iPhone 17 Pro Max: Simple Rig for Smooth Handheld Video

In today's video, folks, I'm gonna show you how to get creative shots with your iPhone using the cage from Freewell called the Genius Rig. I'm gonna show you the setup process, camera settings, as well as different creative shots you can achieve with this rig. Now, let me show you how easy it is to set up your iPhone with the Genius Rig. All you need to do is unlock these latches, and now I can simply place my iPhone 17 Pro Max in it, lock the latches, and I'm done. When I try to shake it off, you can see that it does not fall out. And what's really cool about the Genius Rig is that I can attach Freewell's magnetic VND filter. This is the one-to-five stop, and the VND is essential for getting that natural motion blur that makes your videos film-like. Now, this rig comes with various one-quarter screw holes, as well as cold shoe mounts to attach different accessories. You also get two handles for better stability when shooting handheld. And what's cool is that it uses these quick lock mechanism to attach and detach the handles to the cage quickly. Now, the rig comes with a few exciting features that I'll touch on later that allows you to be more creative with your shots. So let me quickly walk you through the camera settings. The codec is H.265, the resolution set to 4K, and the color space to Apple Log 2. This way, we get a more natural-looking image, and we also have more flexibility when color grading later on. As for the frame rate, I'm shooting in 50 frames per second. This allows me to slow down the footage later on. I'm using a shutter angle of 180 degree. This way, we get that natural motion blur. The ISO I set to the lowest number. The white balance is set to auto, but in the settings under camera, I've enabled lock white balance on record. This way, once I start recording, the white balance will be locked. I'm also using the rule of thirds, as well as the leveler. This way, I can compose my shots better and also level it so that my shots look straight. Now, when setting your shutter speed, be sure to lock it. This way, when I tap on the screen, it will only affect autofocus. Now, as for the stabilization, I've set it to extreme. This way, we get the smoothest video possible when shooting handheld. Then under the LUT, I've enabled the Rec. 709 Neutral LUT. This way, I can better judge the image. I'm also going to enable the Bluetooth shutter. So I'm gonna turn it on, and then simply head to the settings, and then you can see under other devices, I'm gonna select Genius, pair it, and now it's paired. When I now press the trigger, it will start recording, as you can see. Now, it might be challenging to make a boring location look interesting, but we can fix that with a few creative shots that I'm about to show you using this rig. Now, I love to start with an establishing shot just to show the viewers where the scene takes place. For this shot, I'm going to slide from left to right. And because we have this bush over here, we can emphasize some camera movement. And I don't need to walk. I can just simply move with my body left to right. And by using these two handles and keeping the rig close to my body, I can create a steady slide shot. Now, because we have a clean background, there's nothing distracting, I can also add a title to this establishing shot. I'm going to lock focus over here, and action. The Genius rig has built-in tripod legs as well as an extension pole. And I can combine them so that I can place the rig on a flat surface and also adjust the height. So right now, I'm gonna create a static shot of me sitting on a tree, which should look cool. And for that, I'm using the telephoto lens, the 100X, and I'm filming this in 25 frames per second because I don't plan on slowing this clip down. So I see some birds, and I wanna capture them using the 200 millimeter lens. It's always interesting to have moving subjects in your shot. I've already went ahead and took some shots of the birds as I would otherwise would have missed them. And I think the results turned out really great. So we have this beautiful pathway. I'm gonna create a crane shot where I lift the camera up. And in order to do that more easily, I can detach the handle and attach it on top, and then twist the handle so that I can more easily create that movement. Simply get close to the ground. And then from here, I can simply lift the camera slowly to create this crane shot. Now, another interesting shot I want to create is from a lower angle, and I'm gonna film myself walking. I simply attach the tripod legs to the cage to achieve this low angle shot. I'm gonna record this in 25 frames per second, start recording, and simply pass by the camera. So now I'm gonna capture a shot of myself. And what's cool is that I can use this handle as a selfie stick. I can extend it all the way. And I also angled it in a way so that I can capture myself from a lower shot. Now, with the selfie stick extended, I can also keep the camera further away, fitting more in the frame. And you can also use this setup for vlogging as well, which I think looks great. I'm gonna hold it this way and then walk. So I want to capture the reflection of the river as well as show how long the river is. So what I'm gonna do is simply tilt up the camera while I walk sideways to kind of reveal everything. And in order to create smooth camera movement, I'm gonna do the ninja walk where I walk heel to toe. Action. Now, another great way to use the extension pole is to capture a low shot. And I'm simply gonna film myself walking. And also by attaching the tripod legs, I can make the extension pole even longer. Invert the camera. And now I can start walking. As for the second last shot, I'm gonna, again, use the extension pole and the tripod legs to get a static shot of me sitting on this bench and enjoying the view. Start recording. So I think that's a stork over there. And I'm simply gonna capture a handheld shot of it. 100 millimeter lens. I think this looks nice. So we're just gonna capture that. So now that we've captured all of the shots, let's put them together, including the behind the scenes so that you can see exactly how each shot was taken. I hope you got a good understanding on how to use this rig to capture creative shots. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below. As always, thank you so much for watching, guys. Take care, and I'll see you in the next one. Bye.