My iPhone Rig for Upcoming Shoot at DVinfo.net

Jeff Zimmerman · July 22nd, 2009, 09:10 AM

So there's a 48-hour Film Festival coming up that we've decided to attend. To add a unique "indie angle" to the whole project we decided to shoot it using an iPhone. Need support, some attachments and a way of getting audio into the iPhone. I've done my research and come up with this...

Things I used:

Spider Brace
Small Bracket (from a window blinds kit)
Macally mClip
Mini-AV cable
RCA to XLR
Hot Glue
and a screw

Additional: Hoodman H400 for outside shoots (tough to work with touch screen)

For the audio credit I found this link. I have to say it does work and I was able to get my field mixer to feed mono into my iphone. Monitoring audio on the iphone I was able to hear the audio "mono" on playback.

macosxhints.com - Use an external microphone with the iPhone

Quick reference to audio in case you don't click the link.

White/Black: Audio out (L)
Yellow: Audio Out (R)
Red: Mic level input
All are mono

Later I mounted a shoe mount on the underside of the Spider Brace for a light or super-directional microphone.

Overall very pleased and my colleagues are very excited about getting to use this rig. My next rig will be an attachment to my Flycam 5000 (Steadicam, Glidecam)

In the field we will be editing onsite importing the footage into FCP to insure that audio and sequence of shots is adequate.

Hope this helps give others ideas out there as to what's possible with your iPhone... What's amazing is you can now take your phone out of your pocket and start to make movies...

Jon Kon · January 20th, 2010, 08:09 PM

Thats a pretty sweet looking iPhone rig... makes me one to set one up!

Was that a belt clip attachment holding it?

Jeff Zimmerman · January 20th, 2010, 09:28 PM

Thanks Jon, yeah the rig definitely was a piece of work. It actually held together pretty well. However, we discovered in shooting our first scene that you can control the frame rate. In low light it would go as low as 15fps. So we ended up not using it. Instead we went with an HMC-150.

Later I actually took parts from this rig to mount it to my steadycam. Good times, lots of fun...

If you make your own I would be interested in checking it out.

Jon Kon · January 21st, 2010, 12:59 PM

Ah, 15fps is pretty choppy. HMC150 route is much better of course, but that would have been neat to see.

July 22nd, 2009, 09:10 AM	#1
Jeff Zimmerman Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton, Colorado Posts: 386	My iPhone Rig for Upcoming Shoot So there's a 48-hour Film Festival coming up that we've decided to attend. To add a unique "indie angle" to the whole project we decided to shoot it using an iPhone. Need support, some attachments and a way of getting audio into the iPhone. I've done my research and come up with this... Things I used: Spider Brace Small Bracket (from a window blinds kit) Macally mClip Mini-AV cable RCA to XLR Hot Glue and a screw Additional: Hoodman H400 for outside shoots (tough to work with touch screen) For the audio credit I found this link. I have to say it does work and I was able to get my field mixer to feed mono into my iphone. Monitoring audio on the iphone I was able to hear the audio "mono" on playback. macosxhints.com - Use an external microphone with the iPhone Quick reference to audio in case you don't click the link. White/Black: Audio out (L) Yellow: Audio Out (R) Red: Mic level input All are mono Later I mounted a shoe mount on the underside of the Spider Brace for a light or super-directional microphone. Overall very pleased and my colleagues are very excited about getting to use this rig. My next rig will be an attachment to my Flycam 5000 (Steadicam, Glidecam) In the field we will be editing onsite importing the footage into FCP to insure that audio and sequence of shots is adequate. Hope this helps give others ideas out there as to what's possible with your iPhone... What's amazing is you can now take your phone out of your pocket and start to make movies... Attached Thumbnails __________________ Jeff Zimmerman • Love what I do • Colorado + North America www.m3films.com

January 20th, 2010, 09:28 PM	#3
Jeff Zimmerman Major Player Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Brighton, Colorado Posts: 386	Thanks Jon, yeah the rig definitely was a piece of work. It actually held together pretty well. However, we discovered in shooting our first scene that you can control the frame rate. In low light it would go as low as 15fps. So we ended up not using it. Instead we went with an HMC-150. Later I actually took parts from this rig to mount it to my steadycam. Good times, lots of fun... If you make your own I would be interested in checking it out. __________________ Jeff Zimmerman • Love what I do • Colorado + North America www.m3films.com

January 20th, 2010, 08:09 PM	#2
Jon Kon New Boot Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Orlando, FL USA Posts: 13	Thats a pretty sweet looking iPhone rig... makes me one to set one up! Was that a belt clip attachment holding it?

January 21st, 2010, 12:59 PM	#4
Jon Kon New Boot Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Orlando, FL USA Posts: 13	Ah, 15fps is pretty choppy. HMC150 route is much better of course, but that would have been neat to see.