Best iPhone Camera Accessories for Pro Photos and Videos

SmallRig’s Mobile Video kit consists of multiple parts that come together to create a formidable shooting setup for your iPhone. Your phone slots into the main cage, which has bayonet mounting points for attaching third party lenses, including Moment’s excellent range of lenses including its infamous anamorphic lens (seen below). The kit also comes with a filter mount and an included variable neutral density filter which can reduce the amount of light coming in to help you shoot at more cinematic-looking shutter speeds using apps like BlackMagic Camera. 

The cage also has mounting points for other accessories, including tripod plates and cold shoe slots for attaching microphones or vide lights. The included side handles are great for helping you achieve sturdy, smooth-looking footage and have quick-release clamps to make it easy to dismantle your setup when you’ve got your shot. 

While all items in the kit can be bought separately, the whole kit offers a comprehensive setup to help you start shooting pro-looking footage with your iPhone. 

Anamorphic lenses are normally something you’d find in a professional cinematographer’s kit bag. These lenses provide a wider, narrower aspect ratio that you’d get from a regular camera lens, along with distinctive blue-line lens flares that give footage a much more filmic quality. Moment’s mobile anamorphic lens does exactly that for your iPhone.

Clip it on and it’ll squeeze your footage into the shorter, wider format that completely transforms the look of the video you can take from your phone. I’ve absolutely loved the look of my phone footage using the lens and it’s a must-have for any budding film producers wanting to up their game with their phone. 

You’ll need to shoot with apps like BlackMagic Camera that let you “unsqueeze” the footage so it doesn’t look all distorted on most cameras. The lens uses a bayonet mount that attaches to compatible cases, including Moment’s own ones or a variety of third-party options, including the SmallRig cage mentioned above.

Don’t want the anamorphic look? Moment also do a variety of other lenses from wide angle to telephoto options as well as a macro lens for getting up close shots on small details.

By using glass elements with hard angles cut into them, PolarPro’s LiteChaser 16 creative lenses can produce a variety of dramatic, kaleidoscope-style effects as you film with your phone. The company offers a range of effect lenses, from more simple split glass options that create a light-flare on one side, to multi-faceted refract lenses that create multiple dreamy ‘ghosts’ of your subject in the frame. The lenses can be rotated as you film to provide some motion to the effect and all of them are great ways to experiment with adding practical effects to your footage.

The look are quite extreme so they certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes, but I’ve really enjoyed taking them out and about around Edinburgh. The dream-like effect the lenses produce are unusual and would work well for summer videos with lots of sunlight that can refract playfully through the glass. If you’re looking for a way to add a quirky look to your YouTube videos or vertical TikToks then they’re well worth considering.

They attach to the phone using PolarPro’s LiteChaser 16 case, which also allows you to use the company’s range of regular lenses including its UV filters, polarizers or mist filters.

Leica’s cameras are known the world over for their premium quality and luxury status. So it’s no surprise that the company’s Lux iPhone grip feels extremely premium. It’s essentially a grip that attaches to the back of your phone, allowing you to hold and operate it as though you were using a compact camera. It attaches using MagSafe and I found it to offer a sturdy connection that took some quite vicious shaking to dislodge. It communicates with your phone over Bluetooth using Leica’s Lux app. It won’t work with the standard iPhone camera, which is slightly frustrating given the high price of the grip (and the fact that the app costs $7 per month or $70 per year), but the Lux app is awesome to use and I’d imagine that most people keen enough to want a Leica accessory will also want to use the Leica app with it.

The app not only models Leica’s various lenses — providing authentic-looking bokeh when simulating the company’s iconic 50mm Noctilux lens, for example — but also allows you to use the same color profiles you’ll find on Leica’s regular digital cameras. I particularly love using the Leica Chrome look, which I use almost exclusive when I shoot on my Leica Q3 43 camera. The app simulates the tones perfectly and I’ve had many shots from it where I forgot I took it on my iPhone rather than my actual camera.

The grip has a shutter button and scroll wheel to control various settings but I found its main benefit is simply in providing a more comfortable shooting experience, especially when I’m out and about in the city doing street photography.

iPhone cameras don’t have the greatest lighting, so having a backup light is always a good idea. This USB-C rechargeable video light is packed with LEDs and is small enough to fit into the palm of your hand but puts out a huge amount of light when you’re short of proper lighting.

It’s great for lighting up your subjects, whether that’s for portraits, product photography or macro or to light up yourself if you’re vlogging at night. The power output is easily adjustable, as is the color temperature of the light. 

It also has a variety of creative light effects to spice up your production, including simulations of fireworks, lightning, a flickering fireplace or the flashing red and blue of police car lights.

The iPhone 14’s built-in image stabilization is already superb, but for an even smoother ride, consider using a dedicated gimbal like DJI’s OM 5. It evens out all but the most aggressive movements, allowing you to get smooth tracking footage of you running behind your subject as you film a chase scene. 

It also has a built-in extendable selfie stick, which not only makes it great for YouTube vloggers, but also allows for more creative angles by holding it up higher, or even flipping it over and having the camera run close to the ground or through grasses.

Recording good audio for your vlogs or your next iPhone-based short film is crucial, and while the iPhone does a decent job of capturing audio, a dedicated microphone will take things to the next level. Rode’s VideoMicro shotgun mic can plug into your phone’s Lightning port (via an adapter) and provides crystal-clear audio when recording with the standard iPhone camera app or any third-party video app, making it one of the best iPhone camera accessories on the market. 

I love using it on top of my phone for vlogging and the included wind shield is superb for cutting out wind noise when working on location. Alternatively, get a 3.5mm extension cable and you can try using the mic on the end of a boom pole for recording audio in a conversation you’re filming.

It’s a great investment if you’re looking for a directional microphone.

Rather than use screw clamps to secure your phone in place, Moment’s tripod mount uses Apple’s MagSafe system, which makes it incredibly quick to pop your phone in place and start shooting. When you’re done, just rip your phone away from the magnetic disk and pop it back in your pocket. Easy!

The minimalist approach to the mount’s design makes it extremely compact so it’s no hassle to always carry it with you for when inspiration strikes. The magnets are strong, too, so you don’t need to worry about your phone popping loose while you’re walking along. It’s available as a mount by itself, or with the cold-shoe bracket (pictured) to attach a microphone when vlogging.