the opening with the camera of the electronic device is not defined by or does not necessarily require a perfect alignment in most systems there is an acceptable working tolerance as with many optical systems the tolerances of alignment could be several millimeters or greater depending on the application while the opening of the housing is aligned with the camera of the optical device the optical element does not necessarily have to be aligned to the camera as it can also be purposely placed off center with the opening to achieve an interesting unusual or beneficial effect also the optical adapter presented herein would also work when the electronic device is in a thin form fitting case if the magnet is of proper strength the optical adapter can still attach to the electronic device through the case with the optical accessory still usable if the adapter was designed for a bare electronic device the lens element may be slightly offset from the ideal position however this may be acceptable in some applications moreover depending on the need the optical adapter could be designed from the start to attach to an electronic device that is encased in another body also with at least one adjustable segment in the housing that changes the distance between a magnetic element and an optical element one can achieve a single optical adapter that would be aligned to a variety of electronic devices with or without a case it will thus be seen that the objects set forth above among those made apparent.