SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max Cage & Creator Kit review: a more secure grip while filming

SmallRig is a China-based company whose name does exactly what it says on the tin. It designs and manufactures a comprehensive range of configurable metal rigs and cages for cameras of all shapes and sizes, from mirrorless models like the Sony Alpha 7 V to smartphones like the iPhone 18 Pro Max. These cages let you attach accessories such as support handles for smoother pans, tilts, and crane-like movements.

Smartphones such as the iPhone 18 Pro range use a combination of hardware and software stabilisation to capture smoother video clips, but the addition of a cage’s dual support handles makes it far easier to perform deliberate, controlled camera movements. The handles also give you a much firmer grip on your shiny, slippery iPhone 18 Pro Max, especially when shooting out of a window on the 38th floor, as you'll discover later in this review!

The cage's configurable cold shoe mounts provide convenient attachment points for kit like compact LED panels and shotgun microphones, helping you get more professional-looking results with your rig-mounted iPhone.

I recently bought a shiny new iPhone 18 Pro Max to shoot supporting videos for my Digital Camera World product reviews, so I was excited when my commissioning editor sent me the SmallRig Dual Handed Cage to test. When recording a review, I usually pop my iPhone onto a mini Manfrotto PIXI tripod or attach it to a Hohem iSteady V3 Ultra gimbal. However, although motorised stabilisers are great for smooth motion, they do need charging. A handheld cage, on the other hand, keeps going as long as I can hold out until my next coffee break.

SmallRig also makes similar cages for other iPhones, so this review should still be of interest even if you're not using an 18 Pro Max - see our Alternatives section.

Specifications

Price

The SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max VND Creator Kit retails for $199 / £180. This is the version I tested, with a metal filter backplate that clips into the cage, allowing you to position the supplied variable ND filter over your iPhone Pro Max’s three rear camera lenses. If you don't need a neutral density filter, and I didn't find it particularly useful during my dull day and nocturnal test shoots, you can save yourself some money by opting for the Standard Kit, which is considerably more affordable.

I think this price range is a reasonable price to pay for an accessory that transforms your already expensive iPhone 18 Pro Max into an even more versatile tool for shooting video and stills. It's also a modular system, with configurable cold shoe mounts that let you expand its capabilities by adding third-party accessories such as LED lights and microphones. SmallRig lent me a branded 1-terabyte SSD, so I could capture external video during my test shoots.

But if you're already using an iPhone Pro Max, you're probably no stranger to spending extra to improve the quality of your footage, and the SSD certainly makes it easier to shoot Apple ProRes Log footage without filling up your iPhone's internal storage. More on that later in the review.

Design and handling

The SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max VND Creator Kit consists of a variety of components. The key component is a gunmetal grey cage that's designed to fit snugly around your iPhone 18 Pro Max. Silicone buttons built into the cage’s edges enable you to operate the iPhone's physical controls, such as the volume and power buttons.

There is one notable exception when it comes to buttons. There's no silicone button on the edge of the cage to operate the iPhone's Camera Control button. At first, I was surprised by this omission. However, I soon realised that the reason for this is the remote control unit supplied with the kit, which offers a more tactile way to zoom in and out, as well as triggering the capture of photos and video.

The remote has a miniature joystick that works in conjunction with the iPhone's native Camera app. Thumb the joystick right to zoom in, jumping between the iPhone's cameras, or left to zoom out. There are also handy + and – buttons that enable you to jump more quickly between preset zoom levels such as 1x, 2x, etc. Interestingly, the presets ignore the 8x optical zoom available on the iPhone 18 Pro Max. You can also slide the joystick vertically to adjust exposure. Indeed, I found the SmallRig remote’s physical controls much easier to use than the iPhone's native tap-and-swipe Camera Control button or the Camera app's on-screen icons.

The remote also has a physical red shutter button, which makes it much easier to snap a photo or start/stop video recording than tapping an on-screen icon. Having these controls conveniently positioned beneath your thumb makes operating the cage-mounted iPhone 18 Pro Max feel more like using a dedicated camera or camcorder. And if you’re left-handed, you can easily slide the remote into a slot on the left handle (or even operate it remotely from up to 10 meters).

