From Phone Pics to Professional Videos: Selecting the Top 9 Enhancers

Smartphone Camera Accessories Vloggers Should Try to Improve Recording

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

As smartphone camera technology is rapidly advancing, more and more people are using smartphones as their primary vlogging device. They’re convenient and they draw the least amount of attention. But since most smartphones weren’t made specifically for vlogging, there’s a lot of room to make them more suitable for that purpose. Here is a list of the nine best smartphone camera accessories for vloggers.

Table of Contents 1. PORTABLE CHARGER 2. TRIPOD MOUNT 3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE 4. SELFIE RING LIGHT 5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE 6. LENS SET 7. FILMMAKING RIG 8. FILMMAKING RIG 9. GIMBAL

1. RAVPower Portable Charger

Vlogging uses a lot more power. If you’re planning to vlog all throughout your day with your phone, you need a portable way to charge it back up. RAVPower has a great line up of portable chargers with multiple USB inputs that hold a total charge of more than 20,000 mAh. With that amount, you can fully charge your smartphone more than 6 times! I own one myself and it’s been great for me during my travels. A 22,000 mAh charger goes for about $42 USD.

2. Arkon Tripod Mount

The Arkon tripod mount is a great portable tripod option that you can get at the fair price of around $20 USD. Not only does it have bendable legs, like the more expensive Joby GorillaPod tripod, that you can wrap around all kinds of structures, but it also comes with the smartphone mount, which Joby sells separately. Another great thing about the Arkon tripod is that its smartphone mount can be rotated so that you can position your phone to film in either widescreen or portrait mode.

3. Mega Tiny Anti-Gravity Case

For all the flat surfaces that the bendable legs of the Arkon tripod mount can’t wrap around, Mega Tiny’s anti-gravity cases will do the job of holding your iPhone or Android phone in one fixed position. These cases can stick to glass, mirrors, metal, and more. They range from $20 to $30 USD.

4. FLII Selfie Ring Light

As much as smartphone camera technology has advanced, phone cameras still underperform when it comes to filming video in low-light. In low-light, your footage is very grainy because your phone is equipped with a small camera sensor, an engineering choice by the manufacturers to keep the size of the phone small. A handy accessory that you can use to get more light is the FLII selfie ring light. This ring light clamps onto your phone and emits a neutral white light. You can clamp this light to either side of your phone, depending on whether you want to use your rear-facing camera or your front-facing camera. This selfie ring light sells for around $16 USD.

5. RODE VideoMic Me

The mic that is already built into your phone is equally sensitive to the sounds that come from behind the phone as it is to the sounds that are in front of the phone. This can be problematic when you’re trying to vlog in selfie mode while there’s a loud concert on the other side. One smartphone accessory that can improve the sound that you record from your phone in these situations is the RODE VideoMic Me. This mini directional shotgun mic plugs right into your phone’s headphone jack and sells for around $60 USD. In windy conditions, the dead cat windshield that it comes with does a great job of minimizing noise from the wind. In quiet, indoor conditions where you are the only person speaking, this device performs no better than your phone’s internal microphone. Your phone will also have to be in airplane mode to prevent the Rode VideoMic Me from recording unwanted clicking noise caused by background processes performed by your phone. So you wouldn’t want to use this for livestreaming.

6. Aukey Optic 3-in-1 Smartphone Lens Set

Aukey makes a 3-in-1 lens set that you can clamp onto your smartphone so that you can vlog at different focal lengths. The 3-in-1 set comes with a wide-angle lens, a fisheye lens, and a macro lens. The clamp it comes with is long enough for these lenses to reach any camera on a smartphone, not just those of iPhones which are positioned close to the phone’s outer edge. To get the most out of these lenses, you’ll have to use them without your phone’s protective case on. Although you are free to use this lens set on either your phone’s rear-facing camera or front-facing camera, the metal housing of these lenses is likely to show up in your footage when you use them with your front-facing camera. So, instead of having your recorded image stretch to the ends of a 16:9 ratio rectangular frame, your recorded image will look as if it is contained inside a circle. This lens set sells for around $30 USD.

