Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
If you have been reading my blog or watching my YouTube channel, you would know that I do mainly large format photography. I often take my own self portrait for using my pneumatic cable release that has a long cable and air bulb release.
However, I have always been thinking about how to make a more modern kind of remote cable release and hence this project.
MIOPS, the company that brought you the Mobile trigger, Capsule360 Motion Box and the Splash trigger, is back with a new project, the MIOPS FLEX, launching through Kickstarter. It’s essentially the next evolution of the company’s Smart trigger, but it’s also so much more, having expanded its functionality greatly since the previous triggers.
The MIOPS FLEX is a device that bridges the gap between your camera and your smartphone. Naturally, it lets you shoot timelapse, but it also lets you do those Holy Grail day-to-night (and night-to-day) sequences. It will allow you to trigger by audible or visual pointers, to capture super-fast events like lightning and impacts as well as a host of other features.
Nikon’s been long criticised for not having any decent kind of wireless control system since they switched from the optical CLS/AWL to the new radio system with the Nikon SB-5000 speedlight in 2016. With the optical system, Nikon shooters had the relatively inexpensive SU-800. Radio wireless hasn’t really had any option besides buying a spare SB-5000 to sit on your hotshoe as a commander.
Well now, that’s changed as Nikon announces their new and weird WR-R11a and WR-R11b pair of radio triggers along with a WR-T10 remote controller. They’re strange because instead of sitting on the hotshoe like every other flash trigger on the planet, these connect to either the 10-pin port or GPS/accessory port of the camera.
Most cameras these days offer some kind of built-in WiFI or Bluetooth control that allows you to fire your camera from an app on your smartphone. But not all of them do. The Ricoh GRII is one of those cameras that actually does offer some remote control via an app or USB remote, but sometimes you still want that tactile feel of pushing a shutter button, and the immediate response it gives.
One GRII owner, Steloherd, has created his own method of firing the camera’s shutter via a traditional mechanical shutter release cable. It attaches via the camera’s hot shoe, and then the cable just screws into the top to push down the regular shutter button.
Over the course of its life, Triggertrap has had a pretty eventful journey. Triggertrap started life as an Open Source universal camera trigger backed through Kickstarter in 2011. It tripled its goal, and was very successful. Fast forward to 2013, and along came the Triggertrap Ada, also backed through Kickstarter. It smashed its goal, of £50K, raising almost £300K (around $500K at the time).
But then various problems ensued which eventually led to the demise of the company at the beginning of this year. Triggertrap has been winding down ever since. Despite this, they’re still receiving plenty of requests from people who want to buy a Triggertrap Mobile Dongle. With no stock left, and no ability to sell even if they had, they’ve now made the Mobile dongle hardware Open Source.
Most of us own one or several camera triggers or intervalometers. Some of us might have even built our own Arduino based triggers that utilise various sensors. Well, now, you can think about casting them all aside and replacing them with the new MIOPS Mobile. Following on from the success of the original MIOPS Smart Trigger, the new MIOPS Mobile makes life even simpler.
By hooking up wirelessly with your smartphone via Bluetooth, your phone now becomes your complete camera controller. The unit itself is about the size of your average camera battery and slots right into the hotshoe. With support for over 350 models of camera, it boasts a number cool features for which you might previously need multiple devices.
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