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.

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Richard Bennett

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

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Building a YouTube channel isn’t a walk-in-the-park. As a content creator, you go toiling several processes to ensure its success. More so, you are probably building a brand and want people to know about your product or services. What about one easy way to remember the URL and share it with your potential subscribers? Besides sending such links to people, you’ll be reminding them to subscribe with just a click. And that’s YouTube auto-subscribe link. It is a more effective way than asking or directing to check your YouTube channel. They’ll probably not find it easy, maneuvering around numbers of other channels that bear names close to your channel. A visitor will quickly give up. You can save them the crap and engage more effectively.

Using a phone

First, open the YouTube app. Look for it on your phone’s home screen or search through apps.
Then sign in to your “Google” account for you to be able to subscribe to YouTube channels.
Next, locate the channel that you want to subscribe to. You can either subscribe from the channel home page or watch the channel video.
Tap on the “Subscribe” button. The text on the “Subscribe” button will immediately change to “Subscribed” once you hit the subscribe tab.
Finally, hit the “Subscriptions” tab to manage your channel subscriptions. You’ll also manage to see other latest updates from your subscription.
You can now easily manage your notifications. You now start to receive notifications of other new channels by default. It is possible to modify this by choosing “All,” “None,” or “Personalized” to determine how to get notifications.

Using a computer

First, visit the YouTube web page https://www.youtube.com in a web browser. The YouTube website will then be open.
Then sign in to your YT account. Remember, you must also be signed in to a Google account to subscribe to YouTube channels.
Browse for a channel and find what’s trending in the left-side panel of the screen.
Hit the “Subscribe” button to subscribe to a channel. Once you are subscribed, the Subscribe text button will turn grey and change to “Subscribed.”
View subscriptions by clicking the “three horizontal lines” found at the top-left corner of YouTube. You can also adjust your notification preferences to receive more or fewer updates from a channel.

1. Links will auto-prompt visitors to subscribe to your YouTube channel.

2. You can use the link anywhere and reach very many visitors.

3. It works automatically to boost your subscriber count.

Here are the steps to create YouTube auto subscribers’ links on your computer and mobile device.

Step 1. First, go to your YouTube Channel URL.
Step 2. Press on your “Profile,” then click on the “Settings” option in the drop-down menu.
Step 3. Next, click on the “Profile” picture and copy the URL link.
Step 4. Add your “YouTube” channel URL with an “Auto Subscribe Tag.” “YouTube channel URL + ?sub_confirmation=1 Then remove the Plus Sign in between to get a YouTube subscribe link.

Step 1. Launch the YouTube app on your mobile phone, then click on the “Profile” icon.
Step 2. Then go to the “Menu” tab and click on the “Your Channel” option.
Step 3. Select the “Share” option from the drop-down menu.
Step 4. Next, click on the “Copy link” of your YouTube Channel.
Step 5. Finally, add your “YouTube” channel URL with the Auto Subscribe Tag.

How to locate your YouTube Channel URL

Unfortunately, many people don’t know their YouTube Channel URL. Check out how to locate your URL.

Click on your “Profile” icon in the top-right corner of the YouTube page.
Choose the “Settings” option from the drop-down menu.
Next, hit the “Advanced” tab below your name.
Boom! You get your link.
Finally, combine your channel URL with the “Auto Subscribe” Tag.

● The formula: YouTube channel URL + “?sub_confirmation=1.” Remember to remove the parenthesis to get your auto-subscribe link.

As a content creator, you need to do more to add YouTube auto subscribers to your channel.

Use closed captions to improve accessibility

Including subtitles or closed captions can drive a larger audience to access your content. Some YouTube users have challenges, for example, the deaf or those with hearing problems. Creating a video and not considering this may limit such users from getting to your channel as they may not get all the needed information. Follow these steps to create subtitles or closed captions.

Sign in to YouTube Studio.
Then select the “Subtitles” option from the left menu.
Click on the video that you wish to edit.
Next, click on the “Add Language” button and select your language.
Go to the “Subtitles” section and select the “Add” button.
Finally, enter your captions as the video plays. It will enable viewers who find it challenging to understand your video in detail and probably hit the subscribe button.

Translate your video descriptions

YouTube is accessed worldwide and not necessarily by those who speak your language. You can increase the chances of subscribers by translating your video titles and descriptions to make them understandable to people from across the world. It will make your videos more discoverable and show that you care about those from other regions. Check out how to add translations to YouTube videos.

First, sign in to YouTube Studio.
Then go to the left menu and select the “Subtitles” option.
Choose the video in which you want to add the translations.
It would be best if you choose a language for your video. Click the “Confirm” button.
Then select the “Add language” option and choose the language you wish to translate your video into
Go to “Titles & descriptions” and select the “Add” tab.
Lastly, enter the translated description and hit the “Publish” button.

Use end screens for extra content promotion

An end screen call-to-action is essential in every video that you post on YouTube. They appear in the last 10 seconds and are useful in directing viewers to your chosen destination. Use them to direct a viewer to visit another channel, subscribe to your channel, or play another video. Here’s how to do it:

Firstly, sign in to YouTube Studio.
Then go to the “Videos” page and select a video to use.
Select the “Editor” tab from the left menu.
Next, choose the “Add an end screen” option to direct viewers appropriately.

Add a comment to your feed

This functionality is essential if many commenters repeatedly ask the same question. Besides, it will help you to boost engagement with a question.

Here are the simple steps on how to pin a comment to the top of your feed.

Go to your “Community” tab.
Then choose the comment that you wish to pin.
Click on the “More” tab > “Pin” option.

It is not necessarily true that YouTube auto-subscribe will subscribe to a new channel. However, some reasons may contribute to that. You may have realized that YouTube just subscribed you to random channels without asking you. Here are the possible reasons for that.

• Spinoff Channel
A content creator may decide to come up with a Spinoff channel. In this case, they may automatically subscribe you to their new channel. In most cases, such content creators want to promote their new channel.

• Check your extensions
One of your browsers may be playing tricks on your YouTube account. Extensions may change your browser’s settings and make the “Unsubscribe” option unavailable. Try disabling all of your browser extensions, then check back if YouTube still subscribes you to channels unknown to you. If so, solve the issue by uninstalling the specific extensions. These could be ad blockers or free VPN extensions.

• Someone else can hit the button
Do you share your computer with other fellows? The chances are that someone hit the “Subscribe” button without your consent. Just unsubscribe and keep watching next time.

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## Conclusion

● The internet arena is very competitive. It would be best if you did everything right to drive as many YouTube auto-subscribers as possible to your channel. And creating a YouTube auto-subscribe link is the first step to making things easier for your potential subscribers. We have covered how to create a YouTube subscribe link and shown other tricks to help you keep your viewers locked.

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