Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
When it comes to gimbals, there’s no shortage of them on the market these days. So, why has the Zhiyun Weebill 2 become my favourite over the last few weeks? Well, mostly because it makes my life a million times easier when shooting on my own or filming myself.
The Zhiyun Weebill 2 is the follow up to the popular Zhiyun Weebill-S. It’s grown a little in size and weight over its predecessor but comes with some new unique extras. Like that built-in flippy out touchscreen LCD.
Syrp has announced their new Genie Micro. Unlike other devices that bear the Genie name, this one isn’t a pan head or slider motor. In fact, it’s not motorised at all. It’s actually a smart remote device for controlling your camera with your smartphone using the Syrp app. With it, you get an array of triggering options, including bulb ramping, stop motion and HDR bracketing.
Unlike a lot of triggering devices out there, this one doesn’t just tell your camera when to fire, but actually communicates with your camera over USB to adjust settings – as if you were shooting tethered to a computer. But, it does have the option to use a standard trigger cable for just firing, too.
Whether stills or video, one of the items many photographers and filmmakers often need is remote control over their cameras. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K already has one option in the form of a smartphone app, but now we have another option, the tiny Pocket Bluetooth Controller (PBC) from CDA-Tek.
The original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera was named such because it could relatively easily fit in your pocket. The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (we’ll just call it the Pocket 4K from here) might be a continuation of that series, but it certainly doesn’t fit into most pockets.
There is some hope, though. No, the camera hasn’t shrunk and pockets haven’t gotten bigger, but there is now a pocket-sized controller for it. A new app from SayEffect offers complete remote control of the Pocket 4K from your Android device. And it does it by offering touchscreen menus that are almost identical to the camera itself.
Introduced with the Nikon D500, SnapBridge is Nikon’s proprietary system for communicating with its recent DSLRs using your mobile device. When it was first announced, I was quite excited over the possibilities, but ultimately underwhelmed with it finally released.
Now, Nikon say they’ve listened to user feedback and have released SnapBridge 2.0. The new version of the app comes with a new UI, better battery life, and more remote control options.
If you’d like to control Lightroom on your computer through your mobile device, Control Room app lets you do exactly this. Young software engineer Aaron Vizzini developed this app, and it turns your smartphone or tablet into an external control panel. This means you can sit back, control the settings on your phone or tablet, and watch them get applied to the image on your computer.
Sony first mentioned their new wireless radio controlled flash system in March and officially launched it in July. It allows the control of up to 15 separate flash units in up to 5 different groups. A very useful and welcome addition for Sony shooters. But, not every camera has been able to support the new system.
Sony have now released firmware v3.30 for the Sony A7R II. This update adds support for the new system, as well as a couple of other fixes and features.
For several years now, Camranger has been the only choice if you want to tether your Nikon, Sony or Canon DSLR wirelessly to your phone or tablet. While the Camranger is a worthy device that allows you access to all your camera settings remotely as well as instant viewing of your images, even in live view, the $299 pricetag, to me, seemed excessive. By the time you add extras such as the USB cable, mount, etc, you’re approaching $400 not including your tablet.
Well, this weekend, I’ve discovered a $40 alternative. All you need is a TP-Link MR3040 Battery Powered 3G Wireless Router and a $9 app called qDslrDashboard (Android or iOS).
If there was ever any doubt that Indy Mogul were back in full force, this should help to belay those fears. In the latest episode of their new Erik Builds the Movies series, Erik Beck builds a remote controlled dolly for a 360 camera out of an old motorised wheelchair.
SnapBridge is Nikon’s new Bluetooth remote control protocol & mobile “tethering” system featured in their newest DSLR the Nikon D500, as well as several of their upcoming compact cameras.
In anticipation of their impending release, Nikon have now released the other half of this equation in the form of an Android app, with an iOS version expected to arrive during the summer.
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