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 CHARGER2. TRIPOD MOUNT3. ANTI-GRAVITY CASE4. SELFIE RING LIGHT5. DIRECTIONAL MICROPHONE6. LENS SET7. FILMMAKING RIG8. FILMMAKING RIG9. 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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The Do’s and Don’ts of Submitting 4K Content to YouTube

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Many people have a strong desire to make videos. Whether you make videos for a living or as a pastime, it doesn’t matter. When you make a fantastic film that you’re pleased with, you want to show it off to your friends and family. YouTube, the most popular site for sharing videos on various themes, is one of the most incredible places to start.

YouTube is fantastic for sharing videos, but it can be harsh on artists due to the high bar for content and video quality. If you want to succeed as a YouTuber, you must create videos that are informative and high-resolution. This is critical since your viewers may wish to watch your movies on a computer screen or a 4K smart TV.

If you’ve decided to make videos in 4K resolution, you’ll find information on recommended encoding settings, how to upload a video to YouTube, potential problems, and more below.

What Is The Distinction Between Various Resolutions?

The number of pixels on a screen is referred to as resolution. Low resolution indicates fewer pixels and typically less space, whereas high resolution means more pixels and generally greater space and detail. You probably have a poor resolution if you’re using a standard laptop or an old screen.

When watching a video on a larger screen, the resolution significantly impacts your viewing experience. Whether it’s a live stream or an on-demand movie, the correct resolution is crucial to reaching a wider audience, and this is where iPhones and iPads appear to have an advantage. Let’s take a closer look at each of these resolution types and their associated pixel sizes.

1. SD RESOLUTION (STANDARD DEFINITION)

Previously, resolutions were separated into SD (Standard Definition) and HD (High Definition) categories. SD was defined as a video with a resolution of less than 720p. However, as television and computer monitor display resolutions improved over time, a video was less likely to be shot in Standard Definition.

The following are the most common standard video resolutions:

640 × 360 pixels (or 360p)
640 × 480 pixels (or 480p)

2. RESOLUTION: 720P HD (HIGH DEFINITION)

The lowest video resolution is 720p, which is commonly referred to as ‘HD.’ 720p (1280 x 720 pixels) is a resolution recognized for modest web content, even though most videos require at least 1080p. Because most computer monitors are now in HD, the recommended practice for web and streaming is to choose a resolution higher than 720p.

The resolution of HD videos is usually: 1280 x 720 pixels (or 720p)

3. 1080P FULL HD RESOLUTION

1080p resolutions, also known as ‘Full HD,’ have become the industry standard for a clear HD video that doesn’t take up a lot of storage space. It’s also worth noting that this is the standard screen resolution for all smartphones.

The resolution of full HD videos is usually: 1920 x 1080 pixels (or 1080p)

4. 2K RESOLUTION WITH QHD (QUAD HIGH DEFINITION)

Quad HD resolution, or QHD for short, is widely found on high-end smartphones and gaming monitors. The resolution of 1440p is four times that of HD Ready (or 720p HD). Many high-end smartphones have a Quad HD+ resolution (296 x 1440 pixels), which is ideal for 1440p. Another common screen resolution is 2K, which allows for larger displays and reframing without sacrificing quality or image editing.

The resolution of QHD and 2K videos is:

2560 x 1440 pixels in QHD (or 1440p)
2048 x 1080 pixels in 2K (or 1080p)

5. 4K (OR UHD/ULTRA-HIGH-DEFINITION) RESOLUTION

This sort of resolution, often known as 4Kor UHD (Ultra High Definition), has a pixel size of 3840 x 2160 pixels. It has a similar appearance to 2K, but it provides video artists more room to edit and zoom in. For vivid color, graphics, or dramatic viewing, both 2K and 4K resolutions are available. Unless you wish to tweak colors or trim in closer, there aren’t enough visible distinctions between 2K and 4K. So, it matters when you want to change a certain detail, but it doesn’t matter when someone else is looking at it.

The resolution of 4K videos is: 3840 x 2160 (or 2160p / simply 4K) is a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels.

Why Would You Want To Upload A 4k Video?

YouTube is the second-largest social media site, with approximately 1.9 billion monthly active users. YouTube is where you want to be to access this large audience and promote your brand, with one billion hours of video watched every day on the platform.

