Over at DPReview, I wrote about two devices that use a smartphone app to do things beyond just trip the camera shutter. The Alpine Labs Spark is a tiny Bluetooth module that can fit in a camera’s hotshoe and remotely trigger the shutter in various ways. The Miops Mobile Dongle must be connected to your smartphone, but it offers several more options, such as firing the shutter based on sound or motion.
Read the article here: App-based camera triggers: Alpine Labs Spark vs Miops Mobile Dongle.
The photo above was captured using the sound feature of the Miops dongle: I set up the table and coffee beans in my living room, and whacked the underside of the table with a hammer to make everything jump. The sound of the whack triggered the shutter.
I didn’t spend a lot of time on this. I would have gotten a better shot with more light and a higher shutter speed, but I don’t have a flash trigger that works with my Fuji X-T1 capable of high-speed sync (i.e., able to fire speedlights fast enough to accommodate a shutter speed of 1/4000 or so to really freeze the action). As you can guess, I made a heck of a mess (and smartly put down some foam pads from my daughter’s playroom so the cup wouldn’t shatter).
Here’s a link to buy the Miops Mobile Dongle at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2PfMven (that’s an affiliate link). When you order, be sure to specify your type of camera, because the adapter cable differs between models. I’m not providing a link to the Spark, because as you’ll read in the article, I don’t think it’s ready for use.
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Jeff Carlson | Never Enough Coffee Creations 