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General => General discussion => Topic started by: Diamond Hell on 21 October 2013, 01:49

Title: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: Diamond Hell on 21 October 2013, 01:49
The whole jib thing (see other topic) got me thinking how the hell would I control the camera about 5m away from me.  Obviously an Electronic ViewFinder with remote control of the camera would be ideal, but that's a VERY expensive solution!

So I had a rummage about on that Google and found it's possible to buy a £5 cable that uses a protocol called USB-on-the-go (hadn't heard of that before yesterday) - it turns intelligent devices that would normally be a USB client into a USB host. 

So you connect the USB cable to your Android phone and then connect the camera's USB connector to the cable attached to the phone.  Once you've got the cable, download DSLR Dashboard for free, connect everything up and hit the Liveview button on your camera.  At this point the screen on my Samsung Galaxy SII burst into life.  It was a touch laggy (I'm being picky) but showed Liveview in real time.  It also gave control of virtually all of the variables for shooting and allowed shutter release, as well as start/stop of video...... in addition to that (and this is the bit that blew me away) you can step the focus whilst recording video.

This should work with most Canon DSLRs - certainly those with Liveview.

It's not often buying a £5 bit of tech wows me, but this really has blown me away with what I can now do with it.  I understand the tech also works with Nikon gear, but can't validate that.

Dunno if there's anything for you Apple fanbois, doubt it as iOS7 seems to have obsoleted most third party cables  :grin:. doesn't really matter to me.
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: DubFan on 21 October 2013, 10:56
Interesting.
What's the cable that's needed?

Does DSLR dashboard do intervalometer stuff too, cos that would be handy?
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: Diamond Hell on 21 October 2013, 15:21
I believe the apps do do intervalometer too.

Cable is:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Micro-USB-to-Female-USB-OTG-On-The-Go-Adapter-Cable-for-SAMSUNG-GALAXY-S4-S3-S2-/370842208384

Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: DubFan on 21 October 2013, 15:43
Sweet. Might have to try this with my 60D.
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: stealthwolf on 21 October 2013, 18:59
My 70D has wifi and I can connect wirelessly to my phone. With or without a router.  :whistle:
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: T_J_G on 21 October 2013, 19:12
May give this a go!
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: Diamond Hell on 22 October 2013, 00:07
My 70D has wifi and I can connect wirelessly to my phone. With or without a router.  :whistle:

Yes but it's only crop-sensor.

There there.  :grin:
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: Ridg on 22 October 2013, 08:41
My 70D has wifi and I can connect wirelessly to my phone. With or without a router.  :whistle:

Yes but it's only crop-sensor.

There there.  :grin:

an a canon  :grin: :whistle:

Nice little find with the app!

If you want to get a bit more involved you might want to investigate the raspberry pi, combine that with gphoto (http://www.gphoto.org/doc/remote/) the raspberry pi GPIO which allows you to easily interface with physical electronics such as motors, solenoids, switches etc and you can create a nice gimbal remote setup.

Like this but on a bigger scale for a DSLR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ziaGIUUp14
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: Diamond Hell on 22 October 2013, 16:48
If you want to get a bit more involved

I don't.

I want to operate some stuff on my camera from my smartphone.

If there's witchcraft and coding and 'interfacing' going on I want other people to look after it as I have children and a workshop and wiring diagrams make me go just a little cross-eyed at times.

Stuff like the MoVI are amazing and I want them, I just don't have the skills and time to build them myself, or the money to buy them off the shelf.
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: Diamond Hell on 27 October 2013, 13:09
Interim verdict: I needed a longer cable and to explore the other options including the pay app.

Great in principle, cost us a few shots at Silverstone.
Title: Re: Remote electronic viewfinder for under a fiver?!
Post by: DubFan on 16 January 2014, 21:55
Here's a way to do this remote viewfinder wirelessly:

http://petapixel.com/2014/01/16/diy-take-wireless-control-canon-dslr-using-30-router-android/#more-128413 (http://petapixel.com/2014/01/16/diy-take-wireless-control-canon-dslr-using-30-router-android/#more-128413)