Anybody who owns an iPhone knows the built-in 2MP camera is not that good, especially for anything close-up or text-related.
Griffin Technology has figured out a way around that – they have produced a case for the iPhone 3G, the Griffin Clarifi, that is both a protective polycarbonate case as well as a macro lens for the iPhone. They (and Evernote) use the example of a business card, but I’m thinking more in line with references or little text snippets you come across in libraries, etc., that you want to save during your genealogy research, but don’t want to spend the time copying down. Without the Clarifi, they claim you need to have the iPhone about 18 inches away in order to focus, and I agree with this, because you start losing focus any closer. At that distance however, even with good lighting, you start to lose a lot of detail. With the Clarifi, you can get down to 4 inches and still have sharp detail.
I’ve broken up the review into four parts, but be warned, Parts 1, 2, and 3 are image heavy.
* Griffin Clarifi for iPhone Review – Part 1 – A look at the case and lens itself
* Griffin Clarifi for iPhone Review – Part 2 – A look at capturing text & photos from a book
* Griffin Clarifi for iPhone Review – Part 3 – Text recognition with Evernote
* Griffin Clarifi for iPhone Review – Part 4 – Summary
* Update – I forgot to mention that the Clarifi comes with a screen protector specifically designed for it, along with a cleaning cloth.