Andriod App for Canon DSLR

[Twinpanther]

I don't have Canon personally but I thought this was pretty interesting. Not sure how much actual real world use it may have but it looks like fun to play with. Lord knows, boys love their toys!

http://youtu.be/lnxvFYza6Y4

Originally found at:
Wonderhowto

[dlambert]

Yeah, I've been watching that project. It's not currently working w/ 40D or my phone, so I'm out of luck at the moment, but it's a really cool idea.

[Saralonde]

I saw that, too. Thought I'd try it, but no USB host cable at the moment.

[NicoleScraps]

Oh my gosh, that looks awesome. I have the app that is similar for the iPhone, but you have to tether the camera to the computer not directly to the phone. This looks way better (cept I don't use that kind of phone, maybe they will chance the iPhone one).

I haven't seen the video (work is blocking it), but I have a general idea what is going on (I've been researching it for some time).

All the Canon DSLRs (and some older PowerShots) have built-in firmware to allow some camera controls over USB. All those home-built photobooths you see popping up all over the country? Those are made with the Canon SDK (software development kit).

However, the Canon SDK only works in Windows. So a bunch of guys got together and created gphoto, an open-source code that do the same thing as the Canon SDK on Linux, and also can be used with many other software languages.

Android is nothing more than a stripped down version of Linux, so it was only a matter of time before someone figured out how to get gphoto working on Android. The big hurdle was the ability for the phone/tablet to be a "host", which more and more phones are including that capability.

Sorry for the long drawn out explanation, but I've been following this for some time. I'm actually a little sad that someone got it working before I did

So why the hell would you want to do this? How about automated 5+ exposure HDRs? Focus adjustments can be made with software, which means automated focus stacking (and even focus-stacking HDR :O ). Combine this with no camera shake (because you're not touching the camera in between shots)...makes me drool a bit.

And for those ultra-techies out there, gphoto has been ported over to Arduino. That's right...control your Canon camera with an arduino and a USB host shield (less than $60 in parts).

[SwissJon]

I wonder when Nikon will do something similar. Camera control software on the PC and Mac is already available..

I can see this being useful in a number of situations.. Especially when you want to be in the photo, or you want to show the model a pose or even when shooting in awkward places.. So many possibilities..

I saw a DIY add on to this somewhere that allowed you to connect to your camera wirelessly.. Imagine a Bluetooth receiver attached to your camera.. Mind boggles as to what you can do with Live View and this over Bluetooth at 100m away..

Almost makes it worth switching to Android just for that. PLEASE NIKON.. MAKE IT HAPPEN FOR US TOO!!!