Ahoj! Here's the story. The Moment case for iPhone 13 pro has been postponed for shipment once again
and now it's pushed back till the end of December and I really want to film with variable ND filter
with this phone and other lenses and all that now. Not in the future, I want to use it now.
Well, I remembered that Smallrig makes cages for smartphones so I reached out to them to
see if by any chance Smallrig cage is ready for iPhone 13 pro. All I wanted was this
cage and that's just the beginning. I had no idea what I'm going to get myself into.
I had no idea what's coming on my head. Well, I'm going to change plans in today's video and
I'm going to take this bare phone, naked phone and I'm going to build full smartphone filmmaking kit,
smartphone vlogging kit, the whole rig. This is going to be very interesting. And just for those
wondering, they also make smaller cages for other phones as well. I've got some good news in today's
video and I unfortunately have some bad news as well and I might need little help from you.
And for the new faces, welcome. My name is Zdenka Darula. This channel is all
about photography and video tutorials, tech reviews, camera challenges and hidden giveaways,
if that's something you're interested in, consider subscribing. Bare phone is right here. By the way,
for those wondering, I'm not being paid for this nor I'm being told what to say. I'm gonna be
pretty open and honest and I'm gonna share my opinion about all these items. Thank you
Smallrig for providing all the items. All of it is listed below the video in a video description.
I am going to start with the base and that would be this Smallrig cage. The material is aluminum
alloy. Inside it's a soft layer from silica gel which makes it very nice tight fit for the phone
and it is shock absorbent so it's going to be well protected if you're gonna drop the phone.
Like you're not gonna drop the phone right? You don't wanna drop the phone.
Then it should really be able to take the hit no problem. It should protect it. Also
the lenses will be protected quite well even though this is made of metal. It's actually
pretty light. It weighs only 87 grams. This is how you open the cage. Let's slip in the phone
and lock it. You have all access to all ports, all buttons are functioning. Each side gives you
many options to attach all kinds of accessories such as lights handles,
microphones and tripods. In the back is soft rubber, nothing is blocking your lenses. Here
you can attach M-mount lenses or 17 millimeters threaded lenses. The phone gets certainly bigger
and a little bit heavier and it's looking already heavy duty. It's certainly made for filmmaking but
I'm eager to take it actually to a store somewhere and pull it out on my purse and
see what kind of looks I'm gonna get. I'm going to show options for both handheld filmmaking and
also gimbal filmmaking but first let's start with handheld option. And a lot of people who prefer
handheld filmmaking like Maddie, right? To make filmmaking more comfortable you can add a side
handle also made from aluminum alloy. This has also options for mounting more accessories on
the top. You can choose how you want to put it together. Just loosen the screws right here
and you can slide it up and down, you can move it here and then tighten, then you attach it to
the cage. I mounted it here and that's what works for me. And then you just walk around
and this is the bare minimum you can start vlogging already, recording yourself. If you need
to stop and record something scenic, you can just put your other hand here for more stable shots.
And this is still just a bare minimum. Let's add more. Sound is equally important as picture
and many beginners don't really concentrate on sound. All they want is great video.
Can you keep a secret? I was one of them too. I didn't really care about the sound. All I
wanted is great video and then my subscribers very quickly straighten me up. So they included
actually a microphone in this kit. Simoor wave s1 lite. It's a cardioid condenser microphone.
I'm going to display all specs on the screen. The microphone comes with a suspension mount foam,
windscreen, furry windshield, 3.5 millimeters camera cable and another cable is for smartphones.
Carrying back is also included and of course user manual. For iPhone you also need to buy this
little audio adapter. The microphone is actually quite small. I'm gonna play you the sound from
this microphone a little bit later in this video. There are two options for mounting this
microphone. One would be directly mounting it to the cage right here. If you are filming yourself,
you are pointing it towards you and if you record something in that direction and you want the
sound, you will obviously mount the microphone the opposite way. Now the second option would be
adding another accessory which is this mini top handle. It's got cold shoe mount with anti-off
button so you can attach a microphone here or led light. You can use this also for mirrorless
camera like the Canon M6 Mark ii I have. I use Smallrig cage on it as well so I can attach it
right there. This front part is accessory mount for something like monitor holder. I'm going to
add this to my smartphone and mount the microphone on top. Now the setup is starting to get a little
bit bigger here and you've got a good picture, you got good sound and it's already looking quite
serious. You can be walking around and comfortably vlogging and recording your daily life but
this is far from finished. They also included it and this kit Smallrig table top mini tripod
with panoramic ball head also aluminum alloy built equipped with standard swiss arca plate.
Working height is 113 millimeters. This is also for small mirrorless cameras. Ball head
maximum payload is 2 kilograms. Tripod without the ball head can handle up to 20
kilograms. Let's attach it to the smartphone. Cage got bigger once again.
This is quite comfortable actually for vlogging. This is pretty good. You can use it like that, the
tripod and if you're gonna be filming something scenic where you need to stabilize it further,
then we'll put your hand here and there and I can already see that I have a lot more control.
It's definitely more stabilized. So if I'm gonna be filming handheld, this could definitely work.
But that's not finished yet. If you're gonna be filming in the dark, you will need a light.
Yeah, they also included that. Simorr vibe p96 led video light. Color temperature is
between 2700 and 6500 kelvin. Color rendering index is 95, maximum power consumption is 5W.
