iPhone and iPod Touch users

[ATJ]

I'm not sure I want to blow $23.99 to find out how it works, but this looks very interesting: DLSR Camera Remote.

There's a "Lite" version for $2.49.

Note that the camera has to be connected to a WiFi enabled computer, so it isn't fully remote, but for Nikon users it might be better than Camera Control.

[eric_r]

nice that you can see all your settings and reviews your photos on the phone, but it seems a bit gimmicky and fiddly imho

[ATJ]

My fear is that you need a PC with WiFi access. I wonder where the PC just needs WiFi or an active WiFi connection. If the latter, it would be very limited. i.e. is it just straight WiFi between the iPhone/iPod and the PC or do both need to be connected to a WAP.

[DaveB]

If you're running a Mac laptop you can easily set up an ad-hoc network without a base station (WAP) and the iPhone will connect to it. I've done this for someoff-site demos, and things like syncing PasswordWallet when I'm away from home.

Presumably Windows is smart enough to do this also?

I'm hopeful that someone will make an interface between the iPhone dock connector and the camera's USB port...

[gstark]

Presumably Windows is smart enough to do this also?

Yep.

If you're running some network aware apps, then occasionally this needs to be done, in order to keep the facilites alive. That's how dumb the default Windoze networking is.

[ATJ]

I'm hopeful that someone will make an interface between the iPhone dock connector and the camera's USB port...

That's exactly what I expected when I saw this and was disappointed to see you need a PC.

[stubbsy]

ANdrew

I got spam fron OnOne extolling the virtues of this as well. On their web site they have a video showing being used to takes pics from the backbiard of a basketball hoop. They show, but gloss over, the fact that it has to be connected via a cable to a PC of some kind (as you mention). To me that's the weak point. They also say no internet needed, just wifi. To me its of limited use.

[Big V]

I use this application when I am taking astronomical photos at the observatory. Why - because it allows me to be downstairs using another telescope for visual use and still give me control over what is going on. The itouch displays the photo at the end of each exposure, allowing me to check that the tracking is still working etc. I can maximise my time and it saves me walking up the stairs to check that all is well with the set up. As my camera is tethered to my laptop anyway it is not an issue. The range I can operate this from is around 30m and it has that cool factor when some one asks me what I am imaging up at the main observatory and I can show them in real time. It works as advertised, is simple to configure and is the perfect application for my astronomy work.

[DaveB]

Actually I'll be surprised if a simple iPhone dock to camera cable comes out for something like this. You never want a program on the phone being the thing that tells the camera to trigger the shutter. Consider what would happen if you received a phone call in the middle of the program doing a bulb exposure or an extensive bracket sequence. The phone side of the iPhone would take over and your photos would be ruined.
You need something (e.g. the remote server software in this case) that the iPhone can send a command to and have it take care of the detailed sequence.

Also note that they have not reverse-engineered the USB protocol being used to control the cameras, receive video, etc. Canon (and Nikon) doesn't publish that info, and the only supported way to connect to the cameras is via the Canon/Nikon SDK libraries (which are linked into the server software). These are only available for Windows and OS X at the moment.

So until someone reverse-engineers the proprietary Canon/Nikon USB protocols (and manages to avoid any lawsuits along the way) the only way something like this can work is to have a Windows or OS X box between the iPhone and the camera. Currently a netbook is the smallest solution for this available, but even that is a bit awkward slung underneath your tripod to handle fancy HDR bracketing sequences/etc in the outdoors...

[gstark]

Consider what would happen if you received a phone call in the middle of the program doing a bulb exposure or an extensive bracket sequence.

But if that ever happens on the iPhone, it's really an issue of operator error. It's all too easy to just go into your iPhone settings, and switch it into Airplane Mode, thus avoiding this potential pitfall.

Of course, the issue of this product requiring a linked computer of some sort is, IMHO, problematic. For what's supposed to be a somewhat portable solution, that requirement makes the solution significantly less than portable. As much as I like the conceptual elegance of using the iPhone for this sort of task, I do not think that this solution achieves its potential precisely because of its onerous requirements.

Far easier to just grab a Hector or Hero from Phottix (I have several here) which can do the job tethered, in the case of Hector, or fully wirelessly, in the case of the Hero.