Camera Remote Control through a PC

[Saphire]

Thanks Rob. I don't have it on the computer so will find the disk.

[Don Hoey]

Just setting up for another play today.

Don

[Canis Vulpes]

I had my play for real this morning and found I could spend more time composing a shot than peering through the viewfinder or changing settings on the camera. Nikon camera control lacks a histogram but easily fixed by viewing an image in Nikon Capture (RAW converter and viewer). Exposure can be made exact by varying in capture then transferring these changes to camera using capture control. DOF can be monitored by using laptop screen simple changes can be made to get the photo just right. The photo 'Flight Planning' see link is a full frame not cropped and nothing edited in Nikon capture except convert and pass to photoshop.

To gain distance from camera to laptop I used a USB hub to double distance and achieved approx 3m remote cord. I do have a 2-3m USB cable somewhere just need to locate it. Using this remote technique I was able to scare our cat who visited the scene, she did not expect a bright flash and jumped out of her skin and scarpered! - we are still friends and no animals were harmed during the making of the photograph!

For still subjects this is a must do technique.

Finally I am now able to add an image comment in camera, my photos now carry (c) Stephen Fox in EXIF data


http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...php?photo=4946

[Don Hoey]

Another play session with controlling the camera by laptop.

As Stephen has said being able to see the effect on a large screen makes all the difference. Any exposure alterations can be made directly on the pc. I was also able to see what imact a change in contrast made in post processing would have.

I attach an image that shows what would not be seen through the viewfinder or viewing the camera LCD screen with a magnifier.

As I am using an earlier version of Nikon Capture than Stephen I was able to see the histogram once the image was downloaded. I am attaching two screen shots of these, also one of the test JPG images. The final JPG image is in the Flash thread and the Nef ( RAW ) image is in my gallery.

The only negative I found was needing to midway exit NC and turn off the camera to allow the batteries to recover. As I was doing screen captures as well as dealing with the scene, the camera was on for quite a while. Battery power dropped to a point that the camera would not trigger, but a 10 minute switch off returned battery power to 90%.

Don

[Canis Vulpes]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

As I am using an earlier version of Nikon Capture than Stephen I was able to see the histogram once the image was downloaded. I am attaching two screen shots of these, also one of the test JPG images. The final JPG image is in the Flash thread and the Nef ( RAW ) image is in my gallery.

The only negative I found was needing to midway exit NC and turn off the camera to allow the batteries to recover. As I was doing screen captures as well as dealing with the scene, the camera was on for quite a while. Battery power dropped to a point that the camera would not trigger, but a 10 minute switch off returned battery power to 90%.

Don

I notice an arrow above the LHS side of histogram. I assume histogram is a 'drop down' feature, if so there is a possibility I missed it. In Capture Control V4.04 there is a feature for to wake camera so I believe with this enabled camera should stand-by in the normal manner. I too lost a battery during my experience. I cannot check histogram in control as battery is currently charging!

[Don Hoey]

Stephen,

Once I click on shoot in ' Camera Control ' I get the status pane appear. In current task it shows down load progress. Once the image is down loaded you get a large thumbnail and histogram, as in the top part of the two screen captures. You can then check the ' Emphasize area over 245 ' and a blue bar will appear on the histogram to highlight the affected area. Additionally all areas of the thumbnail that fall in that zone will flash.

The lower screen shot shows what you get if you check the R,G,B boxes. For this post I put them together just to show what you can get.

Interesting to compare the NEF and JPG histograms. It shows the result of in camera processing in the JPG one.

Tomorrow I will hook my camera up to the main pc which has trial NC 4.4 to see the differences.

Don

[wolfie]

Due to the very inclement weather I've also being playing, but with a slight difference.
As I cannot work with a laptop very well, I sent the image from my laptop
over my wireless network to my main PC.

I desperately need to master my macroflash and as I shoot mainly flowers & bugs, I chose to use flowers.

Attached are a screenshot from my laptop using DSLR Pro (A Breezebrowser program). This is far superior to Canons Remote Capture. It also costs approx £70 more.

Harry

[Don Hoey]

I don't know what to say Harry. That image just knocked my socks off.

Wireless networking ...... that adds a new dimension.

Don

[Don Hoey]

Stephen,

NC 4.4 does show histogram. In down load options tick ' When image is recieved from camera ' - ' Do nothing.'

When you take a picture there is a arrow at the bottom of the status bar, click that and histogram will appear.

Will try to do a screen capture and post it.

Don

[Don Hoey]

Stephen,

Screen shot attached. The little black arrow on the left is the key.

Don