Top 10 Christmas gifts for Smartphone Photographers in 2022
The holiday season is almost here! And so it comes with the difficult question of what to put under the Christmas tree. Of course, we always put a lot of thought into gifts for the people closest to us. And sometimes, it might be hard to come up with something new and unique.
Well, if they are into smartphone photography, we might be able to help you out. We have compiled a list of our top 10 Christmas gifts for smartphone photographers. In addition, we have categorized them by price range, so you can quickly find a present that fits your wallet.
Let’s go shopping:
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List of smartphone photography products:
- Microfiber cleaning cloth
- Wireless remote shutter
- Mini tripod with a smartphone mount
- Wide-Angle and Macro Lens kit
- iPhone and Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Cases
- Moment Lens and Gear Bag
- Portable Digital Bluetooth Printer
- Smartphone Gimbal
- Pro Lens Set with Case and Lens Pen
- Professional Smartphone Camera
Smartphone Accessories under 10 dollars
1. Microfiber cleaning cloth
To get extra sharp results, every smartphone photographer should regularly clean the lenses of their smartphone. This small yet very helpful gift only costs a few bucks but can make all the difference in the world.
Smartphones and the camera glass get dirty quickly. This is because we put the devices just about everywhere, from our pockets to our bags, jackets, the coffee table, the kitchen, and maybe even in the bathroom. As a result, the camera lenses will get dirty and oily, resulting in blurry or smudged photographs.
A microfiber cloth is a solution to this problem. You certainly do not want to use your shirt, sweater, or paper tissue. It can damage the lens and create permanent scratches. Read more on cleaning your cellphones lenses in this popular blog post.
➽ You can find our favorite cleaning cloths, which we have been using conveniently on Amazon for the last few years.
2. Wireless remote shutter for Android and iOS
A wireless remote shutter is a tiny yet helpful accessory for smartphone photographers. It will give them the possibility to control the shutter from a distance. Why is this helpful?
- For taking Christmas portraits with the family
- No camera shake while taking images
- Super sharp results
- Long shutter speed
- Good combination with a tripod
This small gift can boost your family or friends’ smartphone photography performance.
I use this lightweight Bluetooth shutter. You can find one under $10 on Amazon.
It is a handy little gadget that pairs smoothly with a wide range of Android and iOS devices with Bluetooth 4.0 or higher. You can press the button to take an image and hold the same button to record a video. It also comes with a wrist strap, so the photographer cannot lose the tiny device. Very convenient!
Check out our other remote shutter recommendations.
3. Mini Tripod with Smartphone mount
This small, lightweight, adjustable smartphone stand is an excellent gift for smartphone photographers. Every photographer should use a tripod for many reasons. First, it is the way to get to the next level in photography. Here are our reasons why and when we use a tripod while taking images with our camera phone:
- Low-light photography
- Long exposure
- Sharpness (no handshake)
- Time- or hyper-lapse
- Helps with framing a shot
- (Self) portraits
- HDR photography (multiple pictures)
- Macro photography
- While using a telephoto lens
- For creativity reasons
There are many choices when it comes to tripods for smartphones. But with this small one, you can’t go wrong. It easily fits in a jacket pocket or smartphone camera bag and hardly weighs anything. The legs are adjustable, which means the tripod can vary in height a little bit. It also comes with a 360 degrees rotation and 90 degrees tilt.
➽ If you have a tiny bit bigger budget (under $16), go for the Gorillapod-like tripod with a remote shutter and smartphone mount in one.
Smartphone photography gifts under 25 dollars
4. Wide-Angle and Macro Lens kit
What can make smartphone photography even more fun? A clip-on lens kit with a wide-angle and macro lens from Criacr Store.
Some camera phones come with a built-in wide-angle lens, but most beginner smartphone photographers have a phone that does not have that feature yet. And first-time macro lens users tend to get very excited as well. It will open up a whole new photography world. Dive into the world of butterflies, flowers, ants, and other small creatures in the forests or fields.
