
While I've been testing PEACHii's iBooKam recently, folks just kept saying "would you look at that?" The iBooKam is a bamboo iPhone case with threads for 37mm lenses and tripod mounts, and comes with one of various lenses (depending which you purchase).
PEACHii is one of those accessory companies who are clever, unique, and make useful, eye-catching stuff. They're based in the US (Florida, to be precise, just up the highway from me), and over the last few weeks I've been trying out a bunch of their stuff (seriously - this is one of 3 review/giveaways of their stuff for the next couple days, and we've got more products in the mail to us). Nick, the owner, has a knack (Nick has a knack?) for creating quality iPhone accessories out of bamboo. The iBooKam is one of those.

Apple keeps upping the game on the iPhone's camera - the iPhone 4S adds 8MP, an f/2.4 aperture, and face detection. The dual A5 chips have an image signal processor which rivals mid-range point and shoot DSLRs. There's just one thing - you can only fit so much glass on a phone lens and keep the form factor. PEACHii addresses this with the iBooKam case. It's made of strong-but-light bamboo (hence the iBoo in the name - all PEACHii bamboo products start with iBoo), with threads in front of the lens to attach a 37mm lens.
You can buy the case by itself, or with one of three lenses in a kit: the wide-angle iPhone conversion kit (what we tested), the fish-eye iPhone conversion kit, and the telephoto iPhone conversion kit. All of them work with both the iPhone 4 and the 4S.

The kit consists of a few parts. At it's heart is the case itself, a sturdy and lightweight bamboo fitted case which the iPhone snaps satisfactorily into. The case alone is great, and both my wife and I used it for a few weeks getting lots of compliments out and about. It has all the appropriate cutouts for accessing volume, sleep, dock connector, etc. The case also has some nice cut indents where your fingers grasp, which make for a solid connection with the hand.
There are 5 threads for standard tripod mounts (one is included, which you can screw into any of the 5 spots depending on which you need) on the case, as well as two threads for the RAYNOX 21mm to 37mm adapter ring (included). The first, which is over the camera, allows you to attach any standard 37mm lens to the adapter ring, and the case and use with the iPhone camera (B&H has tons of these available which will all fit PEACHii's case). The second is directly above the Apple logo on the back of the phone, and let's you store the adapter ring there if you'd prefer rather than in a separate case.

Each kit PEACHii offers also has a lens with it (except their DIY kit which just gets you the case and adapter ring, as well as the wrist lanyard and JOBY quick release plate for connecting to tripods). PEACHii ships ZEIKOS lenses, which are good quality, inexpensive lenses. We tested the wide angle lens, which also has a macro lens it attaches to in order to give you the ability to shoot closer as well as distances.


So how do the photos look? Great.
It was a bit overcast on our testing day, so we didn't get the full, natural light we'd have loved, but you can get a solid idea of the difference these lenses make with these shots. Each of the photos below are mashups of two photos taken from the exact same position, one with the standard camera, one with the wide-angle lens on. You will notice you can also get much closer to items with clarity due to the macro lens included in the kit. 


The iBooKam comes in 3 shades of bamboo - natural, carbonized (brown), or marbleized (a mix of natural and brown). Check out the colors more in-depth on the PEACHii website. PEACHii sells the wide-angle iPhone conversion kit for $89.99, the fish eye iPhone conversion kit for $94.99, and the telephoto iPhone conversion kit for $89.99. If you're an avid photographer, it's worth it - the iPhone camera keeps getting better, and the 4S camera is great for many excursions and moments.
Of course, it wouldn't be a ModMyi.com review if we didn't also have a giveaway for you. Leave a comment here AND Facebook us a photo you've taken recently from your iPhone 4 or 4S (you can tweet us - @modmyi - if you don't have Facebook), and we'll pick a winner to send a wide-angle conversion kit to in the natural bamboo color on Friday!
Congrats to Adam Tenenbaum for winning the iBooKam with this photo http://mod.my/ibookamwinner! Check out all the submissions @ http://mod.my/ibookamphotos
peachii.com



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