The iPhone is an extremely effective filmmaking tool, with terrific features and stabilization but has a slippery body and nowhere to mount accessories like lights and mics.
So you could get a cage, and these work well. I have a SmallRig smartphone cage with all the cold shoes and screw thread mounting points I could ask for, but it’s not exactly compact and it does look a bit like something out of a Terminator movie.
But then I saw the Shoulderpod G2 and I just had to have one straight away. It looks as weird as heck, but it’s not very expensive and has some really clever design touches.
For a start, fixing your iPhone is easy. There’s a spring-loaded clamping lever that locks really tight with a solid ‘click’. When it’s in place you grip the ShoulderPod using the two vertical rectangular handles that form the sides. Need to swap from horizontal video to vertical video for social? That’s easy – there are no clamps or pivots and you just turn the ShoulderPod G2 on its side. It’s just as easy to hold that way, too.
There are six cold shoes, two on the top, three down one side and one on the other side. There are also two mounting points for accessories or attaching a QR plate for a tripod, one on the base, one on the side. This means you can mount accessories in the best positions for either horizontal or vertical shooting, and with a QR plate attached you can swap from tripod to handheld filming in a couple of seconds.
You might have to shop around a little to find a reseller that stocks Shoulderpods (I got mine from UK reseller CVP) but you can also buy direct from the Shoulderpod website.
Take a look at it online and see what you think. It’s probably not for everyone, but I think it’s just one of the cleverest bits of design I’ve seen in a long time.
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