 What up? What up guys? I got an exciting video for you today. As you guys know, I'm always on the look for the best camera setup solution when it comes to creating high quality content with the iPhone. With so much information on YouTube, it's just hard to find a good camera setup for the iPhone. I've wasted a lot of time and money buying and testing out different products that didn't fulfill my shooting needs. Now, I did a lot of research and I reached out to BeastGrip who are well known for creating advanced smartphone gear and Zhiyun who are the best when it comes to creating stabilizers for cameras to create the ultimate pro camera setup for the iPhone 12 Pro Max. For the past few weeks, I've been testing out this setup and the filming experience has been awesome. I have been dreaming of a setup like this and to be honest, I'm very excited to share this with you guys as it has all the necessary tools you need for creating professional looking video with your iPhone 12 Pro Max. Not only does it look sexy, which makes me look sexy, but it can help you achieve a cinematic look in your videos. If you're starting out making videos with your iPhone, I suggest you start with what you have and start upgrading as you get better. Now, I will be breaking down the Beast Cage setup and show you the advantages of using the Weeble S for shooting professional mobile content. I will leave links to the products in the video description below as well as a timestamp if you want to skip or go back to a particular part of the video. So here are some of the reasons why I prefer this setup for shooting professional mobile video. So let's start off with the gimbal I'm using. The gimbal I'm using is the Weeble S by Zhiyun. The reason why I decided this gimbal would suit best as the ultimate phone stabilizer is because of its size, strong motors and convenience. The DJI OM4 is a great gimbal and it has its place, especially for run-and-gun shooting. But when it comes to adding lenses and counterweights, the gimbal reaches its limits because of its weight issues. I often experience problems where the gimbal starts to weaver and struggles to follow my hand movements. Also, when using the Light Chaser Pro, the gimbal often has a hard time leveling the camera. Now if you're still not convinced, check out my buddy Rob, aka smartphone filmmaker in his video, Know This Before Buying Your Smartphone Gimbal. Where he explains it well, I will leave a link up here. Now for me on professional shoots, I don't have the time to deal with functionality issues. I want a gimbal that I can rely on and the Weeble S is a great solution. What I really like is the small compact size, obviously not as small as the DJI OM4 but still small enough to fit it into my small camera bag. Now one of my favorite features is the quick release plate that allows me to go handheld in matter of seconds. I can simply press and then remove the iPhone from the gimbal, screw the grip on and I'm ready to shoot a dramatic action scene. The one quarter screw hole on the side makes it useful to mount a second phone to use it as a monitor, which I will get into later. When it comes to video stabilization, the Weeble S did a great job. I had no issues using the Weeble S with the B-script cage and even with the new teleconversion lens, the shots look like butter chicken or buttery smooth. Moving on, let's talk about the beast cage. This is probably one of the most advanced cages I have ever seen for the iPhone 12 Pro Max. One of its unique features is the compatibility with most lenses and filters amongst other things such as the ones I use from Sandmarc. What's cool is that it has a quick release lens mount that allows me to swap between mount plates. Beast Grip has put a lot of thought into their cage and unlike the Light Chaser Pro case, it has a cutout that fits the Rode VideoMic Me L shotgun mic. With its aluminium body, it adds weight to the iPhone 12 Pro Max, resulting in smoother handheld shots. I even got the Metal Grip, which I can also use as a top handle for the Weeble S to shoot low-angled shots. Beast Grip has also provided me with their new two-times telephoto conversion lens. This has become my favorite lens as I can get nice close-up shots and is perfect for shooting people's faces. It adds more bokeh and produces a nice lens flare when shooting against the sun that has a vintage characteristic to it. This way, your videos won't have that typical phone look where most of the image is sharp. Having the beast cage can be very beneficial as you can build your own custom rig to suit your shooting needs as the cage includes built-in one-quarter screw holes. So it's not only meant for the iPhone 12 Pro Max, you could also buy a cage for your iPhone model and mount it onto the Weeble S. Let me show you how I've set up the iPhone 12 Pro Max with the beast cage and the Weeble S. The beast cage is extremely easy to set up. To insert the iPhone 12 Pro Max, there is a quick locking cover on the back of the cage. Remove it and place the iPhone 12 Pro Max inside the cage. As you can see, it fits perfectly. Put back the cover and then screw on the 2x telephoto conversion lens. Next is to mount the plate so that it can be used with the Weeble S gimbal. The iPhone 12 Pro Max will be mounted upside down so that the weight of the lens is more evenly distributed and allows me to plug in the microphone. The Weeble S comes with two plates, a backing base plate and a quick release plate. First, mount the backing base plate below the lens. Then mount the quick release plate to the backing base plate. Next is to plug the Rode VideoMic Me L to the side. Then I will screw the variable ND filter to the teleconversion lens. To the side, there is a quick release lens mount