Hahnel Inspire .......? Any Good

I was hoping someone would offer an opinion on one of these as well as it looks like it could be useful for remote work or when the camera is on a tripod in an awkward position.

Maybe someone will be a long soon ......
 
Hi,
I decided to buy myself one of these for Christmas, I normally don't jump in so soon with new gadgets, but tend to wait for a MK2, which is usually better and cheaper. However, being unable to get out of the house much and into wildlife photography, it seemed the answer to a prayer so in I went...

It consists of a transmitter, which sits in the hot shoe. No connection req'd, but its the best view from the inboard camera (wide angle). It then connects to the camera by 2 cables, one to the remote socket (to trigger) and one to the video socket using the cameras own video cable. In order to transmit the "Lens" live view (in my case 100/400) you must activate the "Live view"on the camera. You can then "Toggle" between the two views at the touch of a button! After inserting the batteries (4AA in each) and switching on, I was amazed at the clarity of the "Lens" view, zoomed to 400mm as it was. Fantastic!!!
The only criticism up to now is that the slide switches don't have a positive feel or "stop" but it all works fine!

So........into the field.... I set my camera up in my garage and focused on a perch that I'd set up. Switched everything on and went into the house. I switched on the monitor, toggled between the views...brilliant!! I put the monitor on the table and did some work.

After about 30mins I lost "Lens" view and got "Low battery" warning, yet when I looked at the wide angle view using the in built camera, I had a picture. At this point i must say that I was using rechargeables (1.2v)

I did the same thing the following day with new Duracells....same result!

So.... I'm using a Canon 40D and the fact that I still get a picture from the built in camera suggests that its a "Shutdown" of the video to possibly protect the chip from overheating, I obviously need to confirm that, but, if that's the case, it's impracticable(certainly for Canon users) and how would you run a slideshow on your TV if you had say, an 8 or 16 gig card?
But that's a camera problem of course, nothing to do with the "Inspire"

I've been in touch with Hahnel and they've been back to me very quickly, discussions are ongoing and I'll keep you posted. Sorry for the very long post but I hope you find it helpful.

Regards

John
 
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Does the Nikon shut down too then???
 
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Just a further update.... after speaking to Hahnel, the conclusion is that we can't defeat the 30min "shutdown" built into the camera.
I've contacted Canon but won't get a reply for a couple of days apparently, so..... The "Inspire" does what it says and does it very well. There's no doubt the picture quality from the lens on the monitor is fantastic, so providing you don't need to use it for more than 30min's, it's fine.

PS. By the way, I have cancelled the "Power off " option in the Menu.

Regards

John
 
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