Macro rock photography with the iPhone

A post by Chris RowanEarlier today Callan showcased a rather cool idea first dreamed up by fellow Scibling Alex Wild at Myrmecos: using a hand lens to shorten the focal length of the iPhone camera into the realms useful for macro photography. I had to try this out myself, so I grabbed the nearest interesting hand specimens* and got snapping. In the spirit of experimentation, I took pictures of the same field of view both with and without augmentation by the hand lens.
First up, a Neoproterozoic diamictite from Oman (part of the possible Snowball Earth sequences):

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With hand lens

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Without hand lens

Nodular hematite in a late Archean rock from South Africa:

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With hand lens

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Without hand lens

Another one from Oman: fibrous gypsum in a red siltstone unit.

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With hand lens

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Without hand lens

I’m rather impressed; returning to my earlier thoughts on the iPhone as a potential field tool, a case with a bracket to clip on a magnifying lens would be pretty darned useful for quickly recording lithologies. If said case added extra battery (like this one does) and some weather proofing, and perhaps a capacitive finger replacement a bit more elegant than a sausage, and it could be extremely darned useful. In the meantime, perhaps further experimentation might produce images worthy of inclusion in the upcoming Accretionary Wedge geo-imagery bonanza. Is anyone else experimenting with this?
*What? You don’t have random cool rocks just lying around in your flat? Or a hand lens? Strange people.

Categories: fieldwork, gifts and gadgets

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