The rig ships with two handles. These are designed to attach securely to any of the cage's four sides, enabling you to shoot vertically or horizontally with ease. The handles can be adjusted for height and even rotated, allowing you to capture low or high-angle shots while maintaining a comfortable grip.

Initially, I struggled to attach the handles at all! I pressed a handle's spring-loaded button in an attempt to open its clip, but couldn't squeeze it onto the edge of the cage. After 10 minutes of head-scratching, a quick Google search led me to a product demonstration on YouTube where I discovered that you need to slide the handles onto the cage using grooves running along its edges. This SR-MicroSlide system is a relatively new design, which explains why it took me a while to suss it out. Once attached, the handles can be loosened and slid up or down the cage to achieve your preferred position. The handles also feature tactile silicone inserts that make them comfortable to hold and provide a reassuringly secure grip.

Two metal cold shoe mounts are also supplied. Like the handles, these also use the SR-MicroSlide system to be positioned along the top or sides of the cage, providing attachment points for third-party accessories such as LED lights and microphones. Their spring-loaded locking buttons feature distinctive orange inserts, indicating where to press when adjusting the position of an accessory. This modular system makes it easy to configure the rig to suit different shooting scenarios. The cage edge also contains threads that you can use to pop the rig onto a tripod such as the Manfrotto PIXI.

Because I was reviewing the VND version of the SmallRig Dual Handle Kit, I also had a small black metal filter backplate to attach to the cage. This slides into position over the iPhone's three rear cameras, enabling you to attach the supplied variable neutral density (VND) filter in an instant. The filter connects magnetically to the plate, making it quick and convenient to attach or remove as lighting conditions change.

Performance

I took the SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max VND Creator Kit on two test shoots. The first involved a wander around my local park and town centre to capture some scenic B-roll clips. You can see the results in the supporting video in our Performance section (unless you're reading this via Apple News).

Now, I tend to avoid shooting in professional formats such as Apple ProRes Log due to the enormous file sizes involved. However, SmallRig had supplied an additional SmallRig 1TB SSD for me to try out in conjunction with the cage.

The cage has a large opening at the front that enables you to attach MagSafe accessories such as the SmallRig SSD. A short, supplied 10Gbps USB-C cable connects the iPhone 18 Pro Max to the drive. Once I'd registered the SSD using the Kocard app, I was able to record ProRes footage directly onto it (and never needed to look at the Kocard app again!).

I was particularly keen to capture some Apple Log footage, as I wanted to experiment with Premiere Pro's high-end colour grading tools for a separate review. The cage-mounted SSD handled 4K ProRes Log footage without dropping a single frame during my tests! The SSD’s cable slips through the hole in the side of the metal cage and slots neatly into the iPhone’s USB-C port. However, I also like to record audio by plugging a wireless microphone receiver directly into my iPhone’s USB-C port. This isn’t possible when the iPhone is surrounded by the cage, as there isn’t enough room for a bulky receiver’s male plug to insert into the iPhone’s female USB-C socket. You could, however, attach a shotgun-style microphone using a suitable cable, or connect a wireless receiver via a short USB-C extension cable. This issue is something to bear in mind if you plan to use a wireless microphone to capture audio on your iPhone 18 Pro Max.

My handheld iPhone 18 Pro Max is already perfectly capable of capturing smooth pans and tracking shots, thanks to a combination of optical image stabilisation hardware and in-camera software processing. However, holding the cage's two handles positioned my hands further apart, helping me to smooth out my camera movements even more. I also found it easier to perform cranes, tilts, and tracking shots, as the rubberised handles gave me a much firmer grip on my iPhone. The rig also helped me capture stable footage when using the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s 8 times optical zoom. Pans in particular looked tripod-smooth using this rig, as you can see from my test footage.

