Beastgrip for Videographers with Rob Adams
There’s the Canon R5, the Sony a7s3, the Panasonic S1, the Nikon Z8, and then there’s the smartphone. Don’t think the cameras on today’s mobile devices can hang with the big boys for cinematic mirrorless video quality? You may want to think again. What if I told you that for less than $500 USD you could transform your phone’s camera into a cinematic beast with shallow depth of field and all? It’s true, you can. And I’m not talking about those cheap little snap-on lenses you can find on Amazon. I’m talking about using your professional lenses on your phone, but with full depth of field.
I’m not one for gear reviews, generally. I certainly don’t like to write about gear in my articles, but this gadget—it’s more than a gadget—is pretty unique, therefore I’m gonna give it the attention it deserves. It’s worth saying that anytime you try to make a device exceed its normal parameters, there are concessions. Pros and cons, if you will. And in this case, there are most certainly points to consider that may make you think twice about trying what I’m about to show you, but I will leave that to you. Bear in mind that there are pros and cons to selecting even a high-quality mirrorless camera system and concessions to make in your selection from brand to brand. So with that said, allow me to introduce you to the Beastgrip DOF Adapter for your smartphone camera.
The Beastgrip is a combination cage and lens adapter system that attaches to your phone. It unlocks the full capability of your phone’s image sensor by introducing an intermediary focusing screen that offers the video and photos captured on your phone to have true, shallow depth of field using your existing DSLR lenses. But the Beastgrip is much more than just a lens adapter. It has a rotating barrel system that locks the lens in place at the correct angle to frame the image on the sensor of your camera so that the lens measurements are properly captured at their intended focal length. That’s pretty cool considering that there really isn’t a true 35mm equivalent lens adapter on the market that allows full use of your existing glass in the correct way.
