A cell phone tripod is a must when you want to stabilize a cell phone or smartphone for sharp images. Depending on your type of photography, your choice of a tripod will vary. The vast majority of cell phone tripods is made for taking fun shots and selfies, either frontal or at an angle. The small and compact tripods with flexible legs from such brands as Gorilla Pod are very popular since they can be adjusted to various even and uneven surfaces, they can be attached to bars, a wall, and they allow for limited angle adjustment, but no height adjustment. Be aware that when wrapping the legs around round objects it is often difficult to get a tight fit.
The larger cell phone tripods are basically the same as camera tripods: they have extendable legs, a quick release, and some models have a ball head or a pan head, turning your cell phone into a video camera. Height adjustment and panning action make this type of tripod more versatile and suitable for video recording. For still shots, both pan head and ball head tripods do the job. Some models include a smartphone mount, such as the one shown in the picture, or you will have to buy one that attaches to a tripod with a 1/4 in x 20 thread.
For overhead shooting, i.e., photographing an object vertically, directly from above, you need a horizontal camera mount that attaches to your cell phone tripod. This accessory is a simple and inexpensive solution when you want to improve your product shots for items that you plan to sell or catalogue. ALZO Digital offers different models the horizontal camera mount:
The ALZO Horizontal Camera Mount works best with a small or medium-sized cell phone tripod as it adds weight; we do not recommend using it with a Gorilla pod-style tripod as balancing and stability are not possible.
For professional product overhead photography with larger and heavier cameras, the ALZO Horizontal Camera Mount needs to be balanced with a counterweight, available with the HCM PRO model with counterweight.