Battery capacity is 2200 mAh. It has 96 lamp beats and it can be operated in temperatures ranging -10
to 50 degrees Celsius. It's very easy to use. Just press the power button here and then you will
be turning this wheel to make it stronger or to make it lighter. And then if you press and now you
turn, you make that light either cooler or warmer. That's all. Let's move the microphone from the top
handle to other spot and let's add the light to the top. Let's throw anamorphic lens on this
and here's your ultimate handheld vlogging filming kit or rig. So this is the handheld film
making smartphone filmmaking rig, this whole setup. And congratulations, this is uh this
is it you're gonna be walking like this around for the rest of your life with the phone. And
now all you have to do if you want your phone to unplug the microphone,
open the cage and just nicely slide your phone out. And you leave this at home
and it's ready for next time you need it. And then when you need it, you just
slide in the phone like this and it is nice and tight fit,
close the cage, attach the microphone and you are ready to rock. Today was supposed to be my
day off but when you look outside and it's like this, everything is covered beautifully white,
you have to grab the camera and you just need to go. So today I'm testing out this whole setup.
I'm actually recording myself on a smartphone and with Sony A7SIII so you will see me 2x,
just so you get behind the scenes a little bit of how this vlogging setup looks like. I'm taking a
little bit on a tour showing you this place in our town and right now I'm actually filming with the
Filmic Pro app Double Take and I'm filming everything ahead of me and also filming myself,
not walking very softly right now because I just want to get there quick. It's cold.
This is the look you're going to get if you're going to be using this
little setup and here is our gorgeous place there which is locked right now.
That was a very cool handheld filmmaking kit. Now as I was taking everything
apart just to leave this cage on the phone, I actually thought to myself,
wow when I was little, when I was growing up, we had a black and white tv at home. We were watching
black and white tv at home and look where we are now these days.
Just mind blowing. So now I am in my original plan only having the cage on a smartphone. I'm a gimbal
person so I wanted the cage so I can attach lenses and filters and mount it on a gimbal and go film.
Now, I got 3 gimbals here. Just to let you know that the total weight of the phone with the
Smallrilg cage right now is 303 grams and that's without any VND filters, CPL filters without any
lenses, nothing like that. So I know that we are all extremely excited about the new Zhiyun Smooth
5 gimbal and you are all asking me non-stop when I'm gonna be publishing in-depth review on this
gimbal. I am checking daily and the buttons are still not working with this app, it's still not
connected, it's not finished. So we have to wait a little bit longer. We just need to be patient.
Once it's all finished and working properly, then I will do in-depth review. Unfortunately,
we cannot use Zhiuyn Smooth 5 gimbal with this Smallrig cage and a smartphone because the maximum
payload is 300 grams and this is already exceeding without any lenses. This is 303 grams. This setup
for that gimbal, if you want to use lenses and VND filters, you do need to wait for the Moment
thin case which is going to be shipped out at the end of December. So I have 2 other gimbals
which are a lot stronger and they can handle this Smallrig cage, iPhone 13 pro extra lenses
and filters. First gimbal I have here which is stronger and has maximum payload 900 grams would
be Moza mini P. That one has also dedicated Moza Genie app for smartphone filmmaking.
However, you can absolutely film in other apps such as Filmic Pro, native camera app,
Protake or Moment app for example. You can switch the gimbal modes directly on the gimbal. It's a
little bit time consuming to balance the gimbal and every time you're going to change something
like add filter or at lens, you have to rebalance it again. There is one more suitable gimbal which
I have here literally only for two days and that would be Zhiyun crane M3. This one is very tiny
but can handle lots. Maximum payload is 720 grams. And for those wondering, yes I will make in-depth
review on that gimbal, but I need two weeks because I need to really study it first and
connect it to my Canon and Sony and do a whole bunch of tests. So this one is the same thing as
the Moza mini P. The setup requires rebalancing after any change as well. I'm finding that the
balancing was a little bit easier than on Moza mini P and is a little bit smoother. However,
it does not have a dedicated app for smartphone filmmaking. This gimbal has ZY play app
which is more for mirrorless cameras. So you would use this gimbal to stabilize your footage but
you would be filming in other apps. Again Filmic pro, Protake, Moment or native camera app.
Lenses and filters are next and that's where I ran into a little bit of a trouble. Lenses are
very straightforward. Absolutely no issue there. I have here anamorphic lens with an nd filter,
I have a tele lens where I can add filter as well, even a macro and I do have filter
for that as well. Those fit very nicely with the Smallrig cage. I ran into a trouble with
filters. I use 52 millimeters variable ND filters and CPL filters and for that I'm actually using
the filter adapter which is made by Moondog labs. It's this one, is the version one. The original
version one. They are not making it anymore. They have now different version.
I placed it on the iPhone 13 pro and sadly I realized that this area here is not cut out
enough. Because the cameras are bigger on iPhone 13 pro. I was using this with iPhone 12 pro. It
was working no problem. So I'm seeing it as I am filming with ultra wide angle lens, so it's not
good solution for iPhone 13 pro. On top of it, there is a rubber on the Smallrig cage right here.
So the fit is extremely tight. So tight that I had a trouble to take it off. So
I ordered the new version of this Moondog lab filter adapter. Hopefully it's going to get
here over the next few hours. Hopefully I can test it if it is going to work. I'm going to place it
in a description below the video, I'm gonna make notes there as well. I searched online otherwise,
I looked everywhere and I could not really find another phone adapter for 52 millimeters filters.
So if there's one of you or someone out there who is watching this video and actually has an idea
or knows what could work, feel free to comment it below the video in the comment section. Just the
name and the brand. Don't post links there because those are disabled, it's not gonna go through.
Besides the filter problem I'm facing right now, not the filter problem but the filter adapter I'm
facing right now, otherwise I think this is a very very cool setup and definitely very doable
heavy duty very high quality. Someone who loves big rigs and wants to build a monster kit like
that, I think would really appreciate this. Again, everything shown in this video is linked below in
the video description. Give it thumbs up if you found this video interesting and informative,
subscribe for more. If you have any questions, comments and the solution, please leave it below
in the comment section and I'll see you my friends in the next video. Cau... Ahoj.....