Add a camera grip & shutter button to your cell phone with SnapGrip Pro
In addition to my skills as a photographer, I depend upon my professional cameras to give me reliable, consistent, predicable control of my photography. Often the opportunities to take pictures are fleeting, so either I capture them in the moment or they will be gone forever.
The most basic and arguably the most important control of any camera is the shutter release button. That is what you need to press to take pictures. If that does not work, your picture will not be taken, and perhaps the opportunity will be lost forever.
Often, I do not have one of my professional cameras with me. However, I usually have my cell phone (currently an iPhone 14 ProMax).
While even the best and most capable cell phone cameras do not offer some of the features and capabilities of professional cameras, such as my Canon R1, they are getting better and better all the time — with such important features as multiple physical lenses for everything from wide to telephoto shots, eliminating the need for photographically inferior digital zoom; and incredible image processing — even in low-light situations.
However, cell phones still have one serious deficiency: their lack of a physical shutter release button. I’ve missed many pictures simply because I failed to find and correctly press that infernal virtual shutter release button on the screen. We should not have to look away from what we are trying to photograph, in order to find and press a virtual shutter release button.
We no longer have to endure that deficiency. I have recently found three companies that are selling magnetically-attached, DSLR-like grips with a camera-like shutter release button for MagSafe cell phones and cases. Their prices, features and cell phone compatibility vary widely, but they all include an easy-to-use, physical shutter release button. These elevate cell phone photography to a whole new level, making it much easier for anyone to use their cell phone to take pictures.
I first discovered one of these camera grips a few weeks prior to this year’s CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.
At CES I was given review samples of three components of the ShiftCam system — all of which use the cell phone’s MagSafe feature to firmly connect these devices to the cell phone, even if it is within a MagSafe cell phone case. These items are the SnapGrip Pro, the Snap Pocket Light and the Snap Stand Mini.
The SnapGrip Pro is the heart of the system. Compatible with both iOS (iPhone) and Android, it is an ergonomic, DSLR-like, magnetically-attached handgrip. On top it has a physical shutter release button positioned for your right index finger, just like on a camera.
Inside the grip is a 5000mAh, rechargeable battery pack for fast, efficient, on-demand Qi2 wireless charging of your cell phone.
The default functionality of the Bluetooth shutter button is for taking still pictures. On an iOS or Android cell phone, a single press is all it takes. On iOS, a long press of the button and then holding it down places the cell phone’s camera in video mode (burst mode on Android). It is so easy to use that when I gave my iPhone to a number of Knott’s Berry Farm employees to take pictures of our group, myself included, they were easily able to use the shutter button to take the pictures.
Since the grip is magnetically attached, it is easy to rotate it between landscape and portrait orientations. When the grip is detached, its shutter button can still wirelessly trigger the camera. The grip also functions as a weighted phone stand.
Other components of the ShiftCam system, including the rechargeable Snap Pocket Light, can easily be magnetically stacked onto the grip. This LED ring light has four light intensity settings, and it surrounds a mirror so that you can make sure you’re in the shots. It can even be flipped backwards for selfies.
A magnetically-attached mini tripod (Snap Stand Mini) and a combination selfie stick and tripod, complete with a detachable Bluetooth remote and cold shoe, are also available.
For more information about these and other products, visit shiftcam.com.
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Copyright © 2025 by Jan Wagner – AutoMatters & More #871
Sounds good. I’ll certainly look into them before making my decision on the Leica
https://leica-camera.com/en-int/mobile/lux-grip
Hi Alberto,
I do think that you will like using the magnetically-attached SnapGrip Pro. It is simple to use and inexpensive.
If the other grip that you are considering is the Leica LUX Grip, that is like comparing apples and oranges. They are quite different from each other. Yes, the Leica provides additional photographic capabilities, but that comes at a much higher price (several times higher plus, after the first year, an ongoing subscription to the PRO version of the Leica app).
You need to decide how much you’d like your cell phone to be more camera-like. If your phone gets a real shutter button, perhaps that will be sufficient for when you take pictures with it, rather than with a purpose-built camera.
Something else you might want to consider is another ShiftCam product that they will also be sending to me for review. That is their physically-attached (as opposed to magnetically-attached), more camera-like, ProGrip and accessories.
Jan
Jan, a very interesting trio of products. I don’t take many videos/photos, even with my new iPhone 16 Pro Max, but if I get serious, I’ll definitely look into these useful accessories.
David.
Thanks David,
Having a real, physical shutter button makes taking pictures a lot more certain than trying to line up a finger with the phone’s virtual shutter button.
Jan