When shooting with a motorised gimbal, I sometimes need to fiddle around when switching between vertical and horizontal orientations. With the SmallRig cage, changing orientation was effortless and took just a second, simply by adjusting my grip on the handles. And unlike a motorised gimbal, my handheld rig could keep shooting for as long as I had the energy!

I did have the VND filter magnetically attached to the rig’s metal plate during my first daylight shoot. This enabled me to adjust the light entering the iPhone’s camera by a 6- to 9-stop range. It wasn’t the brightest day, so I didn’t really need to use the VND filter. I also found that it was a bit fiddly to rotate the filter to adjust its effect, as the edge of the filter was too close to the handle on the left. After my first test shoot, I popped into Costa Coffee for a drink. The rig caught the eye of the barista, so I spent a while telling him how useful it had been. If you want to show off your iPhone 18 Pro Max, then this rig makes it even more eye-catching.

My second test shoot with the SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max VND Creator Kit involved a trip to capture a model against bright city lights at night. I’d been given a Godox A2 smartphone flash to test, and this clamped nicely and securely via MagSafe onto the front of my cage-mounted iPhone 18 Pro Max. Unlike my daytime video shoot, my city shoot focused on capturing stills.

When shooting a professional model with a ‘naked’ iPhone, I can suffer from ‘impostor syndrome’ as I feel that I don’t look like a ‘proper’ photographer. The iPhone 18 Pro Max looked more impressive when mounted in the SmallRig cage, and the MagSafe-attached flash also helped the model know when I’d snapped a shot, so that she could then automatically change her pose. I also enjoyed tapping the red button on the rig’s remote to capture each shot.

I rounded off the shoot by holding the iPhone out of a 38th-floor apartment window to capture the amazing view of the River Thames snaking through London’s illuminated skyline. Normally I’d be too scared to hold a shiny, slippery iPhone out of a window at this altitude, but the SmallRig cage’s dual handles gave me a firm purchase on my precious iPhone, and the physical shutter button made it easy to trigger the camera. As I was shooting using the Camera app’s Night Node, the dual handles also made it easier to hold the iPhone steady during the long exposure.

On my train trip home from the city shoot, I kept the iPhone 18 Pro Max mounted inside the cage. The rig made it comfortable to hold the iPhone as I enjoyed swiping through my camera roll to see if I’d captured any Instagram-worthy night shots to share!

Verdict

I enjoyed using the SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max VND Creator Kit for capturing both stills and video clips. When making camera moves such as pans and cranes, I found that the widely spaced dual handles enabled me to manoeuvre my cage-mounted iPhone smoothly and with confidence. The opening in the cage for attaching MagSafe accessories, such as the SmallRig 1TB SSD, was also very handy.

My only disappointment was the inability to attach a wireless microphone receiver to the iPhone, due to the limited clearance between the cage's edge and the iPhone 18 Pro Max’s USB-C socket.

As well as capturing video, I also enjoyed using the SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max VND Creator Kit when shooting stills. It was small and portable enough for me to shoot in Canary Wharf without attracting the attention of security personnel (and potentially being chased away!), yet the rig looked more impressive to my model than a 'naked' iPhone would have done.

The SmallRig iPhone 18 Pro Max VND Creator Kit is highly recommended if you want to improve your performance as an iPhone videographer or photographer, especially thanks to the tactile remote control unit. And if you don’t need the VND filter, then the Standard version of the rig will save you quite a bit of money.

Alternatives

SmallRig All-In-One Kit for Smartphone

If you have a non-Apple smartphone, then this kit is well worth a look. It has a universal mount, so it will fit Android or Apple devices with ease. A major bonus is the inclusion of accessories such as a mini LED and tripod. And thanks to more space around the phone, you should be able to plug in a wireless mic receiver. It doesn’t feature a remote control, though.

RØDE Phone Cage

The RØDE Phone Cage enables you to attach a MagSafe smartphone to the cage via a magnet. There’s plenty of space around the cage-mounted phone to plug in a wireless mic receiver. It has built-in shoe mounts for you to attach third-party accessories such as LEDs and shotgun mics. Note: Handles sold separately.