Last week I wrote about a promising new app that was coming to the iPhone called DSLR Remote.  It gives the ability to control many of the functions of a Canon DSLR, remotely from your iPhone or iPod Touch, using lightweight server software on an intermediary computer.  It’s available now and I’ve been playing with it for the last couple of days.

The setup does require a computer, which makes it a bit ungainly for some kinds of shooting, but for situations where a computer can be carried along (the software isn’t too demanding, so a small netbook with Wi-Fi should work), it can offer some nice options for getting away from your camera.  The software gives remote control to ISO speed, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, image quality, and of course, firing the shutter. You can also select whether to save to the camera’s internal card or the attached computer (or both). The display also shows your battery level and number of shots remaining (based on storage space).  After you start taking pictures, you can flip through them on your device as you would pictures you had taken with the phone’s built-in camera.  A couple of nice extras are an intervalometer that will fire the shutter at a user-selected number of minutes or seconds (like every 10 seconds), and an ability to see LiveView images (exactly what your lens is seeing as it’s seeing it) on cameras that support LiveView.

It’s a very nice app, one that opens some interesting possibilities (as well as giving you the chance to get into your own pictures without running a remote shutter cable or a timer.  It’s only available for the Canon EOS line now (though check at the web site to make sure your camera is supported), but development has begun on a Nikon version. The regular price for the app will be $19.99, but it’s currently introductory priced at $9.99.  A lite version that just fires the shutter is available for $1.99.

While this is a lot of gear to haul around in many photography situations, it’s not unreasonable in a studio setting.  I dabble in astrophotography, shooting the night sky through my telescope, and this setup sounds quite reasonable for that.  If the LiveView functionality works well, it could be a real benefit. OnOne has submitted the software to Apple for approval and anticipates it will be available soon, at an introductory price of $9.99.  A “lite” version, that only operates the shutter, will be $1.99.  When it hits the App Store, I’ll have a hands-on review.

Via Gizmodo

A favorite subject of time-lapse photography is plant growth.  The films are always intriguing and compelling, but how many of us have ever considered that we could make that sort of video in our own backyards?  Hammacher Schlemmer is offering a time-lapse video camera made by Brinno, specifically designed for capturing the growth of your garden in a few seconds of footage.

The GardenWatchCam is a 1.3 mega pixel camera in a weather-proof housing.  Photo capture rate can be chosen from six presets, ranging from one minute to 24 hours, and a seventh setting that can be user configured by loading included software on your computer. Storage can be done either to the camera’s built-in 8 MB of SD RAM, or by plugging a standard USB drive, up to 2 GB, into a protected part of the enclosure. Power is from four AA batteries, which the manufacturer says will last 4 to 6 months, depending on the selected time setting.  Mounting is accomplished with an included, adjustable-length stake.  Compiled videos will be 1280 x 1024, in AVI format.  The camera even has a light sensor, to prevent it from snapping pictures when it’s too dark.  The price at Hammacher Schlemmer is $159.95.

Late last year, Canon caused waves in the digital photography field with the introduction of the EOS 5D Mark II, maybe most notable for its ability to capture full HD video at 1920 x 1080 resolution.  It’s a beautiful camera and a pleasure to work with, but at a suggested price of $2699, it’s out of reach for most non-professional photographers.  Canon has now brought that same video recording feature to many more buyers at a much lower price point: The just announced EOS Rebel T1i EF-S shares many features with Canon’s higher end cameras but at a much more affordable $899.99.  The CMOS sensor delivers 15.1 megapixel images through the same DIGIC 4 processor used by the 5D Mark II. The display on the back is the same  3-inch LCD as used on Canon’s higher-end products, and it delivers the Live View functionality that allows using the display to show you what the lens is seeing, something users of point and shoot digital cameras expect but that is much less common on digital SLRs.  ISO range is 100-3200 and the camera is compatible with the established Canon EF/EF-S lens system.  If you’ve been thinking about taking the plunge into digital SLR photography, the EOS Rebel T1i EF-S looks to be a great new entry option.