If you are an entertainer, speaker, teacher, or just someone who wants to make videos and needs to showcase their table but you are working with a low budget, then you have arrived at the right place! Here, I’ll show you how to set up a mobile device to work as an overhead camera.
To easily set up your mobile phone as an overhead camera, all you need are probably things you already have, especially if you are a professional entertainer like me.
For this overhead camera setup, you’ll need:
- A universal cell phone mount adapter.
In case you don’t own one, they cost around $7.59 and the one I use is an OIMIO Phone Holder.
OIMIO Store
Neewer Store
- A microphone suspension boom arm.
The one I use in the video is from Neewer and it comes with a press to hold it onto the table on one end and on the other.
You can connect your cell phone adapter with a reducer screw adapter.
- A reducer screw adapter, (such as the ones you’ll use to connect a microphone stand to a GoPro).
This is essential to be able to connect your cell phone adapter to the boom arm since the thread in the tripod and the adapter won’t match.
This reducer adaptor would cost around $6.
I use the JJC male to female adaptor, but there are others as useful as this one!
JJC Store
Ready to install!
That’s all you need!
In the following video, I’ll show you how simple it is to install this overhead camera setup:
And that’s how I set up my phone as an overhead camera on my shows!
Everything under $30 and in simple steps.
Note that this setup and equipment are designed to hold a mobile device and will hold up to 1kg, so keep in mind that if you use heavier equipment, you will need a different setup.
Please take into account we are only talking about hardware here, if you want to know more about software to use your cell phone camera as a secondary camera, I have a video explaining the ones I find the most useful (such as Ecamm, for example).
This setup is ideal for anyone who is thinking about going virtual and wants a simple and inexpensive way to play with different angles in their videos while using minimum equipment.
Keep up the good thoughts,
Alan Chamo
Entertainer, Mentalist & Keynote Speaker