Today’s smartphones can do a pretty good job of capturing high quality video and clear audio, but sometimes the results can be disappointing. In low light your smartphone’s footage may suffer from chroma and luminance noise as the camera boosts the ISO to reveal more detail. Your smartphone’s mic might pick up unwanted audio from your environment, making it difficult to hear your voice clearly.
A handheld smartphone can capture wobbly and amateur looking footage as some YouTube channels and TikTok can feeds demonstrate. You can buy smartphone accessories such as tripods, LED lamps and plug-in mics from a range of suppliers but these tend to work independently from each other.
SmallRig’s All-In-One Video Kit provides a variety of ways to elevate the production values of your footage by using accessories that complement each other and work together in one comprehensive and cohesive rig.
If you want to know more about smartphone supports and accessories, check our guides to the best camera rigs, best iPhone tripods, best video lights and best iPhone microphones!
Specifications
LED Light parameters
Color Temperature: 2700K to 6500K
CRI: 95+
Brightness: 1100 lumens at 0.3 meters
Power: 5W
Microphone parameters
Polar pattern: Cardioid
Frequency response: 50Hz - 16kHz
Sensitivity: -38db+3dB
Weight of assembled rig: 1.42 Kg
Material: Aluminium Alloy
Compatible phone width: 62mm to 86mm
Key features
The All-In-One Video Kit is designed to elevate your smartphone's shooting abilities using a range of accessories. At its core is a sturdy aluminium cage that will accommodate a range of smartphones. Simply turn a screw to adjust the size of the cage’s clamp until you phone is securely mounted at the centre.
The cage has a range of screw threads and cold shoe mounts that enable you to attach the other accessories that ship with the kit such as two side handles and a small shotgun mic. The kit’s LED lamp adds a key light to make interviewees stand out more from their surroundings and it will add a sparkle to your selfie footage.
Build and handling
The kit’s LED lamp clamps onto either of the side handles thanks to a cold shoe adaptor and a screw. The two supplied Allen keys were too small to tighten the screw so we had to rummage around in a drawer to find a larger Allen key to secure the cold shoe adaptor to the cage. The LED lamp then slid into nicely into the cold shoe adaptor. You can adjust the strength of the light by rotating a control dial. Tapping the centre of the dial lets you rotate it to adjust colour temperature for a cooler or warmer light source.
The kit’s gun mic has a plastic shock mount which is designed to reduce camera handling sounds from spoiling your audio recording. It is set to a cardioid polar pattern so if you are talking to camera or interviewing a subject it will focus on the subject’s audio while keeping unwanted environment sounds to a minimum. Unlike many smartphone mics this one ships with a range of adaptors including a very welcome 3.5mm jack to lighting adaptor that enables you to plug it into newer iPhone models that no longer have a jack input. There’s also a supplied wool cover to help reduce the bane of all videographers – wind noise.
Last but not least is a sturdy mini desktop tripod that supports the whole rig when you’re not carrying it via the side handles. The tripod’s ball head enables you to rotate the rig to keep the horizon straight, or tilt it up if you’re recording a ‘to camera’ piece. You can also perform smooth pans with the tripod or lock it in place.
Performance
Unlike many of the plastic video accessories on the market, the SmallRig All-In-One Kit features some satisfyingly sturdy metal components such as the smartphone cage and desktop tripod. It also comes with an attachable power bank holder so you can shoot for a longer duration (though you need to supply your own power bank).
As the metal components are aluminium you can hold the relatively light rig comfortably, especially when carrying it via the two support handles. The handles also enable you to perform smooth moves such as pans, tilts and crane shots. On the downside the handles can rattle slightly despite being screwed in tightly which could occasionally cause some handling noise. On the whole this is not a major issue as our test video should demonstrate.
Given the built-in Optical Image Stabilisation of phones such as the iPhone 13 Pro Max you can use the rig to perform gimbal-smooth moves without worrying about running out of batteries. The mic and LED lamp also help give your smartphone extra help in capturing better looking and clearer sounding footage.
Verdict
This SmallRig All-In-One Video Kit should suit the needs of a range of content creators, especially wedding videographers who need to move quickly but smoothly around large groups of people.
As there are plenty of places on the smartphone cage to mount the tripod, mic, LED light and side handles you can set the rig up to film in both portrait or landscape orientations, making this kit perfect for TikTok’s vertical content creators or traditional horizontal widescreen movie makers.
