Accessorizing your Accessories with Brando
Today we’re looking at accessories for your audio-video or purely visual device, from one of the premiere gadget companies around, Brando. The Flexible Mini Capsule Microphone and the Mobile Phone Telescope are two add-ons to your phone for functions they already have, but functions that could be better. The Flash Gun Accessories Kit is a starter kit of lighting attachments for your film or DSLR camera.
The Brando Flexible Mini Capsule Microphone has a swiveling head, allowing you to point the mic in any direction. This seems great if you’re the type to take audio notes or use your iPhone to take video and would like to point the mic in the same direction as the camera. The mic is compatible with 3G and 3GS.
The microphone has much better sound than the iPhone. However, the sound is still not fantastic; it is a small microphone and there are still limitations. Nonetheless, a nifty product and with the Mini Capsule Microphone selling at $14 it’s an easy add-on to have.
The Mobile Phone Telescope is for people that love to take pictures with their phones. We tried it on our iPhones and it is supposed to allow for magnification up to 6x. A better lens really does take a better picture and we thought it was a great idea.
However, this product just didn’t work. We adjusted the controls. We attached the device over the right slot. And the best we were able to get was a blurry zoomed-in image. The lens seemed to be of lower quality than the iPhone’s built-in lens. And even more than that, the product just seemed cheap. Every time I tried to adjust one aspect of the lens, for instance the focus, it would move other parts of the lens that really shouldn’t be connected.
It is more portable than a full-size camera and having a good camera hooked up to our worldwide network is always good, so there is possibly a need for such a thing. However, this particular device is definitely not worthwhile and honestly, if you’d like slightly better pictures, just buy a cute, portable camera that’s a step up from the iPhone.
The Mobile Phone Telescope is available for a variety of mobile phones from Brando.com and priced at $17-$20.
If you’re looking for a starter kit of accessories for your spiffy camera the Professional Flash Set 6-in-1 Accessories Kit has several light attachments for your add-on flash, like the Nikon SB600. They advertise that you can shoot like a professional with these nifty attachments, though you’ll need to select the appropriate flash adapter when ordering or purchasing. Included in the package are a softbox / soft diffuser, honeycomb, conical snoot, barndoor, mini-reflector, globe diffuser, all different ways of avoiding unattractive direct light.
The quality on the materials seemed better for this kit. I had a little problem putting one of the items on my flash and I think some of these items could fit better. All of the add-ons are supposed to be added directly to your camera/camera’s speedlite flash, which is useful if you have to rely on your flash for most of your light. I appreciated the ability to diffuse the lighting, since I am not a big fan of the harshness that direct flashes often give to a photograph. Nonetheless, in two of the items the flash was greatly diffused and so there would only be a few circumstances where I found it useful. Overall, a relatively inexpensive and fun assortment of globes and gadgets, but not quite a professional kit despite the name.
The Flash Gun Accessories Kit is available for $88 from Brando. It appears to same, and in fact was labeled as Falcon Eyes, which sells them and has more information here.
