What Are My 7 Best Accessories For Mobile Phone Photography? Hi and welcome to Episode 78 of the Photography Explained podcast.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google.
Before I go on if you have a question you would like me to answer just go to photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.
Here is the answery bit
My 7 best accessories for my iPhone for photography are a mini tripod, an adaptor to hold the phone, a Lumecube light, a Rode Microphone, a DJI Osmo and a waterproof case. And from time to time pebbles on the beach. And to be honest these are the only accessories that I have for my iPhone XS. Well apart from the case that is. OK so that is 7 things and not 5 as I originally planned.
Let me talk about each of these in turn. As I said these are the only accessories I have for my phone.
1 Tripod
Now when I say tripod I have tried a few in my time. My current tripod of choice is a Joby Gorillapod, which comes with a ball head. A ball head is the thing that has a tripod thread on it which you can screw into the tripod socket on the bottom of most cameras. Now to attach a phone to a tripod you need an adaptor which I will come onto next.
I use my phone on a tripod to shoot videos for my You Tube Channels and blog. And yes there will be a You Tube Channel for the Photography Explained Podcast soon. It’s on me list.
Now I have not used the tripod to help me take long exposure photos, ones where the shutter is open for a long time that is, because I have never tried to do this with my phone. I do this all the time with me Canon 6D, but have not tried this with my phone. I need to look into this clearly.
And I also use a Manfrotto Pixi, and a Platypod, accessories that I use with my Canon 6D.
2 Tripod adapter
This is the thing that the phone sits in that screws into the tripod thread on the top of the tripod. Get ones of these and you can put your phone on any conventional tripod, adding your phone to mainstream camera accessories which is good.
Having this adapter has enabled me to put my phone on all sorts of tripods and other things that I use such as a Platypod, a clever metal plate with a tripod screw on it.
I actually use a Lumecube Lightweight Portable Smartphone clip to give it it’s full name. But any adapter will do, just make sure that it has a 1/4” screw thread and is large enough to hold your phone and you are good to go! And they are not expensive either.
3 Lumecube 2.0
This is the light that I use the most and it fits on top of the Lumecube tripod adapter. I use this again for video, giving me a bit of a boost of direct light when I am in complex lighting situations. The light is a constant light that is adjustable in output.
And have I used this for taking photos? Nope I have not. Again there is a theme developing here – I need to do more stuff with my phone!
4 Microphone
I use a Rode Video Mic Me, which plugs straight into the lightning connector socket. Plug in the mic, put my phone in the adapter, put light on top, put it all on a tripod and I am good to go with my very own portable video recording kit!
This tiny mic is amazing, and makes a massive difference to the audio quality of my video recordings.
5 DJI Osmo
Now this is a very cool piece of kit, a gimbal that allows me to take ultra-smooth, cinematic style videos.
The only problem is that I barely use it. I have had a few goes with it, and loved walking through the New Forest getting super smooth videos, but I have never really got into it, as these videos are very much a nice to have.
I want to do video walkthroughs of construction sites that I am photographing, but this just never happens.
And to be honest with you when I wrote this post I had completely forgotten that I had this. Time to charge it up and give it a go again!
6 Waterproof case
OK I forgot about this as well. It is one of those clear plastic cases with a seal at the top and a neck lanyard, dead handy for poor weather and for underwater shooting.
Now I know that my iPhone is rated to withstand water up to 2m for up to 30 minutes, but really? I am not going to try that. Which is clearly ridiculous isn’t it?
These cases are not expensive, and I have used mine to take underwater photos and videos, and also where I needed my phone on a lanyard as there was a risk of me dropping it.
Yes even at may advanced age I do things like this ha!
7 iPhone case
OK the one that I definitely forgot that I use for, erm anything where I am holding my phone, yes including taking photos! And when I say anything I mean anything beyond sitting on the sofa so slippy is my iPhone, which I mentioned in the last episode.
I have complained about this before – the one thing I hate about my iPhone. The smooth round edges. It is like trying to grip a wriggling eel, it is so smooth and stylishly designed. Which I hate.
Designed in California by people who clearly do not go out!
Seriously Apple make a phone that I can hold without dropping it please.
Anyway I am forced to have a case for my iPhone. I do not even know what make it is, I just ordered one from Amazon ages ago.
It is quite grippy on the edges and has a back to it and no front.
And that is it really. Not a lot more that I can say about this is there?
8 And I use my phone as an accessory too!
I use my phone as a remote release, and to see the direction of the sun at any time of the day or night. So my phone is a very useful camera accessory in itself that I use to help me take photos.
Finally a photographic use for it!
9 What do I do?
I add this into every episode so you know what I do, and how I apply and practise what I am talking about, but I do not need to do this for this one do I?
10 The talky bit
5 things quickly became 7.
These are the only photography related accessories that I use with my phone, and that is that! And as you will see there are not many of them, and if we are talking about taking photos only I don’t have any!
So I do not use any accessories with my iPhone to take photos. I had never thought about this.
I use accessories to help me record videos, but not to take photos.
Interesting isn’t it.
Is this because I have all the accessories that I need for my Canon 6D, meaning it makes no sense having accessories to take photos with my phone?
I think so, so that is fine.
And I only shoot videos with my phone. Thinking about it I have only ever recorded one video with my Canon 6D.
There we have it – this is the explanation. I take snaps, behind the scenes photos, that kind of thing with my phone. And videos.
But for my “real” photos I use my Canon 6D.
This is what I do, and this I how I work.
One line summary
The photography related accessories I have for my iPhone are used to capture video footage but not photos.
Next episode
Summer is here. Well it is in the Northern Hemisphere. And is here sort of in the UK. And with travelling about to become a possibility again I am going to do something different and dive into travel photography – well why not?
Photography Explained Podcast Episode 79 – 11 Excellent New Essential Travel Photography Tips For Beginners! Yes travel photography time. I love travel photography, so let’s start dreaming of going to nice places and taking photos.
Shout out
And now time for a shout out to Sarah in Virginia USA who got in touch recently – Hi Sarah and great to hear from you – I hope that the kids find their homework enjoyable! And hi kids from me.
I’m done
Thanks for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast. To find out more about my podcast and do stuff to help me check out Photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start.
Brought to you by
This episode was brought to you by water. Just water. Cheers.
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to me and for giving me 10 (ish) minutes of your valuable time, and I will see you on the next episode.
Cheers from me Rick