What's the best wearable smartphone mount?

ahalpert

ahalpert

Major Contributor
I'm looking for a way to mount my phone to my body when I'm using it as a wifi monitor for the A7SIII.

I'm looking at this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XP29B2S/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A9ZXMW2S3UE5Y&psc=1

It looks flimsy as hell. But I don't need anything too solid. I won't be running around with it.

Of course, some sort of goggles or head-mount would be nice too. But I need to use an android or ios device to use the app, and I need to be able to touch the screen.

Recommendations?
 
Peter C. said:
I can see it getting in the way. Why don’t you mount your phone to the gimbal using an arm?
Click to expand...

Yesterday I had my phone mounted to the base of the stand that was holding the gimbal. But sometimes I moved the unit out of viewing range as I moved the stand around. And I had to keep readjusting the position of the phone mount for different shot set-ups. But there was plenty of room in front of my neck/chest
 
Don't know if this will help, but I use these in my audio bags for holding iPhones or iPads when running the Wingman and Tentacle apps. They hold from an iPhone to an iPad Pro(12.9").

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BZ72L5Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

6119ejJ%2BZAL._AC_SL1300_.jpg
 
CharlesPapert said:
I used a bunch of those last year for mounting puppeteer monitors for a forest walk and talk, the puppeteers thought they were great. One caveat is that the elasticity of the straps would be a bit of a liability when cantilevering out from the mount, i.e. Noga arm etc to position your phone further in front of you, so it would tend to bounce around a bit.

View attachment 143221

I also tested out this mount which was quite a bit more expensive, but also much more rigid and snug. This might work great for you.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011Q6AN76/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...

Thanks, Charles. That looks pretty cool. I probably won't be running with this situation so I don't know how much I need to worry about bouncing.

I decided that what might be ideal (but infeasible unless it's rigged to a helmet or something) would be a head-mounted situation like this:

61iFb9JbRWL._AC_SL1500_.jpg

But all the reviews say that the weight drags down the hat. No surprises there. Doesn't seem like a great solution, although it would be nice to have the monitor visible everywhere you look, whether down at your feet or up at your rig.

I also had a passing fantasy of rigging a 2nd phone to the hat in similar fashion to run force mobile and operate the gimbal with my head/neck. I was able to do decent panning with my handheld light stand-mounted gimbal on my last shoot, but I couldn't really tilt it by operating the stand, and the panning could have been easier. Imagine doing it all by turning your head... But it's sort of a crazy idea because you won't be able to look down or up at will. And you'd be dealing with even more weight.

I decided that the simplest solution might be to mount the phone to my forearm. My right forearm should basically always be visible whether I'm holding my arm down or up. It'll never be more than an arm's length away or behind my back. So I bought one of the these, and if that doesn't work then I'm probably going to try a gut or chest-mounted solution like Charles suggested. The arm mount also has the advantage of being small and light, easy to throw in a pack and use on a lark. Quick to set up. On the opposite side of the arm as in the picture below:

61p9UlFDdgL._AC_SL1001_.jpg
 
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