5 of the best iPhone camera accessories
Fire your film crew and dump that heavy camera, all you need to make a video is your iPhone – and these few accessories
Olloclip
£55, amazon.co.uk
The iPhone 4 and 4S already have great video sensors – their only weakness is the small lens. Olloclip opens up the iPhone’s eye with three lenses: macro for extreme close-ups, wide-angle for packing more onto the screen in a small room, and fish-eye for that warped effect that makes even boring video more interesting. It’s not cheap but it’s solidly made and the whole thing fits in your pocket, or worn as a monocle, if that’s your directorial quirk.
IK Multimedia iRig iMic
£30, amazon.co.uk
Sure the iPhone records great sound close-up as it was designed to do. But you try filming someone talking without sticking the iPhone up their nostril – not so easy. Enter the iRig iMic, a simple but effective microphone that plugs straight into the iPhone’s 3.5mm headphone socket and isolates sound brilliantly. Affordable and easy to use – but not ideal for recording more than one person at a time. Perfect for that rocking out look though.
OWLE Bubo
£150, gadgetvogue.com
This is a serious piece of kit that turns your humble iPhone 4 or 4S into a full-on camera rig. Made from anodised aluminium the body is well weighted and fits perfectly in your grip for a steady shot or on a tripod using any of the four mounting points. It comes with .45x macro and wide-angle lenses with a 37mm threading in the body for mounting other lenses. Sound is covered too with a VeriCorder microphone. So you have no excuses for anything but perfection.
Rotolight RL48-B Enhanced Edition
£100, gadgetvogue.com
Lights, camera, action. There’s a reason lights is first, without that nothing else will work – and an iPhone LED won’t cut it usually. Meet the Rotolight. This updated version affords you 4 levels of light power up to 6300K and, using light filters, offers variable softness and colour. It’ll fit onto your OWLE Bubo or a tripod and lasts 4 hours on AA batteries. Insert bad bright idea joke here.
Steadicam Smothee
£170, firebox.com
Ever get the shakes from watching wobbly video? The Steadicam Smothee does away with that by using a fully adjustable counterweighted mount for smooth moving shots – just like Stanley Kubrick’s sweeping camera moves in The Shining. Impressive kit that stands up well even against pro versions that sell for £40k – not bad for £170.
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Dan Grabham
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