The very awesome CamRanger
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If you're like me, you'd like to be able to remotely control your DSLR from your iPhone, or iPad device. You'd like to be able to work in Live View without being tethered to the camera. You'd like to be able to SIMPLY set up intervalometer shots. You don't want to pay hundreds of dollars for a crappy wireless adapter from the camera manufacturer when they build it in to their cheap point and shoots. You don't want to pay good money for ancient wireless protocols. You also don't necessarily want to spend hundreds of dollars for a remote radio based trigger system that is closed and proprietary.
While more and more DSLR and DSLM manufacturers are including wireless and GPS in their products each day, like they've been doing for years with the point and pukes, robust remote control has been dodgy and usually required tethering the camera to a laptop, then loading some software on your mobile, spinning around six times, bowing to the north star and then sacrificing a goat.
Stupid
Along comes the CamRanger. Inexpensive it isn't. Simple it is. Connect the CamRanger to your Canon or Nikon DSLR camera (no Sony, Olympus or Pentax support at this time) with the supplied USB cable. Turn it on. Connect to the wireless network the CamRanger creates with your mobile device. Launch the app on your device. That's all there is too it.
You can not only take pictures, you can control many of your camera settings, do intervalometer style time lapses, use Live View, download images directly to your tablet for viewing or editing and much more.
Here's a series of screen grabs from my iPad the night I set the device up the first time.
It's pretty darn simple. It comes in a little case that can clip to your tripod or camera strap and the USB cable is long enough not to be a pain and not too long that you pull it out of the camera.
In addition to "normal" shots you have great levels of focus control for macro work and even if you want to do focus stacking for combining later in Photoshop.
Android and Windows support are in development now and should be out around the June 2013 timeframe according to the manufacturer. The manufacturer has a beta client for Mac OSX available for download on their website so yes! wireless tethering to your laptop!
To find out if it works with your camera, follow this link. The unit retails for $299 USD and as of this writing is not handled by any Canadian retailers but you can get it online from CamRanger direct or from B&H by clicking the link below and helping to support The Photo Video Guy.