7. iOgrapher Go for Android and iPhone

There’s many more accessories that you can take advantage of if you don’t limit yourself to just smartphone camera accessories. Sound and lighting equipment made for stand-alone cameras perform much better too. Many of these accessories are meant to connect to the camera “shoe” (a bracket on top of the camera that accessories can be attached to). Smartphones don’t come with these kinds of shoes. So, to take advantage of these higher quality accessories, you’ll need some kind of camera rig for your smartphone that also comes with shoes. The iOgrapher Go offers this at around $60 USD. This accessory comes with three shoes.

8. Manfrotto TwistGrip System

Manfrotto’s TwistGrip System does a similar job to the above iOgrapher Go. This system also comes with three shoes. An advantage the TwistGrip System has over the iOgrapher Go is that it is much more portable. Its three connected parts can be detached to take up less space in your bag. This system sells for around $50 USD.

9. Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3-Axis Handheld Gimbal Stabilizer for Smartphones

My favorite smartphone camera accessory that I own is the Zhiyun Smooth-Q gimbal stabilizer. This gimbal is very effective in helping you record smooth video. Using the app that it comes with, you can even preset this gimbal to smoothly pan and rotate from a starting position to an ending position, giving you the opportunity to film beautiful time lapses. You can get this device at around $100 USD.

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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Try It Free Try It Free

It was formerly known as YouTube Red three years ago when it first launched. It brings to your screen tones of perks for better viewing. However, the service isn’t still widely known, and most people are on the verge of understanding what is entailed in the subscription. Most YouTube premium subscribers attest that the service is of value and are even relieved of the constant ads in the Free version. Dive into the article for more insights.

What is YouTube Premium?

This streaming service was initially launched in 2014 and was later rebranded in 2018 as YouTube Premium. It includes YouTube music and other features that Google added to it. You can download content, perform background playback and even get access to YouTube original content. Note that this came at a cost as its price was raised. But what remains is that you get value for your money.

1. What service is included in the Premium subscription?

The Premium subscription is an after-sought service that includes these services.

Background play: It allows one to play your videos in the background, enabling you to use the app as a music player.

Offline playback: Easily view your videos on your phone or tablet. It means you can download a video or music and play them while not on the internet.

Ad-free videos: Say goodbye to popular ads with YouTube Free subscription. You already catered for your freedom in the subscription.

YouTube Music Premium: YouTube music is available for free even though you won’t download it for offline playback on this tier.

Flip between apps swiftly: Your videos will continue playing even if you switch to another app. You can flip apps on your device, like check emails, read Twitter, scroll to texts and still play your videos.

2. The price of a YouTube Premium subscription

YouTube Premium isn’t different from other services. Like most streaming services, you get family and student plans. YouTube Premium costs your $6.99 monthly subscription for students’ plans. You, however, need to verify that you are a student. A family plan comes at $17.99 per month, where you can add up to five members. Single YouTube Premium will cost you $11.99 a month

3. Does YouTube Premium provide an annual plan?

No. YouTube Premium does not provide an annual plan. You can only pay your subscription per month.

4. What is the difference between YouTube TV and YouTube Premium

Even though they sound similar, YouTube TV and YouTube Premium are different in many aspects. While YouTube Premium is a paid subscription, YouTube TV is a live streaming service. Let’s explore more differences.

What is included

If you subscribe to YouTube Premium, then you unlock other streaming features. These include watching YouTube without ads on its apps, managing offline viewing, playing your videos in the background, and getting YouTube Music, among others.

You can watch various channels over the internet with YouTube TV, live. It offers you close to 90 channels cutting across lifestyle, news, entertainment, sports, etc. Likewise, you can stream live broadcasts from top networks like NBC, FOX, ABC, etc. It will also splash your screen with news channels from BBC America, CNN, FOX News, etc.

Cost

When it comes to pricing, YouTube Premium costs $11.00 per month with a free, one-month trial for new subscribers. It also has different plans for students and families. On the other hand, YouTube TV starts at $64.99 per month. However, first-time subscribers can get a free offer of up to one week at no cost. This rate may seem high, but it is competitive with other live TV streaming services.

