Using Android as a remote EVF on DSLRs

Diamond hell

Diamond hell

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Name
Thomas
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Hello, I'm planning on using a jib for a project next week and one of the things I was getting quite sweaty about was accurate framing of the shot and focus when working with the camera at the end of a 3m arm.

Obviously an Electronic ViewFinder with remote control of the camera would be ideal, but that's a VERY expensive solution!

I hadn't seen anything on here about this, so thought I'd post about what I found and started using yesterday...

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 (I work in IT but 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 (or DSLR Controller if you want a paid app - I may go this way yet!), 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.

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 in Apple's walled-garden, doesn't really matter to me!
 
You are using the same set up I use but instead of a phone I use a 7in tablet.
I also use the OTG cable to transfer photos from usb pen drive to the tablet
 
Thanks for the heads up, I've just ordered one of those cables from ebay for 99p so I'll give it a try with my 550D & Galaxy S3 when it arrives.
 
Oh, I'll be interested to see if it works; might try it with my 500D and S3 mini
 
I've been using the DSLR controller app with my 7D + Nexus 7 / S3, with a 12.5 metre USB extender from Maplins you can do star trails & still keep warm in the house :D

You can even shoot remotely using WiFi if you have two android devices
 
lolage said:
Very interesting, I just need to find a way to mount my phone to my camera!
Click to expand...

Find a way to attach car holder to the hotshoe. I am sure it is fairly easy

I am think more a long the lines of camera on monopod and a 3m lead :wacky:
 
The toy was delivered this morning after ordering last night (!). Well it does work, but refresh is a little slow and output is low res. I tried LV from 5D3 on Canon software on my mac - still as slow, so it must be the camera. It is only usb2. I think it will be useful for shooting stills from awkward angles rather than video.

On that note has anyone played with HDMI output to tablets?
 
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