Tiffen Smoothee brings Steadicam to the iPhone 3GS

We had no idea the market of iPhone filmmakers out there was big enough to support pro-quality accessories, but it looks like we were mistaken: Tiffen just announced the Smoothee Steadicam rig for all you mobile Tarantinos out there. As with all Steadicam rigs, the Smoothee stabilizes a handheld camera by means of a counterweight, and the phone cradle can also be detached and mounted on a tripod or used as a stand on a flat surface. No pricing or availability yet, but those things don't matter when your masterpiece is at stake. Video after the break.

[Patricio Arnechino Posted Jan 14th 2010 2:48AM]

That video was recorded by Alan Smoothee ;)

[lip13 Posted Jan 14th 2010 3:34AM]

Seems pretty pointless when the camera is so bad on the phone anyway

[nikoboy Posted Jan 14th 2010 3:54AM]

I know what kind of person might be willing to buy this Steadicam for iPhone. The very same who love to ride this: http://www.mademelaugh.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/pimp-my-ride-camper.jpg

What a joke. Just as brilliant as those old-fashioned USB handset for VoIP by JAHT…

[Prowl Posted Jan 14th 2010 9:16AM]

@nikoboy and everone else Just so you know I made a viral ad just using the 3GS and a pre prodution version of this. I The client didn't even notice that it was phone camera footage. Steady camera = high production value. True I think is' pointless if you just want to film your family or something. but for certain things it's great. Would be great to film walkthroughs of houses for sale for example. I fact I am going to offer that to my local estate agents.

Anyways As it was viral I didn't need high quality and it saved me $500 for effectivly 2 days work. Point is steadicams actually work, and previouly I would have hired a merlin and a camera.

Course it's not for everyone.. people buy all sorts of weird junk... like american cars...

[Nate Dogg Posted Jan 14th 2010 5:51AM]

I will seriously coat hanger anyone I see using one of these - and I'm a pacifist.

[CF542 Posted Jan 14th 2010 9:00AM]

I bet they give you a free salad shooter with it and a USB coffee warmer.
That's all we needed... an expensive way to help improve that awesome 640x480 iPhone video quality. Gee, I hope it works with the new iPod Nano too.

[Accidental Posted Jan 14th 2010 10:33AM]

I think this video is just a joke. Seriously people?

[magallanes Posted Jan 14th 2010 10:38AM]

I want to repeat it:

The iphone :
a) don't have a dedicate audio chipset, i.e. is not a hi-fi device.
b) the touch keyboard while is fine in comparison with other touch keyboard, is subpar in comparison with real keyboard (including those smallest keyboard on some Blackberry).
c) The iphone don't have a decent camera, neither a decent lens. Even my 4 year old nokia n95 have a Carl Zeiss Lens and a build-in video stabilizer.

[jtotheoel Posted Jan 14th 2010 1:00PM]

There logo looks like one of my reject projects when I was first learning to use photoshop.

[sprior Posted Jan 14th 2010 10:59PM]

Or you can build your own for about $20 - http://steadycam.org/

[BuzzMega Posted Mar 2nd 2010 1:04PM]

You can see how the Smoothee behaves under an iPhone 3GS now, because a Day-In-The-Life video production is viewable on YouTube and Vimeo. It's a demo of what virtually anybody can obtain when using this combination.

YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYQJCqqPvxw

Vimeo here: http://vimeo.com/9720121