One of the few cases that lets you treat your iPhone as a camera with a shutter button and tripod mount
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Bitplay Snap! Pro Review – Take your iPhone to the next camera level with a shutter button and tripod mount and different lenses
Today we’re going to review the Snap! Pro by Bitplay. There are several unique features to the Snap!Pro that you won’t find on other camera cases. BitPlay was awesome enough to send us a full compliment of lenses so we’ve really gotten to know what works and what doesn’t.
For our Bitplay Snap! Pro Review, we’ve given this camera case a score of 3.6 Eh’s out of 5. It is the second highest rated camera case as it falls short of the Moment Case and Lens and is tied with the Ztylus Prime. With that being said, these camera cases are all unique so through out this review, we’re going to point out the differences between different iPhone camera cases. Hopefully, this will help you choose the right camera case for you. If you’re wondering what else we’ve reviewed, check out our comparison tool for iPhone camera cases.
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The case portion of the Snap! Pro – Shutter button works without batteries!
The Snap!Pro case has a lot of unique features. The most noticeable are the shutter button which was a slight letdown initially because we were on a Bluetooth high from the Moment case and app. The Snap! Pro’s shutter button is just a physical button. You press the shutter; it pushes the volume button.
After getting over the initial letdown, we realized that we do appreciate this setup because having the shutter button allows you to take pictures with one hand quickly. Does that matter? We have that answer in our video! And yes, the volume button still works under the gray piece of plastic.
BitPlay offers several different grips to use with the Snap!Pro. You can stick with the fancy walnut grip or the slim grip which reduces the bulk of the grip or a tripod grip that is compatible with a 1/4 inch tripod. The ability to mount the case on a tripod is a unique feature as the Zytlus Prime, Moment Lens case and Olloclip cases can’t be mounted without additional accessories.
Right beside the shutter button is a slot that looks like a cold shoe mount but it’s not. Bitplay calls the plastic nub the “Steadiness-Enhanced Thumb Rest” which made us roll our eyes. After using it for a while, that thumb rest is pretty handy.
Lenses are attached by screwing them to the cutout around the iPhone’s camera. Attaching the lenses is much harder than the Blademount on the HitCase Snap, the Z-prime lenses, and even the Moment Lens. We usually found that it took us a couple of tries to fully get the threads lined up.
Installing and removing the case is easy, but the carbon fiber looking cover has a tendency to make a cracking sound which isn’t great.
The edges of the case are high enough to keep the iPhone’s screen off a flat surface, and the bottom will allow you to use whatever cables you want.
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Snap! Pro Lenses – How many do you need?
BitPlay offers six different lenses for the Snap!Pro. This includes a two different types of wide angle lenses, a telephoto, two different types of fisheye lenses and a circular polarized filter which is one of our favorites. To get all these lenses would cost about $250 bucks, so they’re not terribly expensive but again, you get what you pay for.
Below is a couple of images showing the different field of views (FOV’s) of a the wide angle lenses and fisheye lenses. The super wide angle lenses and full-frame fisheye lenses have similar FOVs.
For each lens Bitplay provides a labeled gray carrying bag. If you decide to get all the lenses, we’d suggest getting the lens carrier to make it easier on yourself swapping out lenses.
Out of the six lenses, our favourite is the Circular Polarized Lens because it gives us a level of functionality that we were usually associated with a DSLR.
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Snap! Pro lens quality – How does it compare against others?
Regarding lens quality, again, you get what you paid for. If you haven’t noticed from the photos shown above, the distortion for every lens is noticeable around the edges. Especially when you compare it to photos taken by the Moment Lens.
The distortion along the edges on the Moment Lens is almost non-existent whereas the equivalent wide angle lens on the Snap!Pro has quite a bit of distortion. Do keep in mind, the wide angle lens is $25 bucks whereas the Moment Lens is $100. You get what you pay for.
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Again, for our Bitplay Snap! Pro Review, we gave this iPhone camera case a score of 3.5 Eh’s out of 5. Have questions? Please ask them on our Google+ page or our Facebook page or our About Us page.
