Film & Photo Grip Kit – Best Filmmaking Accessories
In the past, if you wanted a number of lights to shoot a scene, you needed a big car to carry them and trained crew to operate. In fact, when we shot Kosmos it was the lighting equipment that took up most space in our kit van. But now, lights are becoming smaller and more portable.
In part, this is to meet the needs of vloggers and YouTubers. If you are shooting on the fly with a smartphone, action cam or other small camera, you need small, portable lights that can fit in a backpack. So check out our list of best small lights for filmmaking.
But once you have the lights, you’ll need a way to mount them around the scene. Again, we don’t want to spoil the portability of our kit by having to lug around big stands. So what other options are available?
Of course, we can mount a small light on top of a camera. But this isn’t ideal for many lighting situations, or if you want to move the camera. We often want to place lights are the sides of our subject for fill or back lighting.
So let’s look at some small items which can be used to place our lights.
Spring Clamps
Simple spring clams are cheap and can be picked up online or at your local hardware store. They’re and allround useful item to have on set. You can use them for clipping filters, small lights, cables and so on.
Strong metal ones are good for lights and cables, while small plastic ones can be useful too. Clip costume, props, lavalier cables and more. Basically, there are times when something needs to be clamped, clipped or generally held in place.
Find Spring Clamps on AmazonCAMVATE Super Clamp
While spring clamps are quick to apply and can be used for many purposes, they do have limits. They’re not 100% secure and cannot do the job of more specialist grip gear.
There’s a number of “super clamps” on the market, but I really like this one as it is small, cheap and already has the 1/4″ mounting screw included. The clamp is very versatile with three different places to put the 1/4″ screw. This clamp is solid while also lightweight.
For those of us trying to keep our film or photography kit contained so we can carry it around ourselves, this is a useful little clamp.
Find CAMVATE Super Clamp on AmazonSMALLRIG Ballhead Clamp
Similar to the super clamp, but this clamp comes with a double ball head. This allows you greater flexibility when you need to set lights or microphones at specific angles. You can also mount a camera or portable recorder, for example.
Again, this clamp is inexpensive, small and lightweight. Very useful for keeping our filmmaking kit efficient and versatile. Comes with standard 1/4″ screw mount, while the clamp itself opens to 54mm.
Find SMALLRIG Ballhead Clamp on AmazonNote: both SmallRig and Camvate do a wide range of cheap clamps, grips, mounts, ballheads, magic arms and more.
Magic Arm
A magic arm clamps to a stand or other object and allows even more angle and placement options, for whatever you can find a way to attach to it. In general, this is usually kit like lights, cameras, microphones, monitors, reflectors and so on.
There are plenty of options available here, including from SmallRig and Camvate. This one is 11″ (28cm) and distributed either by pangshi or UTEBIT, depending on the territory. It has a solid build, which has the downside of making it a little heavy. However, for a magic arm you’d probably choose its durability over a lighter model.
The arm has a max load of 10kg, which is plenty for the purposes of small-kit filmmaking. Some of the cheaper ones have a max load of 2kg, which is quite a difference. Even though you might never overstep 2kg, it indicates the build quality.
Here’s one in action:
CAMKIX Flexible Gooseneck Arm
Essentially, a bar which bends capable of attaching objects to one end, while being fixed to something solid via the other end. The bendy arm provides rapid and instinctive positioning flexibility. This one is pretty affordable and, for smartphone filmmakers, comes with a few useful items included:
- Spring Clamp (D)
- Ball and Socket Joint with Tripod Connection (B)
- Universal Phone Holder (C)
- Flexible Gooseneck (A)
- Cleaning Cloth
But it’s not only for your smartphone. You can also use it to position lights, monitors, microphones and more. However, with that spring clamp holding the arm in place, there’s going to be a limit to how much weight you can place on the other end. The maximum it can hold is 400 grams.
The whole thing can be used in its individual parts too. For example, the spring clamp can be used on its own simply as a spring clamp. It also has a 1/4″ thread to mount a light or other kit item directly to the clamp. So this CAMKIX arm brings you a number on-set uses, while costing the price of a takeaway pizza.
Find CAMKIX Flexible Gooseneck Arm on AmazonCheck out our Full Smartphone Filmmaking KIT LIST.
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