Accessibility

YouTube TV is readily available on the web, mobile platforms, and media streaming devices like Fire TV and Chromecast. You can also download the YouTube TV app to enjoy it on players like game consoles and PlayStations. For YouTube Premium, you’ll easily access it by subscription.

However, there are areas where both YouTube TV and YouTube Premium overlap. Both will let you watch YouTube Originals.

You will also enjoy your videos without adverts interruption. Additionally, it would be best to have an internet connection to stream your videos before downloading. And after downloading and saving your files, you can stream them offline on YouTube Premium.

So, which is better?

YouTube Premium subscribers think it’s the better choice. For one, if you like entertainment from services like Hulu, Netflix, Disney, and much more, then YouTube Premium has you covered than YouTube TV.

Q&A: Is YouTube Premium subscription available in all countries?

● YouTube Premium is not available in some countries. The likely reason is that those countries’ laws prevent it from being offered.

● But worry less, you can still access YouTube Premium even if it’s not available in your country. You can switch to an alternative county and stream videos.

Make a quick switch by first clicking the “Country” button on the bottom of the YouTube homepage. Here, you’ll view various available countries where YouTube Premium is accessible.
Then click any country of choice to switch to. It will give you that country’s YouTube version.
You can also change your language if it presents a foreign language video and description. Just click on the “Language” button on the page.
Finally, access and play any YouTube premium video virtually from the country you switched to.

Is YouTube Premium worth subscribing to?

Even with the lack of YouTube Premium annual subscription, it still beats all odds to subscribe to this streaming service.

1) Offline playback

Office playback is one reason why YouTube lovers opt for the Premium subscription. Saving your videos for offline listening gives you more advantages than needing to be online to stream your videos. You can do it by simply checking for the “Download” icon below the video you wish to save on your device for later watching. You are then free to stream your files at any time, on the go!

2) Free of ads at last

YouTube streaming is much better without ever interacting with adverts. There are no pop-ups with the Premium version, letting you enjoy every bit of your video streaming. Again, such interruptions aren’t healthy for a tutorial session. Without ads, you can fully concentrate on video playing, letting you get quality value for your time.

3) Get original content

By fact, it is clear that this platform lets you interact with high-end artists who dwell on giving original content to their viewers. You’ll get a perfect chance to subscribe to artists who offer content, i.e., exclusive to the paid tier.

4) Included Google Play Music for free

It’s a double party for YouTube Premium subscribers. You have the advantage of getting Google Play Music when you subscribe to YouTube Music Premium. More so, the Google Play library gives you tones of music from their library. Combined with YouTube Premium offers, you won’t have any reason not to feel entertained from any genre of choice.

Some improvements will go a long way

Despite all the reasons to subscribe to YouTube Premium, it still needs a minor improvement to perfection.

The YouTube Premium service’s availability is limited compared to the initial YouTube version. Therefore, some countries prohibit its usage and are only accessible in about 70 countries. Hopefully, it will be available worldwide so that no user is limited.
YouTube Premium subscription does not give any discounts on any of the subscriptions. And being that it has no yearly subscriptions, the amount remains the same whether you opt for one month or pay it times 12 for the year. There should be some considerations for offers, primarily when you cover the one-year payments.
Some users feel the price is higher than other streaming services. However, YouTube claims to offer free Google Play music. Perhaps this is the reason for the slight rise.
This streaming service lacks some extras like rentals and charged station subscriptions. Other features like “lyrics” to the songs have also not been catered for. Likewise, some extra information like the title or genre of the video you watch is not included. These small extras could go a long way if they were to be added.
YouTube Premium also seems to pay attention to celebrities other than YouTubers. Most originals are not exclusive to Premium subscribers, while you can watch them with ads on a free account.

Conclusion

● Amidst the many YouTube subscriptions, YouTube Premium has come a long way. Additionally, it hasn’t covered all the countries just yet. However, it has eliminated the presence of annoying ads that are prominent with the free YouTube service. More so, you get free access to Google Play Music, among other added values. Despite those, the app still needs some improvements in its services to incorporate YouTube Premium subscribers in its walk fully.