olloclip Pivot: Putting better iPhone photos and video in the palm of your hand

Holding an iPhone in your hand to shoot photos or video can be problematic. Sometimes you want to have a good grip on your phone with both hands, which can make it hard to tap the shutter button or volume toggle to take the photo. The two-handed grip can sometimes introduce fingers into the frame, and “one-handing” it is not only fairly impossible, but introduces the possibility of dropping the phone. olloclip has a solution; the $49.99 Pivot, which is a pivoting handheld grip that holds the iPhone securely in a variety of shooting positions.

Pivot uses a universal spring-loaded clamp that can hold any iPhone ever made, from the original to the iPhone 7 Plus. The clamp has a red rubberized finish on the inside that firmly grips the iPhone and has a threaded standard 1/4-20 tripod mount hole on the bottom to mount on the Pivot’s articulating hand grip. There’s a cold shoe mount on top, perfect for mounting a small LED lamp or external microphone.

The hand grip is a nice piece of design. A press of a side-mounted button releases the articulating head for adjustment; releasing pressure on the button locks it in place. The head has a full 225° of range, making almost any handheld shooting position possible.  

At the top of the hand grip is an adjustable and lockable 1/4-20 tripod mount. Usually this is where you’ll install the clamp, but you can also use the Pivot with small cameras or even a GoPro camera using the included GoPro mount. 

The hand grip fits in the hand perfectly, and the central hole of the articulating head is where you’ll stick an index finger through for a tight hold on your iPhone or camera. The level of control you have over holding the iPhone puts an end to camera shake and provides a bit of passive stabilization when shooting video. Add to that the optical image stabilization provided by recent iPhones, and you have an excellent platform for grabbing video.  

Unlike the IK Multimedia iKlip Grip Pro I reviewed earlier this week, the Pivot doesn’t provide a tripod or selfie stick, nor can the head be pivoted for vertical videos. Considering video is meant to be shot in landscape mode, that’s not a bad thing.

olloclip provides a wrist strap to make it easy to carry the Pivot along while traveling; mounting the iPhone in the clamp and adjusting the articulating head takes just seconds. Unsurprisingly, the Pivot is a perfect partner to any of olloclip’s accessory lenses or the Studio case. 

Like all of olloclip’s products, the Pivot is well-made and should stand up to years of usage. It’s a bit expensive at $50, which is the only reason I’m not giving the Pivot a full 5-star rating. 

Apple World Today Rating (out of 5 stars):  ★★★★