Arcturus Labs Wants To Take iPhone Cameras To The Next Level

Thanks to the advent of mobile phone cameras, we've become a "pics or it didn't happen" kind of society. If a tragedy happens, someone has a cell phone video of it. If a politican makes a crazy off-handed comments in a behind-closed-door meeting, someone's got the cell phone video to prove it. And yet, when it comes to some of the traditional staples of photography – some of the most time-honored traditions like capturing pictures of birds or stars – hardly anyone thinks of mobile phones.

Enter Arcturus Labs, a new startup that has one simple mission – no matter what it is, if there's a way to take a picture of it, it should be able to be captured by an iPhone. The product is called Magnifi, and it allows an iPhone to be attached to microscopes, telescopes, binoculars, and pretty much any lens known to man. So yes, you guessed it, if you want to take a picture of that tissue sample in your plant biology class and text it to your friend who's in the dorm sleeping, the Magnifi is exactly what you need.

That's a trivial example, of course, but the goal is to take those enthusiast photographers, the ones who are still clinging to their old-fashioned cameras, and get them to realize that the iPhone can do all they need. The company has already raised more than $13,000 on Kickstarter, which it is using to bring the device to retail. When that happens, Arcturus Labs plans to sell it for around $80.

[via Mashable]