Taking a selfie can be hard work. Today there’s more competition and expectation than ever to take that killer selfie. But as creators of any fine art, dilemmas and quandaries often vex us when creating our next opus. Enter the XShot Pocket Camera Extender.
It’s a pretty simple idea really: increase the distance between the camera lens and your subjects, and you’ll be able to get more people and things in the picture. The lenses on most smartphones and point and shoot cameras are usually quite wide-angle, but the problem is that most selfies are taken with an arm that is just a bit short to get everyone (in a larger group) in the picture. After the “most famous selfie in history” was posted (from the Academy Awards), Ellen Degeneres tweeted “If only Bradley’s arm was longer.” If only they had a camera extender!
The XShot is essentially a telescoping pole that clamps on to your smartphone (or point and shoot camera) and lets you extend it further away from you than your arm would allow. Set a timer, press the shutter, position the camera and take that selfie with more of your peeps or more of the background in the picture.
Closed the XShot Pocket Camera Extender is tiny at 6.5″, but extended it’ll lengthen to 30.5″, almost a yard. It has a quick-attach head that will screw into standard camera tripod sockets (without the need of a coin!) and an adjustment knob that allows you to tilt your camera to the proper angle. A nice bonus is a standard tripod socket at the base of the handle which allows you to attach the XShot to a tripod. I found attaching it to a small tripod could come in handy in a pinch, but I wouldn’t use it with heavier cameras or in unstable or windy conditions.
Here’s a LINK to the XShot Extender on Amazon. This is an affiliate link. If you use it, at no additional cost to you, a small portion of your purchase price will go to support my efforts here at Pocket Lenses and I thank you! Also, here’s is a link to the phone mount that I used in the video.
Check out the difference between shots below, then check out the video for a demonstration and review of the XShot Camera Extender.
To read even more about selfies go to THIS LINK: The Year in Selfies 2014
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Thanks for the info. I watched your video too.
Glad I could help out Bill!
That looks like a handy, portable device to use with our phones. Thanks for the tip.
I take a lot of selfies and always thought just stretching out with my arm was enough, but after seeing the photos you posted with the XShot, I can see how cool it is to use the extender. Love the visuals!
As always, a creative and clear video about tools to help take very pictures with my cell phone. Thanks, Sonny.