With this Criacr lens kit, you can get more in one shot and get closer to the subject than before. The Criarc lens kit comes with a 0.6X super wide-angle lens and an upgraded 15X macro lens made of lanthanide optical glass with top-grade aluminum construction for enhanced durability.
Fortunately, it has no dark corners while using the wide-angle lens, which we have seen otherwise in other products, unfortunately.
You can capture clear images with the macro lens, which are in greater detail at a distance of 1.18-1.57 inches from the subject of your photographs.
User tip: Sometimes, you have to remove the case to use the clip-on lenses, but it even works with the protective case on our smartphones. The lens fits best when the phone’s lens is at no greater distance than 2.5 centimeters from the phone’s edge and the lens is no greater than 1.1. cm in diameter.
You can find the clip-on lens kit for under 25 dollars on Amazon.
We have tried other clip-on lenses for macro and wide-angle, and fish-eye photography. You can find them in our recommended gear list.
5. iPhone and Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Cases
A smartphone case is not only aesthetically pleasing but also serves a purpose. Your phone is protected from dirt and sand, it won’t scratch as quickly, and sometimes you can put some personal belongings. Think about that small, lightweight microfiber cloth for cleaning your lenses.
You can find some pretty awesome stuff on a website like Redbubble. So, if you want to give your loved ones a unique smartphone case, take a look here.
Apart from being a Redbubble artist myself, we love the artwork from Cat Coquilette, Little Clyde, and Tordis.
Kayma. Redbubble is a marketplace for fully independent artists to showcase their drawings, digital art, photographs, and paintings. We have been an artist on Redbubble for four years now, and it is much fun to see how many people worldwide buy our stuff.
Here are a few of our favorite smartphone case designs, but feel free to browse yourself.
Cat Coquilette Phone Cases
Designer speaking: “Hello! My name is Cat Coquillette, and I am the founder of CatCoq, an illustration and design brand. My work typically incorporates bright pops of color, vibrant typography, and clean linework. You can find my designs in retail stores like Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, Home Goods, Barnes & Noble, and Modcloth.”
You can buy this phone case from Redbubble. Prices start at around $25.25
Little Clyde Phone Cases
“My work is a study of introspection, nostalgia, joy, and imagination. With a heavy emphasis on nature, I like to combine analog painting with digital techniques to create a unique style. I’ve been inspired by many different landscapes, from my early childhood in suburban New York to my formative island years in Hawaii, and the many stops from there to my current home in the ever-changing city of Berlin, Germany.”
You can buy this phone case from Redbubble. Prices start at around $25.72
Tordis Kayma Phone Cases
“In the early hours of the day, when the first rays of sun start to fill the sky, a morning mist takes effect, transforming the German forest into a landscape rich with inspiration for Tordis Kayma. He wanders nature taking atmospheric shots of forest landscapes, foggy mountains, and northern night skies.”
You can buy this phone case from Redbubble. Prices start at around $25.72
More info & prices
You will pay somewhere between $20 and $30 for an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone case on Redbubble.
6. Moment Lens and Gear Bag
Although smartphone accessories tend to be relatively small, gathering more lenses, microfiber cloths, charging cables, memory cards, and power banks might get messy in your pockets or bag.
One of our favorite gear bags for smartphone photographers is the Moment Lens Bag. This travel case keeps all your tools and accessories tidy in one place. It is made from canvas and leather and comes with multiple storage compartments. There are sealed and padded spaces for your lenses. It weighs 174 grams and is 7.5″ in width x 5.4″ in height x 1.8″ in depth.
The Moment Lens Bag can carry:
- Up to 4 lenses
- Smaller external batteries, mini tripods, and charging cables
- Small lighting accessories
- Other devices or small cameras
- Memory cards
- Extra mount plates
- Small notebooks
- Pens/pencils
- Small microphones
You can buy the Moment Lens Bag in the Moment shop.
