From Everyday Snaps to Professional Videos - The Top 9 Mobile Filmmaking Gadgets

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.

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Richard Bennett

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

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Quick Tips: IOS Devices & YouTube Video Submission

Create High-Quality Video - Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful YouTube video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

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Initially, iOS users had the option to load videos directly to YouTube via the tap-to-upload feature. However, this option is missing in the recent iOS devices versions. Therefore, many users search for possible ways to post a video on YouTube from iPhone. For this, you have to put some considerations into place before moving on. The video title length should not exceed 100 characters, while the description is maintained at 5,000 characters. Also, ensure the video length doesn’t exceed 15 minutes. Let’s roll out the best ways to upload your videos and make that big catch on subscribers.

How to upload a video to YouTube from iPhone or iPad

Are you ready to start on that big adventure and share your videos on YouTube? Follow these steps to learn how to upload a video to YouTube from your iPhone.

Method 1: Upload using the YouTube iOS app

Using the YouTube app is the simplest way to upload your YouTube videos. The YouTube app should be installed on your iOS device.

Step 1. Launch the YouTube app on your device, then sign in to your account. If you don’t have an account yet, you will need to “Sign up” for a new one before continuing the upload process.

Step 2. Click on the “+” icon found at the bottom of the screen.

Step 3. Then choose the “Upload a video” option from the populated list of options.

Step 4. Check out the pop-up that appears and “Allow access” to it.

Step 5. Edit your video to your preference by trimming or cropping as you desire. Then click on the “Next” option.

Step 6. Add “title and description” to your video. Remember, the title should contain less than 100 characters and the description no more than 500 characters.

Step 7. Then set the visibility mode as “Public” to enable you to share your video over the internet.

Step 8. Click on the “Upload” button to finally upload your video to YouTube.

Method 2: Upload using Photo App

The Photo App has a “Share” option that you can use to upload your videos to YouTube. Here is the guide.

Step 1. Go to your iOS device and tap on the “Photos” app.

Step 2. Then tap on the “Videos Folder” to locate the video you wish to upload to YouTube.

Step 3. Next, tap on the video that you want to upload.

Step 4. Then tap on the “Share” icon located at the bottom left of your iOS device screen.

Step 5. You’ll then access a “Share” menu from where you have various share options for your video.

Step 6. Choose the “YouTube” option to continue to share your video there. At this juncture, ensure you have logged in to your Google Account.

Step 7. You need to provide a “Title” and “Description” of your video. Then go to the “Privacy” Options and make your video “Public.”

Step 8. Finally, tap on the “Publish” tab found at the top-right corner of your screen to make your video viewable by the public.

Method 3: Upload video to YouTube using Safari

Safari is another alternative method to upload a video to YouTube.

Step 1. First, go to “youtube.com” on Safari and sign in.

Step 2. Then tap on the “account” icon at the top right side of the screen.

Step 3. Hit on the “Upload” icon and wait to be redirected to the YouTube Studio desktop site.

Step 4. Click on the “Select Files” option.

Step 5. Choose the video you wish to add to YouTube from the “Photo” library and tap on the “Add” button.

Step 6. Add your video’s “title and description” and hit the “Next” button.

Step 7. Tap on the “Next” button once more to go to the “Visibility” page.

Step 8. Select the “Public” option to upload your video to the public.

Why your phone doesn’t post videos to YouTube

Despite learning how to upload to YouTube from iPhone, you may be perplexed to realize that your phone refuses to post videos to YouTube. What could be the reason?

1) YouTube issues

In most cases, the problem doesn’t arise from your phone but from YouTube. This streaming app may also experience some hitches along the way. Remember that even if your phone sync with your YouTube account to upload videos from the “Camera Roll,” YouTube isn’t managed from the Camera Roll but the YouTube app directly. You can solve the issue by signing out of your YouTube account and signing back in.

2) Connection Strength

Some videos may appear quite large and cause a time-out during the upload process. Check your Wi-Fi or internet connection strength to determine if it needs a boost or wait until the streaming strength is strong for a quick upload. Test your internet speed by searching “internet test speed” on Google. Then click the “Run Speed Test” in the search box. A window will open and give you an estimate of the Mbps that your connection is operating at. If too low, switch to other alternatives.

3) Verify your YouTube account

Verifying your account will help you to enjoy YouTube’s full features. It’s then that you’ll manage to upload videos without any drawbacks. Also, that’s when you’ll manage to upload longer videos that go beyond the 15-minute duration.

4) Pay attention to the video size

There is a limit for videos to post to YouTube. If it is too large or long, the upload will cancel before completion.

5) Be patient

YouTube can save your partial upload for 24 hours. So, you can continue to upload from where you left. Learn to be patient as there could be a surge of user traffic, especially during evenings.

Make your YouTube video better with Filmora

Good video quality will make you go miles ahead of your marketing gig. You can use Filmora mobile application to make your videos look better before uploading them to YouTube. This intuitive video editing app has advanced features and several ways to compose creative videos.

Stunning video effects that let you add animated text to video
Easily record your voice-overs with its perfect sound effects
Split functionality that allows you to slice your video footage into two or more separate video clips
Playback your clips in reverse and adjust the speed for fast or slow motion
Select the best aspect ratio for your video
Advanced camera to create emoji selfies and other video beautification
Directly share your videos to social media sites like YouTube and Facebook.

Check out the steps to edit your video with Filmora on your iOS device

Step 1. Download and install Filmora
For iOS devices, go to the “Apple Store” to download and install the app. Also, allow it to access your videos, camera, and pictures in the process.

Step 2. Import video
You may already have a video in your library that you wish to upload to YouTube. Nonetheless, you can shoot a video afresh to add. To shoot one, you need to settle on a topic before recording and downloading other images you may need. Ensure you watch what you are filming and use adequate lighting during the shooting process.

Next, begin to import your video file. Just open the application and select the “Create new video” option. Then choose the “Video” icon and select a folder that contains the video to be added. Hit the “Add” button from the bottom right corner.

Step 3. Edit video
Filmora has several editing features to make your video better. Use the “Edit tools” feature to turn your video into an impeccable piece. Easily add filters, adjust the speed, or create subtitles, among other functions. You can also split, trim, or delete the unwanted clip parts.

It is important to add a title and description to your video. Just use the “Titles” button to add the title. Other precepts that you can add include transitions, sound like voice-over,

Step 4. Export and share
You’ve just finished creating and editing your video. Click on the “Save” tab and let the application export your video. Then select the “Save to Camera Roll” option to save the video to your iPhone. Finally, you can upload and share the video directly to your YouTube account.

Conclusion

● However, it appears to be a difficult task; you must have found relief after going through these procedures. You don’t need prior knowledge on how to upload a video to YouTube from your iPhone. Several options are at your disposal. You can use the Safari, YouTube app, or the Photo app to upload your videos. The better part is that you can create top-notch videos with Filmora. This mobile video editing app has a lot to offer, ensuring quality content.

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