Interesting Android App for Canon DSLR Cameras

[rpcrowe]

Although I don't have an Android device (the salesperson talked me into getting a Windows based Smartphone and my wife bought an IPAD tablet); this Android App looks like it might be handy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_3N3...eature=related

I didn't look at this video long enough to see if the Android device could control a Canon DSLR in video mode, but if it did, it would be great for many video shots. There are several stablizing rigs on the market which either need, or would benefit from a remote viewer.

It would also be good for having your camera suspended on a monopod or some other pole type device to enable you to shoot over the heads of crowds and to shoot over walls and fences while seeing what the camera is seeing.

It seems, if you were able to mount the Android devce on something to hold it, that it would be good for very low level macro work.

The app itself is cheap enough and simply needs a USB connection between the camera and the tablet,

I would expect that the tablet would benefit from some sort of a sun shield shen used as an auxillary viewer for a camera...

[Donald]

That is weird - I came across the exact same thing yesterday and made reference to it in this thread. I was trying to think in what situations you'd want to use it. The low level stuff certainly came to mind.

[Mahn England]

Hi Richard,

I have this app for my Galaxy II phone that runs on Android 4.0.3. It is great and works in the video mode equally well.

I bought it to help with low tripod mounted landscape shots.

In full sun the LCD on the phone is challenged but no more than the LCD screen on the camera.

[Val Mansfield]

Hi Richard,

I have this app for my Galaxy II phone that runs on Android 4.0.3. It is great and works in the video mode equally well.

I bought it to help with low tripod mounted landscape shots.

In full sun the LCD on the phone is challenged but no more than the LCD screen on the camera.

Are we going to once again see photographers covering their heads with a black cloth?

[Donald]

Are we going to once again see photographers covering their heads with a black cloth?

Now there's an idea!

[rpcrowe]

I wonder if the Hoodman Loup (or some such device) would help to shield a phone LCD from the sun. I also wonder how accurate the focusing would be. If it were accurate and you could focus in macro work using an 8-10 inch (or so) screen of a tablet rather than the small LCD of a phone or camera, it would be quite neat. This would depend on fabricating a way to hold the tablet. I have a video rig which has some very sturdy cold shoes. If a way to mount the tablet on the cold shoe could be designed, it would be neat.

Many video setups benefit or actually require a larger independent viewer. Usually, a video monitor of some type is used but, if a way to mount an Android tablet could be fabricated it would be great for some one who owned an Android tablet or it might just be the reason for a photographer to select an Android tablet over an IPAD. As far as I can see on my wife's IPAD, there is no USB slot.

I have been looking at a Vizio tablet from Costco (a national discopunt chain) which is now selling for below $200 USD. I might just snap one up. I would just use it where I have WiFi access because I don't want to incur an additional service charge from the telephone company. However, this tablet has a stand alone GPS which doesn't require Internet access to use. Since my wife has the IPAD with wireless service to use when we travel, I would have no problems using a rig that requires WiFi to access the Internet.

[Donald]

For any Canon users interested in DSLR Controller, there is a dedicated website here .

[Donald]

I've just downloaded it and having been trying on my Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet. Seeing things at 10.1" is pretty good.

Because I have an old-fashioned 40D (VxWorks as opposed to DryOS - I don't know what it means either, but the website told me that was so), some of the functions don't work (such as autofocus tapping on the image on the screen). However, there are other means to manually focus from the tablet.

What all the stuff on websites and App stores doesn't tell you (or, I didn't see it anyway) is that this also can be set up as a timer for multiple shooting. You can set it for shooting a specific number of frames of a specific duration over a specific period of time, or continuously. Now, if you haven't already got the gear to do this, that is neat.

Must admit, I'm rather impressed.

[loosecanon]

This app works well with my 7D. More control than the CAMERA controls, and as one can use several metres long USB cable one gets remote operation. Really good when copying as large screen on tablet enables easy accurate framing. And it is cheap, think a few years ago this would have required a dedicated device at several hundred pounds cost.

[Donald]

This app works well with my 7D.

That's good news too.

Have you found out, is there any way that you can save images to the Tablet at the same time as capturing the file on the card in the camera?

[dje]

That's good news too.

Have you found out, is there any way that you can save images to the Tablet at the same time as capturing the file on the card in the camera?

I have this app too and it works well on my 600D. I was wondering the same thing Donald but as far as I can see you can't do this. It would be great if you could.

Dave

[IanCD]

...and for Nikon users, though DSLR Controller will only work with Canon, Helicon Remote works a treat: installed on Asus Transformer Infinity which I'm just getting to grips with... and loving it..!

[Mahn England]

This would depend on fabricating a way to hold the tablet. I have a video rig which has some very sturdy cold shoes. If a way to mount the tablet on the cold shoe could be designed, it would be neat.

RAM mounts could have a solution:

http://www.rammount.com/

[rpcrowe]

As time progresses, I get more disappointed that I let the salesman talk me into a Windows Based Smart phone when I went into the store with the intention of getting an Android model. I would love to be able to elevate my DSLR on my monopod and view what I am seeing on my smart phone. However, my smart phone apparently is not as "smart" as Android smart phones...

[enaiman]

This app has been mentioned before in Android related threads (I am pretty sure I mentioned it at least once) but didn't cause much interest.
Glad to see that finally gets noticed

Better late than never

[Donald]

This app has been mentioned before in Android related threads (I am pretty sure I mentioned it at least once) but didn't cause much interest.
Glad to see that finally gets noticed

Better late than never

Eugen

That was in my pre-new Tablet/Android days when 'Apps' were a mystery and 'new-fangled' nonsense to me. If I saw anything about Apps, I just passed it by.

But we change! And as I now, because of work related reasons and the need to manage documentation better and the desire to be able to make handwritten notes on computer rather than on paper, embrace this new technology I begin to see what it can offer ... without allowing it to take over my life (Now, where's my Thinkpad so it can give me directions to get to the kitchen).

You were just too far ahead of me at the time.

[enaiman]

No worries Donald

It's a nice app and it is the best for tethered shooting (with a tablet of course, because there is a Canon native app for PC and Mac).
I find it best as a focus helper, the 10' display makes possible to achieve the best focus.

Another useful app is the Eye-Fi (hardware needed and camera needs to have Eye-Fi support) - it allows the images to be transferred to the tablet as soon as you take them.