Today’s Question: I just read the article in the March issue of Pixology regarding time-lapse photography while using a smart phone. And here I didn’t even realize I had that feature on my iPhone. Question: Is there available on the market a “clamp” that can be attached to a regular tripod that will hold the phone? I have a regular tripod and two travel tripods of varying sizes, and would just as soon use those if possible.
Tim’s Quick Answer: The approach I’ve taken in this scenario is to employ a small tripod for the smartphone that has flexible legs. This type of miniature tripod can easily be attached to the ball head on a larger tripod, providing a secure platform for the smartphone.
More Detail: There are, of course, a variety of approaches you could take when it comes to making use of a tripod for a larger camera to also provide a platform for a smartphone. I find that the most flexible option (no pun intended) is to make use of a miniature tripod with flexible legs for the smartphone, which can then be attached to a variety of different objects, including a larger tripod.
A miniature tripod for a smartphone is convenient for a variety of reasons, and so I will generally carry such a tripod on most trips. Of course, in most cases I will also be traveling with a larger tripod as well as a digital SLR or other camera. By simply adding a miniature tripod to my camera bag, along with a normal tripod, I have greater overall flexibility.
I can use my normal tripod with my larger camera, of course. And I can use the miniature tripod for more casual scenarios when capturing photos or videos with a smartphone. Even better, I can essentially combine the two tripods to provide a taller platform for the smartphone.
In many cases I will actually use the smartphone to capture time-lapse videos, rather than capturing a sequence of still captures with my normal camera. You can view a recent example featuring several time-lapse videos I captured while on a ship transiting the Panama Canal on my YouTube channel here:
There are a wide variety of miniature tripods with flexible legs that work well for just about any smartphone. One option that I’ve made use of can be found here: