Bad Phone Camera Mounts

Bad Phone Camera Mounts
Beware of numerous cheap phone camera mounts that fail because they grip the side of the camera exactly where the side function buttons are located.

The key is knowing the position of the phone's side buttons and the finite distance to the eyepiece center relative to where the mount grips the phone.

Another shortcoming is the grip tension is far too much and not adjustable. One way or another, this firmly depresses the side button(s) and the camera fails to operate correctly. Maybe these work with mobile phones other than Apple brand - the key is knowing the position of the phone's side buttons and the finite distance to the eyepiece center relative to where the mount grips the phone.

Units tested are seen in the photos - one that tightens around the top of the eyepiece by turning it and other that uses a screw to tighten the tension around the eyepiece (bottom photo). Both mounts pinch the side buttons on the Apple cell phones with too much force, thus activating the buttons and their respective functions.

The next mobile phone mount to be examined and tested is the Celestron Nexyz. This has adjustments along all three geometrical axes and according to the photos, the gripper is at the lower section of the phone, away from the live buttons.

Acuter Maksy 60 Phone Mount

Acuter Maksy 60 Phone Mount

Don't waste a lot of time trying to find the correct band combination to hold your phone exactly over the eyepiece opening. If the band tension is not just right, or with too many bands, too tight or too loose, the phone camera will not stay over the opening above the eyepiece and won't have the ability to undergo fine positioning adjustments.

The photos show how to position one band (front and back connections) and allow the side positioned camera to reach the opening and maintain its position. One band was removed because two bands put too much tension on the phone and trying to position it resulted in the wrong position.

Left: the backside of the Acuter stock phone mount should look like this for positioning the camera with the proper tension. The use of only one band is needed.

The reason for this unusual design is there are no phone side grippers. I tried several different phone mounts with side grippers and they all interfered with the side buttons on the phone and could not be used.

This applies to the Apple iPhone 6 Plus and Xs Max.

The designers at Acuter Optics knew what they were doing when they designed this mobile phone holder. It does not pinch the sides of the phone and does not interfere with the side buttons or the operation of the iPhone. Read about bad phone mounts:

https://otisastro.blogspot.com/2022/05/bad-phone-camera-mounts.html