Posted on by Terry White

A real tripod mount for your iPhone

More and more I'm seeing the iPhone being used for some serious photography applications and workflows. Don't laugh, it's true. Chase Jarvis published an entire book of photos captured with nothing but an iPhone. Now that the iPhone 3GS does video, I'm even seeing Steadicam rigs. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not all that impressed with the iPhone as a camera. It's OK! It's fine for the occasional snapshot and of course in the words of Chase, the best camera is the one you have with you. A while back I reviewed an iPhone App by Joby called Gorillacam that allowed you to do timed captures. Here's another App that tries to be the only photography app that you'll need and even adds video capture to the iPhone 3G. With these apps that can do video capture and time lapse photography, the next thing you're going to want is a way of mounting your camera on a tripod. While I love the Gorillapod series, the only way of using one with the iPhone is using their specific Gorillapod Mobile. Well not anymore! The good folks at G Design have come up with the perfect solution. The U+3G is a holder for your iPhone 2G or 3G/3GS that has a standard tripod mount on the bottom. This of course will allow you to mount your iPhone on ANY standard tripod that you already have. 

On its side

The U+3G Holder is great for video blogging and video messaging

Since the iPhone doesn't have a front facing camera, this is a great solution for recording product demos, video blogs or simply recording video messages to send to friends and family. Also since the iPhone 3GS' video recordings are only limited by available storage space, this is great for doing longer videos say of a meeting or a lecture. The more I think about it, the more I would use my iPhone 3GS in these ways if I didn't have to actually hold it. I have tripods of all sizes including small pocket sized table top tripods like this one. Having this holder with a table top tripod makes for an awesome combination. 

The Bottom Line

The U+3G is a great little accessory for the iPhone Digital Photographer and is now a permanent addition to my camera and computer bags. My only area for improvement would be a little adapter for tilt. Granted bigger tripods can already do this, but many of the smaller tabletop models don't So a little L adapter would be a nice to have.

Get the U+3G holder here for $8.95 plus shipping. I'll also have some of these on hand at Photoshop World this week and I'll be giving them away to some of my lucky twitter followers.

 

Attention iPhone wielding Photographers

You might want to check out this App for Photographer Contracts (model releases) that allows you to create, edit, customize and sign Contracts/Releases right on your iPhone.

15 Replies to “A real tripod mount for your iPhone”

  1. Fantastic!! With the UStream facility for the iPhone this little mount has arrived just at the right time.
    Looks pretty good too.

    Thanks for sharing this Terry,
    All the best, Glyn

    1. I agree that a side mount would be optimal, please note that this grip holds the iPhone pretty tightly (I actually have to use effort to get it out. Holds it securely even upside down), so you should be fine using a tripod/head that tilts.

  4. It would be wonderful if you could leave the iphone connected to the usb cable for charging while mounted.

    1. Uhm, yes, you can insert the iPhone, the other way around, so you can charge and keep it mounted on a tripod and take photos.

      1. I’m not sure that will work. I would have thought the camera lens would be covered up by the holder.
        Terry can you tell us if this is true or not?

        1. There is a slot on the back for the lens to see through when it is in this reverse position (I wondered what that was for?). So yes, you can charge and mount the iPhone at the same time this way.

  5. I checked today and they don’t have any current plans to design a new model for the thinner iPhone 4!

      1. Hi Jason,

        I checked out that page, and in the Q&A section, the vendor says that it’s intended for the HTC Incredible and the iPhone 4 is not compatible. Despite that, your photo shows that your’s fits. How secure is the fit. Does it put a lot of pressure on the iPhone?

        The vendor doesn’t say if the mount detaches from the mini-tripod, in case I want to use it on another tripod. Does it separate, and does it use a standard 1/4″-20 thread?

        Thanks,
        Walter

  8. How cool is this, been looking for something like this for a while. Only issue is the price is now $9.95 and not $8.95 like stated in the post. Good find regardless

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