offers a wide angle of view to make sure you get all the important details in your picture or video. The lens is well-built and constructed out of aluminum, so it feels like a quality product. Included in the box is a nice rubber lens cap for keeping your lens clean and tidy when not in use, either in the supplied Moment lens pouch or mounted to your phone.
Moment Wide 18mm Lens: Build and Handling
The construction of the Moment Wide 18mm is fantastic, built of aluminium with a black powder coating with etched Moment logo and lens markings, along with quality glass makes this 18mm a dream to use.
The system also uses a simple, buy highly effective twist-and-go style. The lens is mounted in a twist formation to the required Moment phone case, which are sold separately and fitted for each make of smartphone, but are essential in getting this gear working correctly - I have a rather “old” OnePlus 6 and can say the case fits nicely to it, and could be passed off as a premium phone case in its own right. But look closer and there will be either one or two mounting options over the camera or cameras of your phone (depending on your phone)
Simply align the white line on your lens with the line on the case twist clockwise and you have mounted your lens, want to take it off, twist-anticlockwise and its off - simple and effective, just what you want when filming or taking photos with your phone.
This is a great lens that lets you take more of a compact space and goes wider that your average wide setting on your smartphone. It is perfect your taking photos while in tight environments or getting that perfect shot of an interior, but I have found its main calling is for vlogging and having personally used it for YouTube content out in the field the Moment Wide 18mm really brings the viewer along for the journey. It allows the user to vlog without a heavy camera, yet have a vest field of view so viewers can perfectly see you and your surroundings with ease.
Moment Wide 18mm Lens: Performance
Having used the Moment Wide 18mm for quite a bit of time and filming content I have found it a valuable item to have in your tool kit, equip this lens on your phone, along with a gorilla pod and you have the perfect compact and lightweight YouTube vlogging setup.
The lens performance is amazing for the price and I would highly recommend it for those looking for a lightweight setup for vlogging or you love to take pictures of small objects and make them seem larger than life, thanks to the Moment Wide 18mm’s wide field of view. It produces a crystal clear image, videos and photos are sharp with little distortion. Flaring is apparent, due to having such a wide view, but I think the coating on the glass performs as one would expect and gives a nice soft feel to your footage.
Sample images & video
Moment Wide 18mm Lens: Final Verdict
Having used the Moment Wide 18mm lens for photo taking and YouTube content I would highly recommend it for anything seeking a lightweight setup to start out their vlogging career or vloggers looking for a more compact solution to the traditional compact cameras.
It does come with a few quirky though, you must buy the separately sold phone case in order to mount and use any of the Moment lenses, depending on the type of phone you have it might be more costly to buy the case and then the less, when compared with other options on the market, but the build quality speaks for itself and I would be happy to pay that little bit extra for something I know is going to last a very long time.
Read more:
Best lenses for iPhone and Android camera phones
Best phone cases
Best photo apps