Smartphone photography gifts under 100 dollars
7. Portable Digital Bluetooth Printer
What is more fun than taking and editing images at your Christmas gathering and printing the photos on the go? This portable Bluetooth printer from KODAK does just that.
It is a compact and lightweight digital printer that you can pair with any Android or iOS device, including tablets. A rechargeable battery, an intuitive app, and some photo paper are included.
The KODAK Smile printer can quickly print 2 x 3-inch photos through augmented-reality support through the fun and straightforward app. It is a small, pocket-sized device that is battery-powered, so you can take and charge it everywhere. We especially liked the rubber foot on the bottom of the device, giving it some grip on slick surfaces. You can find the printer in different colors; white, black, blue, green, or red.
You will need to download the KODAK Smile photo app to your smartphone to use the portable mini printer. It is available from the Android and iOS stores. Don’t overdo the tinted color filters, borders, and emojis! Augmented reality lets you take a short video of which you can print a single image.
You can pick this device up for just under $100 on Amazon.
Pro-tip: the KODAK Smile Zink photo paper is a bit pricey, so choose which photos to print wisely. Refills come in packs of 20 or 50 sheets.
8. Smartphone Gimbal
When your smartphone photography friend is shooting awesome videos, you also want to buy them a smartphone gimbal. It will make their video shooting more straightforward, flexible, fun, and professional.
The iSteady Gimbal from Hohem comes in different sizes and models, all under $100. The foldable design enables you to carry it in your pocket, purse, or smartphone gear bag, and it only weighs 0.57 ounces. That must be the lightest gimbal we have ever seen yet.
It is compatible with smartphone devices with a maximum:
- weight of 0.62 lbs or 280 grams,
- the thickness of e 0.4 inches or 11 mm
- width of 2.2 to 3.5 inches or 58 to 89 mm
The iSteady has lots of features and gimmicks; let us walk you through the most significant ones:
- Foldable
- Pocket-size
- Stabilization, anti-shake performance
- It works as a phone stand
- Ultra-wide compatibility
- Automatic upside-down detection
- User-friendly
- Pan and tilt
- Sport mode
- One-tap auto templates
- inception
- dolly zoom
- timelapse
- panoramas
With the Hohem Pro, this smartphone Gimbal can even track faces and add beauty filters. It is straightforward and intuitive to operate this device. You can’t get wrong with this fantastic gift.
Smartphone Photography Gifts for someone special
Suppose you do not care about the price tag and are looking for something unforgettable for someone special. Then, these presents are the way to go.
9. Pro Lens Set with Case and Lens Pen
Moment manufactures professional smartphone lenses to get wide-angle, macro, and anamorphic results. To get photographers started, you can choose the pro lens set with three lenses of your choice, a high-class phone case in walnut wood or black canvas with a mounting system, and a lens pen to keep your lenses clean.
The price varies between $285 and $330 for the complete set, depending on your selected products. You can get your lens set here from the Moment Shop.
The Moment Pro Lens Set comes with three different lenses. You can choose from the following:
- Anamorphic blue lens
- Anamorphic gold lens
- Fisheye lens
- Macro lens
- Wide-Angle lens
- Telephoto lens
The lenses are all made of high-quality hand-polished glass and aerospace-grade metal used in high-end film lenses.
Although there are many cheaper lenses on the market, the Moment lenses are well worth the investment. They have a Moment Camera app for iPhones available, making manual control of your smartphone camera possible. Android users can use other camera apps or the native camera app from your manufacturer. If possible, shoot in RAW; you will get the best possible results. Read here how to shoot RAW with a smartphone.
➽ You can find the best price for the Moment Pro Lens Kit on the Moment website.
10. Professional Smartphone Camera
Christmas Photography on a tiny Budget
Who will you give one of these fantastic gifts? If you only have a few bucks to spend, you might want to consider a preset for Lightroom. It will enhance the images with a single click. We have some lovely Orange & Teal examples available from this page.
We hope you found a great gift for your smartphone photographer, friend, or family member. Enjoy the holidays, and we will see you again next year.