that allows me to swap between any of their different lens mounts plates. I simply just screw off the lens to then attach the variable ND filter to use it with the wide angle lens. This of course requires me to rebalance the gimbal which only takes a couple of seconds. You aren't as quick as switching between the built-in lenses but if you want to get the best quality possible, using the standard lens with different high quality add-on lenses would be the better choice especially when shooting in low light situations. Once I'm done, I can mount the grip onto the cage for a simple handheld setup. The next thing we're going to look at is mounting the cage onto the Weeble S. What's great about the Weeble S is that it has a safety lock which is convenient when carrying it around. So I first unlock all motors, then screw the grip onto the gimbal to use it as a top handle. Next is to slide in the quick release plate. Once done, I then start balancing the gimbal. Three axis gimbals each have their own system for mounting and balancing but they all follow the same basic principle. You want to adjust the camera in the opposite direction that it falls until the camera finds a balanced point where it stays leveled. In other words, the camera shouldn't tip in any direction. It should stay where it is. Do it for the pan tilt and roll axis. Once the camera is balanced, I can start mounting the monitor. There's a one quarter screw hole to the side where I mounted the mini magic arm. On the other end, I attached a tripod adapter to secure my iPhone 11 Pro Max. I positioned it in a way so that the monitor doesn't get in the way when holding the top handle. Once I'm done, I can switch on the gimbal and I'm ready to shoot. Let's now look at the camera settings. The app I'm using is Filmic Pro as this gives me full control over the camera. Because the iPhone 12 Pro Max was set up upside down, you want to disable orientation lock in the device settings. Now, I use Filmic Remote on the second iPhone to pair it with the iPhone 12 Pro Max to use it as a live monitor. With Filmic Remote, I can bring up the vector scope, waveform and histogram to analyze the image better. The monitor is also useful for getting low angle shots. Which otherwise would be difficult to achieve because when the camera is low, you can't really see what's going on. Now, using Filmic Remote, there is a one to two second delay, but it's still useful to set your framing. Mounting it like this, the monitor fits very well with the setup and doesn't get in the way. To get the highest video quality possible, I have set the resolution to 4K. The bitrate is set to 10-bit HDR Dolby Vision and the frame rate to 24 frames per second. ISO is set to its lowest number and the shutter speed is 1 over 48 which is double the frame rate to achieve a natural looking motion blur. Now, doing so on a bright sunny day generally results in an overexposed image. By twisting the variable and defilter, I can cut out light to evenly expose my image. In terms of audio, I've selected the Rode VideoMic PL and using the monitor, I can adjust the volume using the Gain slider. Wide balance is set to the daylight preset. With the earphones, I can monitor the audio by simply plugging it in into the audio jack on the back of the Rode VideoMic Miel. Once everything is set up, I can simply press the volume key or record button on the monitor to start recording. Let's talk about the price. The total cost of this setup without the iPhone 12 Pro Max is around $800. Oh, that hurts. But it doesn't, actually. I know, guys, it's pricey, but I think if you have the budget and are serious about shooting high quality videos with your iPhone 12 Pro Max and want to create narrative films or commercial videos, then a setup like this would make sense as this can enhance the iPhone's video capabilities. Now, keep in mind that this setup is focused more towards intermediate and professionals. If you're making money shooting videos for clients with your iPhone, this is a great return in investment. If you're a beginner by no means, you have to have a setup like this. I always say, start with what you have and use your creative mind to achieve the shots you need. These are just tools that should help you get the shot you need. As you get better, you can consider upgrading your iPhone filmmaking gear. I mean, I didn't start out with this setup. When I had my first camera, I just shot with it until I got better. And from there on, I just started buying one gear at a time, and that's how I got all of this gear wealth. People say gear doesn't matter. I used to say that. Have you watched the movie Spider-Man Homecoming where Tony Stark says to Spider-Man, if you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it. Well, there you have it. All right, guys, that was it for today's video. Let me know what you think of the pro camera setup for the iPhone 12 Pro Max. Is it worth getting? Is it worth paying the 800? If you enjoyed this video, make sure to leave a like and subscribe. If you're new to this channel, this way I can keep creating more awesome tutorials for you guys. Now, I would love to see your mobile rig set up. Make sure to share it with the private smartphone filmmaking group on Facebook that I created. What do I hear? You're not part of it yet? Now, what the hell are you waiting for? Come and join my friend. And also, don't forget to download my free smartphone filmmaking guide as this will help you get started making quality videos with your phone. Now, if you're looking for a more affordable option, I got your back. Make sure to check out these two videos as this could be the right setup for you. Thank you so much for watching, guys. Stay mobile and I will see you in the next video.