Snapzoom – the smartphone-to-scope adapter

Two Honolulu-based brothers have created an adapter that can attach a pair of binoculars to your smartphone, transforming the optical scope into a telephoto lens.

Snapzoom can also be coupled with other optical devices like telescopes and microscopes. With help from crowd-funding website Kickstarter, the tool will soon start being produced on a wider scale.

The universal adapter is advertised to fit all major smartphones and several types of scopes, including binoculars and microscopes.

The idea came out of strapping binoculars to a smartphone

The two brothers-in-law, Daniel Fujikake and Mac Nguyen, have a common passion for surfing and photography. As most serious surfers, when ashore, they always use binoculars for safety and to study each-others’ techniques.

About a year ago, Daniel and Mac improvised a way to record telephoto shots with their phone cameras, by strapping on a pair of binoculars. The images turned out way above expectations and further experiments with different cameras and binoculars resulted in more amazing photos and videos, according to the two.

The only gripe was that operating the setup proved very difficult without a proper grip connecting the two devices. Abandoning duct tape, Daniel and Mac decided to take matters into their own hands and to create a tool that can easily and securely attach a smartphone-binocular setup.

Snapzoom touted as a simple to use “universal” adapter

After a fair share of tests, and several prototypes, the Snapzoom was recently born. The adapter is advertised to work with all major smartphones, with or without a case, and most binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes and microscopes.

Adapters currently present on the market are either exclusive to the devices produced by their manufacturers, or they have complicated connection systems, with multiple attachment pieces.

Snapzoom seems very simple and well-designed, from the promo materials provided by its creators.

The pair are counting on Kickstarter to help with funding

The smartphone-to-scope adapter is ready to become a product, after Daniel and Mac can invest in the first batch of manufacturing. For this, they’ve resorted to Kickstarter, the crowd-funding website which has become a symbol for how transparent the supply and demand system can get.

Their Kickstarter campaign has already raised almost $40,000 out of the $55,000 goal, in just three days, with 29 more to go. Apparently, a lot of people had already coupled their scopes with smartphones, and were expecting for the right product to provide a secure attachment.

It looks like Snapzoom will be increasing their production order, but its creators assure us that anyone can get a piece by September 2013, at a retail price of $74.95.