The cameras embedded in our mobile phones may have troubled the lower end of the digital camera market, but they’re still some way short of the quality found in high-end compacts and DSLRs. Add-ons such as the newTelephoto Lens from Olloclip can help add a touch of professionalism and style to your mobile snaps — the £99.99 gadget halves the distance between you and your subject thanks to its 2x optical lens and comes with other focus and colour reproduction enhancements too.

In addition to the telephoto zoom lens, this Olloclip package also includes a  circular polarising lens (CPL) — in layman’s terms, that means your snaps come out with more realistic colours and fewer distracting reflections. The CPL blocks out light at certain angles based on user settings and helps raise your photos further above the default iPhone standard. You can use the CPL on top of the telephoto zoom lens, on its own, or on the original 3-in-1 Olloclip (reviewed in our Best iPhone Photo and Video Accessories).

Another trick you can do with the Olloclip Telephoto Lens is to take advantage of the extra optical zoom to adjust the subject focus — use the depth of field to bring the object of your attention into sharp focus and leave the background blurred (or indeed vice versa). Without changing anything on the iPhone itself, you suddenly have a number of additional professional tools at your fingertips. “Whether you’re on location or on vacation, the Olloclip Telephoto Lens adds better quality close ups and more flexibility to the convenience and mobility of the iPhone and iPod touch,” commented Patrick O’Neill, Olloclip’s CEO and founder.

The Olloclip Telephoto Lens works with the iPhone 5 and 4S as well as the fourth and fifth generation iPod touches. Put together from a multi-element coated, precision-ground lens and high-grade aluminium body, the gadget can be picked up now from the Olloclip website and from the Apple UK Store in the near future. If this particular add-on lens doesn’t quite take your fancy, there are plenty of alternatives, including the Optrix iPhone XD5 we’ve previously covered.