Photo Copy Pico Projector Stand,Chromlives Overhead Tripod Video Stand for Phone,Adjustable Tabletop Overhead Phone Mount,Gooseneck Mini Tripod Stand for Teaching Streaming Baking Crafting

Purchased this last week for recording videos and projecting top-down white-boarding sessions (where I sketch & write on pages on a table). The stand is functional, easy to attach to a table, and quite sturdy. I was able to attach/fix both a smartphone and an action cam (one at a time) without any major issue. I doubt you can attach a DSLR. It will not hold the weight.There are videos on youtube with alternate options for a similar setup. But most include expensive tripod arrangements.If you want a setup without spending a lot of money, this totally works.

The ChromLives Overhead Video Stand is a game-changer for content creators, educators, and anyone in need of a versatile overhead setup. This stand offers exceptional stability and adjustability, providing the perfect platform for capturing overhead shots or videos. Its sturdy construction ensures your camera or smartphone remains securely in place, while the adjustable arms and angles allow for precise positioning and flexibility. Whether you're recording tutorials, demonstrations, or artistic projects, this stand accommodates a variety of devices and setups with ease. The compact and foldable design makes it convenient to store and transport, while the quick setup ensures you can start filming in no time. With its reliable performance and user-friendly features, the ChromLives Overhead Video Stand is an essential tool for capturing high-quality overhead footage effortlessly.

I have two professional-grade vertical photographic copy stands and two professional tripods for copying with my SLR cameras. However, more recently I’m finding that my cell phone does an excellent job of document copying for many applications...and it requires far less effort than dragging out the big cameras and copy stands.However, to achieve good sharpness and framing one needs to support the phone on some sort of simple copy stand, and, ideally, one needs to trigger the phone with a remote shutter release to avoid shaking the camera during the exposure. The big advantage of the phone is its very light weight, which allows for a lightweight and compact stand. For my system I purchased the ChromLives Scissor Boom Arm Articulating Phone Stand and a remote shutter release that works with my Samsung S20 phone. I found that the Chromlives base-clamp works well on my workbench with its 1.75 inch grip range, and the articulating arms are able to hold the phone up to 25 inches above the bench surface for horizontal copying. For storage, the unit folds compactly into a 16” x 4” x 2” bundle.In operation, when taking photos of a subject below the phone (the normal copy orientation), the phone screen needs to face up so you can see it, and the phone’s camera needs to face down toward the subject being copied. Thus, to work properly, the phone clamp has to be located on the back of the camera (below the camera), be narrow enough to not block the camera’s field of view, and be positioned so that the clamp doesn’t push any phone buttons on the side of the phone. The clamp size and positioning capability worked out great with my Samsung Galaxy S20, but you might want to check the needs of your phone. Note that the manufacturer’s image does not show the correct manner to hold the phone.In terms of the boom operation, the scissor-boom’s joints hold tight, work smoothly, and hold the phone quite stably. However, I knocked off a star because the phone mount is spring loaded with a very strong spring that makes it very difficult to install and remove the phone without disturbing the photographic setup or pushing the phone’s side buttons. Also, the supplied ball joint is not very smooth to operate. This is important to me, as I pull the phone on and off the copy stand often during a shoot to view the images I’ve taken on my computer.For my setup, I replaced the phone mount with a screw-clamp style phone mount and substituted a better quality ball joint (see photo). With these items replaced, and using my remote shutter release, the ChromLives Phone Stand works like a champ. I use it all the time.For bigger items, like blue prints, I clamp the Chromlives base-clamp onto the ball head of one of my big camera tripods. This allows me to photograph very large prints with the cell phone.

works great

This is an affordable versatile piece of equipment, although there are some things it may not do well. So I thought I'd take the time to explain. First of all out the box it comes in four pieces. The table clamp, the adjustable arm, a bracket that allows for greater adjustability of whatever you are mounting, and a phone clamp. Most everything is made of metal with the exception of the phone clamp which is made out of a reasonable plastic. The metal construction gives this product durability but the metal is a bit thin and on the cheaper side. The entire product is easy to construct and get working with minimal hassle.In terms of functionality this product has some pros and cons. The first pro of this product is the height of the arm. If you are using this for film or photography you can get a great shot downward at your subject. This is advertised primarily as an arm to film downward anyways for things like cooking demos or scanning documents. So I can attest this product would do this well if that's what you need. Another pro of this is the phone clamp and gimble are highly adjustable. I like this because you can do much more this arm then simply shoot phone video downward. It can adjust to be used horizontally as well.This takes me to the cons. One major con for me is the adjustability of the arm. It may not look like it in the picture, but this arm only has one major point of articulation. This means that while the gimble is highly adjustable you are still limited in the angles you can get with this arm because the one point of articulation only brings the arm up and down in a sandwich style. This was terrible for me because I wanted to use a wide-angle lens to get a horizontal shot over the table I was filming. I like that I can film from a higher angle, but without the ability to adjust the arm outward, this arm can't give me good horizontal filming angles. Another major con is the phone clamp, it is a bit stiff and old fashioned, with no lever to open and close the clamp. This is a bit annoying and to make it worse, the phone clamp is large so if you need are filming or shootings with a rear view camera on a cell phone your touch screen will largely be unavailable to you.In all, this is a decent product to have laying around for minimal cost. It did not serve the purpose I had in mind but it's parts are so universal I have decided to repurpose it as a microphone boom stand. I think most people will find a use for it like I did although from a strictly filming purpose, it serves a very limited function due to the lack of mobility in the arm.