If you’ve got a budding smartphone vlogger or content creator on your gift list, check out our Holiday Gift Guide: Affordable Smartphone Accessories for some suggestions to help them up their game. As smartphones become increasingly reliable devices for today’s creative mobile imagemakers, they’ll need some cutting-edge tech to keep up with them.
Zhiyun Smooth-X Smartphone Stabilizer
Zhiyun is best known for its industry-leading pro-level stabilization tech, and budget-conscious content creators can take note when the company turn its attention to the consumer marketplace with an affordable entry-level product like the Smooth-X smartphone stabilizer. It’s small enough and light enough to fit into a purse but packed with enough features to take your smartphone video to a whole new level. Three buttons conveniently located on the ergonomic handgrip give you nimble access to a host of functions, including built-in templates and special effects. The built-in tripod allows you to set it on a surface and use it hands-free, with gesture controls to let you start recording with a simple wave of the hand.
SmallRig L10 Portable Desktop LED Light with Phone Clip
If you know someone who’s livestreaming or performing similar functions with their smartphone, there’s lots to love about this amazing little portable LED desk lamp from SmallRig. The entire fixture collapses into the weighted base for easy transport, and the telescopic extension arm expands to a full 45cm when in use. The dual clamps can accommodate up to two smartphones or one tablet, and the ring light itself offers a versatile 3000K to 5500k colour-temperature range and 0 to 100% dimming. You can use it to illuminate a face or desktop product shots – it also serves as a convenient pocketable makeup light. The built-in 3600 mAh battery gives you plenty of runtime and can be recharged via the included USB-C cable. You can even leave it running when it’s plugged into a computer and conserve battery power.
DJI Osmo Mobile 6
DJI is another trailblazing pioneer in the realm of stabilization tech, and the Osmo Mobile 6 – aka OM6 – is another new product turning heads for all the right reasons. This gimbal boasts all-encompassing 3-axis stabilization: -161.64 to 173.79-degree pan range; -120.30 to 211.97-degree tilt range; -101.64 to 78.55-degree roll range. The spacious phone cradle accommodates devices up to 3.3 inches wide, and the magnetic phone holder makes for quick-and-easy mounting and unmounting. It’s easy to balance and shifts smoothly from landscape to portrait mode by a simple double-press of the switch button. Next-gen ActiveTrack 5.0 automatically keeps your phone facing you as you move around, and body-shape recognition now delivers accurate tracking of someone moving through the shot.
Rode WIRELESS GO II Wireless DUAL Microphone System
Audio quality is not always top of mind among budding content creators focused primarily on the visuals they’re aiming for, but you really can’t count on smartphone’s built-in mic if you want to ensure professional-sounding results. Rode, a leader in portable wireless audio systems, has the answer. The ultra-compact Wireless GO II consists of a dual-channel receiver and two transmitters that function as clip-on microphones – ideal for one-on-one interviews – and each transmitter has onboard recording capabilities and enough internal memory to store over 24 hours of compressed audio. Although it functions as an on-camera system, the Wireless GO II is perfectly suited for use with a smartphone: along with its standard analog 3.5mm TRS output, the Wireless GO II also features a digital audio output through the receiver’s USB-C port. (With an iOS device, you’ll need to use a USB-C to Lightning accessory cable; with an Android smartphone, you’ll need a USB-C to USB-C cable). This in turn leaves the 3.5mm output available for other things like headphone monitoring.
Nanlite PavoTube II 6C RGBWW LED Tube Light
Weighing in at just 260g and only 25cm in length, this highly portable RGBWW LED tube light is super-handy, amazingly versatile and surprisingly powerful. The built-in battery delivers enough juice to run at full power for up to an hour or up to 10 hours when running at just 1%. Magnets at both ends of the tube make it easy to snap onto a metallic surface, leaving it either hidden or exposed, and additional industry-standard 1/4”-20 mounts make it compatible with most existing photo and video fixtures. And this light really shines: with a CRI of 95 and a TLCI of 97, the PavoTube II 6C offers impeccable colour fidelity with a 2700K to 7500K colour temperature range and advanced green/magenta adjustments in CCT mode. The 15 built-in practical effects – including storm, fire and paparazzi – make it a useful prop for adding dramatic simulations to the scene.
