It’s important to know that I can’t build anything. I can’t fix anything. My wife gives me a standing ovation when I change a lightbulb without getting dizzy and falling off the chair. So when I say that “if I can build an iPhone tripod attachment so can you,” you know it means something.

Recently I’ve been taking some video on the iPhone and have been surprised by the quality of the video, especially when I’m recording interviews for Social Media FTW. (Which makes the mediocre quality of the video below more than slightly ironic.) The only problem has been the shaky cam feature; the iPhone has no built in stabilizer, so videos tend to have the outtake-from-a-Sam-Raimi movie feel.

I looked online and the only iPhone tripods I could find were shipping from Hong Kong. (Actually, on eBay they were just $5 and change shipping included, so I rolled the dice and ordered one. More on that if/when it comes in.) I also got inspired by some videos I found on YouTube, but it was evident that these people knew how to use their hands to build things and had mastered that pesky opposable thumb, or as I call it, “my space bar tool.”

So, with an L-bracket and wing nut from my local Ace Hardware store (which I call a corner bracket and a thumb screw in the video just to show you how little I actually know about the physical world around me), an iPhone case I picked up at Best Buy, and some double-sided mounting tape I had in the utility closet, I was able to make this inexpensive iPhone tripod mount.

You can watch the original How to Make a Cheap iPhone 4 Tripod on YouTube.

Rich Brooks
These Thumbs Come In Handy