I recently came back from traveling with my family. This was a long trip we'd spent years planning and budgeting for — it was a big deal for us. For me, taking pictures is a big part of travel (and of having kids, and of life in general, I suppose). Yet for most of that trip, I did not have a "real" camera on me — just my iPhone. I did pack my Sony a6400 in case I'd want it, but ended up using it exactly twice when our adventures called for a more serious tele lens.
This wasn't by mistake or out of laziness — it was because I used my iPhone with a weird little gadget called the Fjorden Grip. I got the grip and a dedicated case it snaps into. The entire package — phone with grip installed — is small enough to fit into my pants pocket easily.
In my hand, though, it feels remarkably close to a "real" camera, especially when used with the right app on my phone (more on that later). The grip is compact but still provides a nice hump for my fingers to grab onto for stability. When I do that, my index finger falls right on a two-stage shutter button (you can half-press to focus). Right next to the shutter is a jog, which can be used for adjusting exposure or manual focus. The final control on the top of the grip is a secondary button, which I had no particular use for.
On the body of the grip, right under the top panel of controls, you'll find a zoom lever. This works in an interesting way: Flick it quickly, and your iPhone jumps to the next lens over; press and hold, and the iPhone smoothly zooms in, transparently switching lenses. It's also pressure sensitive, so if you press harder, it zooms faster. This, along with being able to half-press the shutter button to lock focus/exposure and recompose my shot, let me pretend my iPhone is a real camera in most circumstances.
Fjorden made a couple of interesting choices with the grip when it comes to mounting and power. Rather than attach to the iPhone via MagSafe, Fjorden opted for plastic clips. I bought the grip with a dedicated case for my phone, that looks like any other case but has three strategically-located holes. The grip clips onto the big hole with a couple of prongs, and the two holes near the bottom help keep it centered (technically you can also rotate it and flip it "out" but I did not find that useful).
If you don't buy the case, you have to at least use an adhesive plate with this custom hole pattern (the cheapest bundle comes with this plate). Fjorden does also offer a MagSafe adaptor but it's much bulkier and I don't know if the phone and the grip are as securely connected. The mechanical connection used in the case felt stable and secure. The case also has a lanyard connection loop. You can opt to buy Fjorden's lanyard and clip, but I just went with a piece of paracord and an S-biner. This combination was very sturdy — I'd slip the lanyard on my wrist or palm, hold onto the grip, and feel completely comfortable holding my phone with one hand out of a dolphin-watching boat or while riding a horse (I did say it as a big trip!).
The other half of the Fjorden experience is, of course, the app. Fjorden does offer an official app. This app used to be free to use even without the grip, but after Leica bought Fjorden they took that away. I don't love the official app anyway and would not recommend it.
What I do recommend is an app called ProCamera by Cocologics (there are a few apps called "Pro Camera"). This app connects to the grip seamlessly and can use all of the grip's controls. Depending on the mode you choose, you can use the jog to adjust aperture, exposure time, global EV value, manual focus, etc. It's a great app even without the grip, especially for taking still photos.
In order for any app (including Fjorden's own) to use all of the features of the grip, the phone has to be unlocked. Taking a moment to unlock your phone and launch the app can cost a shot — that's no good. Instead, what I ended up doing is using iOS 18's newfound ability to customize the homescreen buttons. Where the normal camera button is, I put a button that launches ProCamera. Then I can take my shot with my preferred app — but the grip doesn't fully work yet (only the shutter button, which sends a simple volume button press). If I then have a few more moments, I simply double-tap the back of my phone. I mapped the double back-tap feature to open the same app, but then the phone tries to unlock to do that.
In practice, this means I can take a shot within seconds from pulling the phone out of my pocket, but at the same time I already have my hand on the controls and can quickly double-tap the back of my phone to gain full manual control. It was a little tricky to set up, but it worked well in practice.
Another interesting choice Fjorden made is powering the grip using a coin cell battery. That's right — no rechargeable battery that dies after a few years. The coin cell lasts for months of use. These batteries are easy to find almost anywhere in the world, and hardly take up any space if you want to pack one or two in advance, just in case.
The surprise
I was surprised to realize the Fjorden actually was worth it for me. It was a purchase I wasn't sure about: This is a $300 phone accessory! I was on the fence for quite a while, but then I decided to compare the price to a camera body or even a simple lens rather than a phone accessory. Suddenly the price felt slightly less crazy, and I went for it. And what do you know, the grip delivered.
I'm also quite happy about the future-proof choices Fjorden made here. The API is open, the power source is user-replaceable, the mounting system can easily be used on future iPhone models and doesn't rely on MagSafe or other Apple-locked standards. This is a gadget I see myself using for years to come.
