Moment T-Series Lenses Released with Future Phone Designs in Mind

Lens News

by Julian MitchellSeptember 5^th, 2023

The phone app and accessories company Moment has released its T-Series lens range – its first since the M-Series in 2017 or, for some context, iPhone 7. Let’s look at the details.

The range consists of eight new lenses but with familiar focal lengths. There are two anamorphic designs, the 1.33x and the 1.55x, denoting the amount of squeeze on offer (both have gold and blue flare options). The 58mm Tele Mobile gives your primary camera a 2x optical zoom, and there is an 18mm Wide Mobile, a 14mm Fisheye Mobile, and a 10x Macro Mobile.

Moment suggests that the T-Series is for the new generation of iPhones and Android phones like the Pixel 8 Pro. The iPhone 15 and the latest Google phone are rumored to be improving their cameras significantly. A few of the pre-launch rumors include a larger stacked CMOS sensor design and possibly an iPhone Ultra with a five or 6x optical zoom. But we all know that we don’t know anything pre-launch.

Moment will still support the old M-Series lenses but warn against compatibility with future phones; vignetting might be a problem.

Moment’s T-Series – larger mounting design

Moment phone lenses include their own phone cases and bayonet fittings, which you place and then twist the lens to lock. The new mounts for the T-Series are 20% larger to suit a larger sensor phone that may also have sensor-shift stabilization. Moment claims the new mount will allow those sensors more light and avoid vignetting.

The new lenses have better resolution and improved MTF scores, as well as high-quality, low-dispersion fluorite optical glass that reduces chromatic aberration and purple fringing. Moment compares their new glass to the same materials Sony uses for their GM (Gold Master) professional lenses — quite a claim.

Dissecting the new range of Moment’s T-Series

The 1.33x Anamorphic T-Series lens de-squeezes to an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 using Moment’s Pro app. The new lens is a three-element design made of high-quality aluminum. You choose which anti-reflective coating you want for the flare effect: blue or gold.

The 1.55x version emulates the 2.76:1 cinemascope and has the same flare options as the 1.33x.

The 58mm lens has six elements in five groups, resulting in 25% more glass than the original M-Series version. The 58mm is the lens to experiment with, but it’s primarily designed for the wider aperture lenses on your phone.

The new 18mm feels where you might have the most fun with its 100-degree field of view, and six elements in a five-group design. The 14mm Fisheye has a 200-degree field of view, so it resembles the GoPro look if you want that, and the 10x Macro has a 15mm minimum focus distance, depending on the phone model.

The phone imaging revolution

Computational photography and videography have put such power in our hands, and these new lenses will hopefully enrich that already significant advancement. Most phone users will never use them, but for new generations of filmmakers who can afford the phone, case, app, and lens, they will be a great adventure.

For more information, please head to Moment’s products page here.

Let us know in the comments section below if you have invested in lenses from Moment or are considering doing so. Also, what enhancements do you have compared to the lenses already built into your phone?