The IVS Portal

How many hours do you spend getting nose smudges on the front glass of your aquarium to get a closer look at the details of your corals and fish? How much money have you spent on camera lenses and attachments just to get that close up view that your eyes can't?

If you're like most other reefers, I'm sure the answer to these two questions is WAY to much! What if you could see all that detail and get those great pictures without the nose smudges or expensive equipment?

The IVS Portal view is here to make that a reality!



I've always been a huge fan of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid), and The Portal is a prime example of how this philosophy can be applied to create something truly amazing. In simple terms it is a magnetically attached lens that magnifies the image behind it for you eyes or camera to see, but when you look closer at what it's doing you can really begin to grasp the genius behind this product. For years we have been using expensive macro lenses to peer into our tanks, and The Portal does all that and more. A macro lens is designed to focus a hugely enlarged image directly on the focal plane of your camera, but this has to be precisely calculated and any slight movement in the camera creates blurred images making good ones hard to get. What the portal does is project that same enlarged image strait out into the room. The difference here is that all focusing is done by your eyes or camera on the lens of The Portal. This makes locking and keeping focus easy for eyes or cameras and also reduces blurred images.

Enough talk lets see some comparison images:


Taken with a Canon DSLR and macro lens


Taken using a point-and-shoot Olympus camera through The Portal

Looks like The Portal cam got the edge on that one.


Taken with a Canon DSLR and macro lens


Taken using a point-and-shoot Olympus camera through The Portal

There's a slight edge to the Canon SLR on color rendition, but for overall sharpness, it still looks like an even battle!

For our final image, let's look at what happens when a reefer who's already spent the money on the macro lens pairs it up with The IVS Portal!


What could be better?

Now that we've established that The IVS Portal is an amazing optical tool, I think it's time to bring up the best part, the price! One would expect something that can turn their camera and eyes into a macro view of their corals to cost quite a bit, but we are in luck! At just $69.99 this amazing little tool drops in at just over the average bucket of salt!

As if all of this wasn't enough, The Portal also doubles as an algae scrubber which can be had for either glass or acrylic, and there's talk of future attachments that will do some REALLY amazing things!

I almost forgot to mention, for all you nano reefers out there The IVS Portal has you in their sites too! The prototype nano Portal looks like it will be the perfect addition to your tanks as soon as it hits the market!

Get yours ordered here:
http://ivsportal.com/​

 

I have one of these. It's super rad. SUPER rad.

You have to be careful with it - I had to train my 3 yr old not to pull it off as it can SLAM back together pretty forcefully. And for that reason it's more or less limited to the plane it is on - it's not particularly easy to move from one pane to another like a mag float is due to its size.


What rumors for attachments have you heard? I'd like to hear some.


I was on a waiting list for several months, but I have it now. It is rad. You can see HUGE coral from across the room. Very high quality magnifier with a magnet. I like to call it my mag mag.

 

I'm not sure what they are ready to announce, so I have to keep my foot out of mouth and stay silent on that one. Let's just say that I'm sure everyone will be excited to add them on!