However, for your target audience to watch your videos, you must ensure excellent video quality. Poorly shot or edited films may alienate your viewers, especially when there are billions of other videos to choose from on the site.

4k is the most satisfactory resolution for uploading to YouTube. Although not every viewer can watch videos in 4k, it ensures that your visitors get the best possible experience.
Traditional Full HD (1920 x 1080) TVs feature four times as many pixels as 4K TVs. Because of the higher pixel density, the picture quality of 4K TVs is more colorful and detailed, even on TV displays of the same size. This distinction is most noticeable on large-screen televisions.
Even if you recorded in 1080p and upscaled to 4K, you should post in 4K to YouTube for the finest image quality. Recording in 1080p, editing in 1080p, exporting in 4k, and YouTube viewing is sharper in 1080p.
With 4K, you get stunning visuals with a resolution of 38402160, which is four times that of Full-HD. That’s why visuals appear crisp and lifelike, even on large-screen TVs rather than pixelated. Down-converted 4K to Full-HD photographs have superior quality and resolution than images shot in Full-HD from the start.

What Is The Best Way To Upload A 4k Video To Youtube?

The YouTube upload process is not complicated, but it does need several steps. You can finally post your video once it has been prepared and converted to MP4 format.

Follow the steps below to post your video to YouTube:

1. Go to YouTube.com in your browser.

2. Log in to your account and click the “Create” symbol, which looks like a camera with a plus sign, in the right corner of the menu bar.

3. Select “Upload video” from the drop-down menu.

4. Drag and drop your video file into the upload box, or select your file from the “Select File” menu and click “Open.”

5. Make a note of the title and description while YouTube is processing your video.

6. Select a video thumbnail from the options or upload your own and select your “Audience” from the drop-down menu. To manage age restriction settings.

7. Select “More Options” to add searchable keywords to your video, manage subtitles and comments, and more.

8. Select if you want to add promotions to your video by clicking “Next.”

9. Finally, click “Next” and wait for the video to be processed entirely before publishing it.

10. You can also automatically set it to publish at a later date.

Tips On How To Make Sure The Video You’re Uploading Is Of High Quality

The following are five tips for amateur and top newbie YouTubers who want to improve their videos.

1. Cut Your Video Into Clips And Organize It

While it may appear to be the simplest solution to perform an entire video at once, this might make the process tedious or even damage your video if you are interrupted or make a speech error. Smaller video segments are easier to edit and blend into a single, well-formatted video.

2. Youtube Video Export

You can also modify your videos in various formats to your heart’s content before exporting them to YouTube and publishing them. Although uploading and exporting may take some time, the quality of your video will significantly increase, and the time and work you put in will be evident.

3. Change Up Your Shots

Rather than keeping your camera fixed, try varied angles while shooting. This may not work for all of your videos, but it is critical to keep your viewers engaged while they watch them, especially if you want them to stay until the finish and come back for more. Unless you’re talking about anything incredibly essential, sitting and listening to someone talk for more than 10 minutes without the camera moving will quickly become dull or old.

4. Transitions And Effects

When editing a video with numerous parts, the use of effects and transitions can considerably impact the overall quality of the video. Filmora is far more sophisticated than Windows Movie Maker and iMovie on Mac. It also allows you to create a professional-looking YouTube video with hundreds of presets such as filters, overlays, components, transitions, and blending several layers of effects and audio to enhance your YouTube tale.

Wondershare Filmii is one of the greatest choices for Windows for beginners who wish to create video footage with templates automatically. Smart video templates, trendy filters and overlays, fun stickers and motion components, and, most importantly, advanced editing capabilities are all available.

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Conclusion

● This is pretty much everything we’ve gathered to assist you in uploading 4K videos to YouTube. Do not become worried. Your 4K video will be in low resolution when you first publish it. This is due to YouTube’s high-resolution processing requiring time. It could take a few hours for your video to be available in 4K mode.

● The duration, format, frame rate, and resolution of your video all affect the processing time for high-definition videos. If you don’t want your video to be seen unless it has a high-quality option, upload it as unlisted and then publish it once 4K resolution is available.

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If you’ve decided to make videos in 4K resolution, you’ll find information on recommended encoding settings, how to upload a video to YouTube, potential problems, and more below.