Is Beastgrip the best grip? Smartphone grips and rigs for your iPhone

Beastgrip – smartphone grips and rigs for your iPhone

Smartphone photography and cinematography can be improved greatly by adding extra stabilization to your phone. Using a gimbal can be great for filming smooth moving shots. And we’ve already listed the Best Smartphone Gimbals here. But gimbals can be tricky, the powered ones need regular charging and they can also break down easily.

Grips are sturdier, mostly cheaper and allow you to shoot more “hand held” style footage. For photography, you’ll get a more stable camera which means less motion blur in your photos. Because smartphones are so small, hand shake is more often a problem than with bigger cameras – so why not add a grip or rig?

With grips and rigs, they can also be useful for attaching other accessories, such as lights, tripods and microphones.

So what are the best ones out there?

1. Beastgrip

BEASTGRIP PRO Universal Smartphone Camera Rig – $139.99 from their own store. Claimed to be the world’s first universal lens adapter and camera rig system for smartphones. There’s an adjustable lens mount and spring loaded clamps to ensure secure grip and they say it will fit “virtually any phone on the market”.

Spring-loaded clamps secure a firm grip around the Smartphone. The ¼ screw mounts also work with professional photographic equipment – like tripods – and should be good enough for most situations.

The BeastGrip Pro also has an adjustable lens mount system (lenses are extra). Just move the lens slider into position over the Smartphone lens and fix it in place. The lens mount will fit any lens with a 37mm thread – for example, I have the 37mm Moondog Labs anamorphic lens for my Samsung S9.

Beastgrip also do a whole range of smaller grips, mounts and cages. Plus their own anamorphic lens adapter. They are expensive for what they are, in my opinion. But head over to their shop to browse what’s on offer.

For example, the Beastclamp ($59.99). With a durable anodized aluminum construction, rail slider, two built-in cold shoe mounts, many 1/4″-20 mounts and detachable handle. Useful for mobile journalists, vloggers and people who like to keep things small and compact.  As with other grips, you can add a tripod, LED light, microphone. Or you can simply use it as a grip for hand held shots.

2. Zecti

The Zecti Smartphone Video Rig does a very similar job to the Beastgrip. Some might say an identical job, for a good less of the cost.

There’s two built-in hot shoes and seven 1/4 thread holes around the rig, so it can support most photography and video-making equipment. For example, led light, microphone, tripod or slider (none of the extras – like mic, light and lens – in the picture are included). It also takes 17mm and 37mm thread lenses.  It’s adaptable for most smartphone models including iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, Samsung and Huawei – with or without protective cover.

With 2 standard hot shoe mounts, you can add lighting and microphone attachments.

You might expect such a cheap alternative to the Beastgrip to fall apart quickly or have build issues. Here it is with my Samsung S9 and Moondog Labs anamorphic lens mounted. Feels solid, build is good, don’t see any problems with it. The phone mounted very easily in 5 seconds.

Check Price of Zecti on Amazon

3. ULANZI

The ULANZI U Rig Pro Smartphone Video Rig is another low cost alternative to the Beastgrip. It has 3 standard hot shoe mounts and 2 universal 1/4″ threads, so you can mount the whole thing on a tripod if needed.

It’s compatible with most iPhones, Samsungs, Huaweis – indeed most smartphones, with or without a case (from 2in to 3.5in wide).

Check Price of Rig Pro on Amazon

Ulanzi also do a simple tripod mount and one handed grip. So you can mount your phone and mini mic, then either mount to the tripod or hold it in one hand. With the folded length of 106mm, width 38mm and weight of only 86.8g, this compact grip can be carried in easily in your pocket.

Check Price of ST-03 on Amazon

4. Neewer

The Neewer Smartphone Filmmaker Grip with tripod and cold shoe mount. Just a simple one hand grip which you can hold or mount to your tripod. Works with any cellphone with a width between 2-3.6 inches (50-92mm). Add a light or mic to the top.

Check Price of Neewer Smartphone Grip on Amazon

Neewer do all kinds of photography equipment, for DSLRs too. Including tripods, lights, smartphone lenses, microphones and more.

There’s also a Smartphone Holder – Bracket with 1/4-inch Tripod Mount which can switch from vertical to landscape.

Check Price of Smartphone Holder on Amazon

5. Fantaseal

The Handy Hand Grip Holder is a simple device which allows you to grip your smartphone more comfortably.

You can also switch between portrait and landscape. The clamp part is detachable so you can remove it and mount it to a tripod. Other than that, there are no options to mount lights or mics.

 

Check Price of Fantaseal Smartphone Grip on Amazon

They also produce the “Fantaseal 4-in-1 Smartphone Stabilizer C Shape Rig“.

Ideal for making low camera position videos. You can use it for your cell phone, DSLR, GoPro or a combination of those cameras. For example, if you wanted to use your smartphone as a monitor, you can mount it along with GoPro. A removable ball head tripod adapter can be used to attach LED lights or Microphones.

Check Price of C Shape Rig on Amazon

6. UBeesize

How about this fun looking rig from UBeeze?

This tripod-rig combo is a flexible phone tripod which comes with two extra detachable arms. With 5 bendy legs instead of the regular 3, you can mount video lights or microphones to the 2 extra ones. The 3 tripod legs can be used as a tripod, wrapped round objects, or grouped together to create a hand-held grip. Also comes with a Bluetooth shutter remote, so you can take pictures and video from 30ft/10m distance.

Check Price of UBeesize on Amazon

7. Ztylus

The Ztylus Pistol Grip is similar to the Fantaseal above, except this one has a cold shoe mount on top to mount a light or mic on top. A few dollars more, but more sturdy and will mount to a tripod using the with the 1/4″-20 tripod mount on the bottom, if needed. It’s adjustable to fit almost any smartphone.

Check Price of Ztylus Pistol Grip on Amazon

You might also want to check out our suggestions for best smartphone tripods, as tripods and grips can sometimes be the same thing.

Smartphone Video – Beginner to Advanced

If you want to know more about smartphone filmmaking, my book Smartphone Videography – Beginners to Advanced is now available to download for members on Patreon. The book is 170 pages long and covers essential smartphone filmmaking topics:

Things like how to get the perfect exposure, when to use manual control, which codecs to use, HDR, how to use frame rates, lenses, shot types, stabilisation and much more. There’s also my Exploring the Film Look Guide as well as Smartphone Colour Grading.

Members can also access all 5 episodes of our smartphone shot Silent Eye series, with accompanying screenplays and making of podcasts. There’s other materials too and I will be adding more in the future.

If you want to join me there, follow this link.