How to Build an iPhone Tripod Mount!
I just got the 3Gs iPhone Thursday and have been slavishly absorbed by it ever since. I bought it because of the camera upgrade, which I’ve been waiting for since the first gen was introduced. Over the past couple of years I’ve stubbornly resisted iPhone temptation until Apple lived up to my exceedingly high photographic expectations! But while the new camera, which also takes beautiful video, has exceeded those expectations, my ham hocks are constantly fumbling, pushing the camera forward to take the photo, pressing at the screen, dancing the camera around when it should be still. Many times I’ve longed for a tripod to take the edge off my jitters, but there is no tripod threading in the phone. I’ve looked online, but the only other thing I’ve found is a Gorilla solution, but nothing with a real tripod.
I was in Best Buy on Fathers Day looking for a case, car charger, etc., when I spied a Bracketron Dock-It cupholder mount kit - a device that clamps your eyephone (or any phone) on the sides and is mounted on a stock with a base that roots itself in your car’s cup-holder! Of course I had to have it. My new phone now rides high and secure, rather than sliding off the seat and skating around the empty MacDonald’s wrappers and spilled Diet Coke coating my car’s floor. I realized, if I could mate this stalk to a tripod, I’d have a pretty nifty iPhone solution!
I had a broken Nikon Coolpix lying around, so I tore into it and carved out the plastic tripod screw receptacle.
I then unscrewed the base of the Dock-It mount kit and was pleased to note the plastic was pretty thin and flat, and that there was plenty of empty space.
Then I drilled a hole in the plastic baseplate with a .25 inch bit, leaving enough room so the flat sides of the tripod screw receptacle could be glued down without hitting anything.
Next, I super glued the tripod screw receptacle to the baseplate, lining up the holes, so the screw would pass through the baseplate into the receptacle, pulling the two tight against the tripod. Then I just smothered it in glue and let it dry.
Next, base plate was reattached and Voila!, tripod ready!
This rig can be used for almost any camera phone, one size fits all. My poor cast-off Sony Ericsson candy bar camera phone fit quite snugly! Maybe someone already offers this tripod mount for sale somewhere - I don’t know. I did an exhaustive search for as long as my limited attention span would allow, about an hour, and couldn’t find anything, so I just made one myself.
NOTE: Since I wrote this up, my monstrosity has been reviewed by iPhone Savior! Read the review HERE.
