I have had this case for a long while, and love it. I upgrade from 8gb to 16gb, and moved the case over. The lens comes in handy more often then you’d expect.

this is slightly frustrating, but far less frustrating that not having the case, moving in toward something you want to shoot and finding that it is absolutely impossible to get it into focus unless you back way out, until the subject is minuscule in the frame.

optimum distance to subject is 4 inches. the normal minimum distance is 18 inches.

one problem with the clarifi is that under 4 inches, things start getting blurry, and over 4 inches, things start getting blurry. generally speaking when you have the lens on, you want to stay within 3 to 8 inches of the subject or else the image becomes noticeably blurry.

this leaves a gap between ~8 and 18 inches that the clarifi doesn’t address.

in practice, you just end up moving the camera a little closer, or pulling back to 18 inches and sliding off the lens. despite the gap, the case is still worth it.

Only con for myself: the sliding lens put a scratch on my iPhone. It occurred to the right of the camera, where the macro lens slides to when you don’t want to use it.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=292448530&mt=8

disregard the reviews, they are probably from people forgetting to “move and scale” the images they take. it really does work well, in half decent light using the clarifi i can get the app to read the barcode every time.

I have dropped my iPhone a few times with this case (once on pavement) and it has prevented the iPhone from receiving any damage.

1] the lens WILL get dirty or linty, and at some point you’ll have to pull the case off and clean all around behind the lens and in front. i recommend blowing air or using a lens/glasses cleaning cloth.

2] the case WILL leave marks on the iPhone itself. you’ll see these when you pull the case off after using it awhile. don’t freak out, these marks can be wiped away but it will take a bit of elbow grease.

3] the lens WILL get in the way of taking a normal photo. eventually you’ll get into the habit of pulling bad the lens as a reflex action, so this shouldn’t happen too often.

4] the case WILL collect scratches. the shiny surface is a scratch magnet.

with all that said.. this is an AMAZING case. it really does extend the photographic capabilities of the phone, it’s lightweight and slim, looks nice and will protect the phone [barring the marks it leaves that you can wipe off]. it looks very nice, and after you’ve collected a certain number of scratches it just looks “weathered”.

on the one hand, you WILL have problems with this case. on the other hand, these problems are totally worth it.

The only issue I have with it is that I don’t like to carry my iPhone in my pocket, and it doesn’t fit in any good hip cases well. AT&T does sell a leather horizontal clipping case, that the iPhone in a Clarifi shell will eventually fit in once you stretch the leather long enough. I just got a new one and might have to resort so the same chemical women use to stretch their shoes.

That is my only beef with this case. Maybe Griffin will someday produce a belt clip that works with this case. If anyone knows of one, it would be nice to know.

Looks like I’ll be ordering a replacement clarifi case…

Even aside from the macro lense, the case itself is, like you wrote, very atractive and nicely textured. It doesn’t get stuck in my pocket at all, yet it does provide a nice grip. Also, it comes with a nice screen protector – if you clean you’re screen perfectly and then apply it, you can get no bubbles, and it’s still in great shape, even after several months. Considering the price, I am thrilled with the product overall.