Unless you’re shooting something for Instagram TV, you’ll always want to shoot in landscape orientation, since we watch most videos on a horizontal screen. When you add an external lens, you can distort, enhance, zoom, and capture shots that your iPhone camera simply can’t do alone. The Moment lens works with most iPhone, Pixel, and Galaxy phones. It is available in two lens types: the first gives you a frame that’s twice as wide and the second is a 170-degree fish-eye lens. Note: in order to use these lenses, you must also purchase the correct Moment Case for your phone. While you can purchase larger lighting kits that will certainly do the job with aplomb, if you’re using your phone to shoot, it’s probably because you want a portable, lightweight setup. The Lumecube is a super-bright, 1500-Lumen LED option that has 10 adjustable brightness levels. It can be controlled via Bluetooth on your phone and allows you to connect multiple cubes together. The Lumecube can be mounted to a tripod and has a battery that lasts for more than 2.5 hours. If you’ve got crew, or a larger budget, or want more control over the color temperature and tone of the film, I’d recommend the larger lighting kit. It’s better to capture the colors you want in the footage rather than fixing them in post-production. You’ll want to make sure you keep your shots steady, and for that, you’ll need a tripod. This Joby GorillaPod stand fits any smartphone and has flexible legs so you can quickly adjust your shot to multiple angles. You can even wrap it around poles to get interesting angles from any position. It’s not that tall, so if you want higher steady shots, you’ll want a more professional tripod setup. If you are going with the standard, larger tripod, you’ll need a mount that lets you attach your smartphone to the top. This tripod mount for your phone will do the trick. When you walk with the camera, your hand will be shaky and your viewers will feel uneasy. This is why gimbals were created. Good gimbals react to your movements, keeping the camera upright and steady. If you unintentionally start to change the angle of your arm, the gimbal reacts and keeps the lens upright. This way you can focus on the shot without having to worry about the shakiness. The DJI Osmo Mobile 3 is a lightweight option that uses built-in sensors and quiet brushless motors to keep your shot steady. The Osmo 3 has a built-in zoom slider. It’s also got an ActiveTrack function that helps you follow the subjects in your shot. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the shots are, if your audio is poor, it’s going to make your film unwatchable. An external microphone will help. The Shure MV88+ Video Kit records high-quality audio straight into your smartphone. It’s super lightweight and has a built-in headphone input so you can monitor the audio as you record. Plug the digital stereo condenser microphone directly into the lightning cable or USB-C port on your phone. The video kit includes the mic and a phone mount that fits around any phone. A standard mount allows it to easily attach to any tripod, including the miniature version that comes in the box. You can use Shure’s Motiv audio and video apps or choose something more familiar like the stock camera app or Apple’s Garageband. For smooth, sideways motion—or to move a shot closer or further from without a zoom lens—get a dolly. This one is made of carbon fiber. It’s only 39 inches long. Place it on an even surface or mount it to the top of your tripod.
