iPhone camera accessory review
Sometimes all you need is a really simple accessory to maximize the usefulness of your gadgets. But, of course, simple doesn’t have to mean limited: that simple accessory just has to do its job well. And that’s exactly what Gary Fong’s Flip-Cage with iPhone 4/4S Mount does.
Why ?
Flip-Cage with iPhone 4/4S Mount is a tabletop stand for your phone. Just place it on a level surface, and it will keep your iPhone steady as you shoot pictures and videos. Flip-Cage is one of the more popular items on the Gary Fong inventory. In fact, three other types of Flip-Cages are sold on the Gary Fong website, and the product has even been featured on The Today Show.
What we love
Like Flip-Cage Pro, Flip-Cage with iPhone 4/4S Mount boasts a smart design that makes it easier to do almost everything you need to do with your iPhone. It has rectangular legs that keep your phone steady sideways or upright, so you can use it not only to shoot pictures and videos but also to watch movies online or start a video chat via Skype or Facetime. Those are just the usual things, though.
Flip-Cage also lets you do some nice tricks when taking pictures or recording videos. If you have another iPhone around, you can use the Flip-Cage to position it on the ground, on the table, or even high up on the wall to add some lighting effects with the extra LED flash. Enhance the LED flash’s powerful light with colored fabric or mirrors, and turn your photos into special works of art. Have a flashlight app? Then use the LED flash as a strobe light for emphasizing an atmosphere of confusion in your videos.
Flip-Cage makes it so tempting to be creative, and with its detachable iPhone mount, you can even maximize the usefulness of your old tripods. The iPhone mount can be used with any other tripod, so if the tabletop stand can’t give you the exact angle you want, you can use your professional tripod and get that perfect shot.
What we don’t love
The Flip-Cage doesn’t feel very durable, and the base of the stand could use more grip. Stress the hinges of your Flip-Cage enough, and the legs are sure to have minds of their own, slipping like crazy and moving your phone out of position during one of your shoots.
Like the Flip-Cage Pro, the Flip-Cage for the iPhone 4/4S comes only in one color—boring black. It bears the name Flip-Cage, but it’s not as hip as the Flip-Cage (for smaller point-and-shoot cameras), which comes in fun colors such as Appletini Green and Cotton Candy Pink. So if you seek variety, you might not be satisfied by what this Flip-Cage has to offer.
The end game
Overall, however, the Flip-Cage works. And well, too. Being made for 30-dollars, it can’t be expected to last a lifetime, but since many people change their iPhones like they change their minds, it may just be the perfect life span for the accessory.