A tripod mount is one of the best purchases you can make to help stabilize your iPhone for clearer photography. It’s essential for long-exposure photography. Currently, there are still relatively few accessories available for the iPhone 5, and there are few options for mounting an iPhone 5 to a tripod.
The ANYCASE Phone Tripod Mount is a great accessory. This versatile piece of gear lets you easily mount an iPhone 5, iPhone 4s/4 or just about any smartphone to a tripod with or without a case. It’s a slick little device. Keep reading for my full review. >>>
The ANYCASE Phone Tripod Mount is precision machined from aluminum making it really sturdy, yet lightweight. The ANYCASE is larger than the popular Glif Tripod Mount
by Studio Neat, but not by much. It’s about 4.5″ long and the mounting screw makes it 1.375″ deep. ANYCASE is fairly low profile and will easily fit into a pocket, purse or backpack.
The ANYCASE is more than an iPhone 5 tripod mount. It’s designed to be a universal mount — it’s not limited to any one device, making it a great purchase if you have more than one type of phone in your household. Rather than a custom fit for only one style of iPhone, the design of the ANYCASE is more practical. Your phone sits in the frame and is held securely in place by simply a mounting screw to the back of the device. The ANYCASE has a has a 1/4″-20 thread that fits any standard tripod or camera mount.
The ANYCASE will fit any device up to about 2/3″ thick. We have a mix of iPhone 2G, 4 series and iPhone 5 phones here at the house — our collection spans the iPhone line. One of the things that I really like about the ANYCASE is that it not only works with any phone, but that it fits most iPhone cases as well.
While a “naked” (caseless) iPhone is a thing of beauty, I prefer the scratch and bump protection of an iPhone case. My current case is a cool, slim, rubberized Incipio case for my iPhone. A Glif mount would require me to slip my iPhone out of the case before using it. However, my iPhone and case fit nicely and securely into the ANYCASE mount. The ANYCASE mount also worked well with a Trygger iPhone 4 case and a Mophie Juice case which is fairly bulky and adds quite a bit of thickness to the iPhone 4. In fact, the only iPhone cases ever made that I can think of that wouldn’t work with this mount would be some of the very bulky OtterBox cases.
Protective rubber pad on the ANYCASE mounting tabs
“Won’t it scratch my iPhone?” Under normal use, no, it shouldn’t. When I first saw the Kickstarter project for this accessory, I was worried that this metal tripod clip would scratch and damage the case and screen of my iPhone. The ANYCASE uses three 3M rubber pads which not only provide a secure grip of your device, but also protect the screen and edge of the case from being scratched by the mount. The holding screw is nylon with a protective tip and didn’t scratch or damage my iPhone with normal use. The grip of the ANYCASE is at least as good a Glif. Because my Incipio case is rubberized, it actually felt more secure in the mount.
The ANYCASE blocks none of the iPhone’s buttons, lenses or flash. The Home button is easy accessible and both volume buttons are available unobstructed for use as shutter buttons with apps that support Volume Shutter. The two front mounting tabs block very little of the screen on an iPhone 5. UPDATE 01.06.13: ANYCASE have made a running change in the design, and now the iPhone 5 screen is completely unobstructed.
I really like the ANYCASE tripod mount and it’s become an essential addition to my camera bag. Its small size makes it easy to carry. It’s a solid, well-crafted piece that will not only work great for the iPhones and other smartphone cameras you use now, but its design makes it useful for a broad range of current and future devices. The ANYCASE is not quite as sexy as a Studio Neat Glif, but as a tripod mount, it’s a lot more versatile.
The ANYCASE Universal iPhone Tripod Adapter is $34.95 and is available from Amazon.com (Click here).
For more information and a great backstory, visit the ANYCASE website.
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Disclosure: Life In LoFi is an Amazon.com affiliate. We get a small spiff if you buy this accessory through this link which helps keep this blog going and is very much appreciated. That’s not the reason I recommend this accessory. I really like the ANYCASE. =M=
