Photography

Look Lock dangles a phone over your camera ... for young portrait subjects

Look Lock dangles a phone over your camera ... for young portrait subjects
Look Lock attaches to a hot-shoe and holds a smartphone directly above the DSLR lens
Look Lock attaches to a hot-shoe and holds a smartphone directly above the DSLR lens
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Playing a favorite cartoon or photographs of their friends and family will keep kids looking at the Look Lock ... and therefore the camera
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Playing a favorite cartoon or photographs of their friends and family will keep kids looking at the Look Lock ... and therefore the camera
If you want to use other devices, the Look Lock can be mounted on an extension rail
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If you want to use other devices, the Look Lock can be mounted on an extension rail
If you want to use other devices, the Look Lock can be mounted on an extension rail
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If you want to use other devices, the Look Lock can be mounted on an extension rail
At the end of the Look Lock arm there's a universal smartphone mount which is spring-loaded and can hold devices up to three inches (7.6 cm) wide
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At the end of the Look Lock arm there's a universal smartphone mount which is spring-loaded and can hold devices up to three inches (7.6 cm) wide
Look Lock attaches to a hot-shoe and holds a smartphone directly above the DSLR lens
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Look Lock attaches to a hot-shoe and holds a smartphone directly above the DSLR lens
The 7-inch Look Lock is available now online for US$75, while the 11-inch version will set you back $80.
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The 7-inch Look Lock is available now online for US$75, while the 11-inch version will set you back $80.
View gallery - 6 images

People love seeing photos of their kids looking directly at the camera, but unfortunately anyone who has ever tried to take a photograph of an easily-distracted child knows how hard that can be to get. TetherTools claims it's solved this problem with an articulating arm that holds a smartphone above the DSLR lens, giving little photo subjects something to look at.

While photographers have for years pulled funny faces and dangled cuddly toys over their cameras to get a direct look from kids, it's fairly obvious that a video of their favorite cartoon, or photographs of their friends and family, will be better at keeping their attention.

Tether Tools states that because the Look Lock attaches to a hot-shoe and holds a smartphone directly above the lens, it also has added the benefit of making it look like portrait subjects are staring down the barrel of your lens in the resulting snaps, in all but close-up wide angle shots.

Constructed from lightweight aluminum, the Look Lock comes in two versions, a 7-inch (18-cm) articulating arm, which is ideal for medium zooms, and an 11-inch (29-cm) version for use with longer lenses such as a 70-200 mm. Both lengths attach to a hot-shoe or an extension rail and are said to remain stable even as the camera is moved and rotated between portrait and landscape positions.

Playing a favorite cartoon or photographs of their friends and family will keep kids looking at the Look Lock ... and therefore the camera
Playing a favorite cartoon or photographs of their friends and family will keep kids looking at the Look Lock ... and therefore the camera

At the end of the Look Lock arm there's a universal SmartClip smartphone mount, which is spring-loaded and can hold devices up to three inches (7.6 cm) wide – that's big enough for even the Galaxy S III or Lumia 920. Non-skid pads on each interior side of the clip firmly hold a device in place, so that it doesn't fall out while being moved.

The 7-inch Look Lock is available now online for US$75, while the 11-inch version will set you back $80.

Source: Tether Tools via PopPhoto

View gallery - 6 images
4 comments
4 comments
Tony Smale
I'm no photographer, but is a 70-200mm lens a good choice for taking photos of babies at close enough range for the smartphone to attract their attention? I would have thought (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that a wider angle fast lens would have been a better idea?
£
One of the holy trinity and pro range 70-200 (legacy equivalent is 80-200) is one of the best zoom lenses for portraits in addition to 135 and 85 primes.
Following Canon, Nikon is also offering a cheaper and lighter f4 version of 70-200 recently.
Tony Smale
I know its a fantastic lens, but can it even focus close enough to get a photo of a baby that is close enough to be distracted by the smartphone. And would the resulting image be of part of the baby's face or would you get a usable photo with that level of zoom + closeness
c w
Thank you, Tony Smale for pointing out the ridiculousness pictured above.
Somebody had a little more prop budget than somebody needed.