Author Archives: Brad Hepp

No time for tripod! Gotta run.

Don’t worry. The train was just sitting there, but I was in a hurry! Wish I had enhanced and posted a shot I captured with HDR Camera+ instead of this one. The sky in this shot was blown out. Adding weight with SnapSeed did not work out well–notice the banding in the vignette (I didn’t notice that initially on my phone)..

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Small waterfall at Dallas Arboretum

I’m not very happy with the sharpness of this one. It was shot in low light with my Samsung Galaxy S2. I was scoping out locations at the Arboretum where I could capture water flowing in a long exposure. Since I didn’t want to get thrown out of the gardens, I stayed on the path, putting me about 35 feet from the waterfall, so it’s is also zoomed in, which doesn’t help! I did some editing with Snapseed.

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Smartphone Tripod Adapter

When I updated to my current smartphone, my old homemade tripod adapter was no longer an option. Research led me to this nifty little adapter, the Joby JM1-01WW GripTight Mount (Black).

I already own an extremely well-made tripod from REI, so I did not buy the accompanying Joby JM2-01WW GripTight Micro Stand (Black). However, as you can see from the photo below, the stand makes for a compact little package when combined with the mount. These two products are pricey if you buy both of them, but the reality is that they are small enough to slip in a pocket. If you’re like me, a tripod and mount combination that are too large to slip in a pocket are likely to be left at home, and won’t be of any use! At the bottom, I’m posting some images of the mount (that’s all I bought), in combination with my old REI mini-tripod.

Joby mount (on bottom) with its accompanying micro stand. A nice, compact package!
Joby mount (on bottom) with its accompanying micro stand. A nice, compact package!
Photographer-facing view of the Joby mount in action. All you can see of it here are the bottom and top arms, that hold the camera.
Photographer-facing view of the Joby mount in action. All you can see of it here are the bottom and top arms, that hold the camera.
With an oblique view, you can see that the arms that hold the camera are rubberized, and they are deep enough to accommodate a camera in a case (I usually keep my camera better-protected, but wanted to simplify for this shot).
With an oblique view, you can see that the arms that hold the camera are rubberized, and they are deep enough to accommodate a camera in a case (I usually keep my camera better-protected, but wanted to simplify for this shot).
In this side view of the mount, you can see how "Internal steel springs allow mount to expand to the size of your device & grip it securely"
In this side view of the mount, you can see how “Internal steel springs allow mount to expand to the size of your device & grip it securely”
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Here I have begun folding up the mount so you can see how that works.
The Joby mount folded up and removed from my mini-tripod.
The Joby mount folded up and removed from my mini-tripod.