Hackszine.com: Control a Nikon Camera from Your Computer

Control a Nikon Camera from Your Computer

I thought putting my camera on a tripod and using the timed shot was a good trick for gadget close-ups, but this is tons more fun. Nikon's Camera Control Pro ($79, 30 day trial available) lets you remotely control a compatible camera from your computer. I can't figure out how to do a preview, but it's still really helpful; it lets you do a lot more than just trigger the shutter. You have access to most of the configurable features of the camera.

Are there similar tools out there for other cameras? Let us know in the comments.

Nikon Camera Control Pro Trial Posted - Link
Nikon Updates Camera Control Pro to v1.3.0 - Link

Related:

Digital Photography Hacks

Posted by Brian Jepson | Mar 14, 2007 04:42 AM
Photography | Permalink | Comments (7)

Comments

Newest comments listed first.

Posted by: horn7319 on March 14, 2007 at 8:33 AM

Cool app. I don't think you can do a preview with a DSLR since the mirror is in the way before you take the picture.

Posted by: tms10000 on March 14, 2007 at 10:10 AM

My Canon EOS350 came with a very similar tool. It lets you pick any in camera settings, do time lapse and tethered shots.

Unfortunately it is windows only.

Posted by: cheese1113 on March 14, 2007 at 12:09 PM

Canon has an incredible tool called "EOS Utility." It lets you control every setting of the camera. Plus it runs on OS X!

Posted by: paulsw on March 18, 2007 at 4:01 AM

Something like this could be used to automate HDR photography.

Posted by: Bre on March 20, 2007 at 1:44 PM

http://capture.sourceforge.net/

Capture is an open source option for some canon models.

Posted by: karatedog on August 11, 2008 at 11:10 PM

Well, Nikon software engineers won't get any award with this software, for example if the camera doesn't support bracketing, there is still no option to make it happen through the software. On D40 I have to manually fiddle with exposure, and click a button, and there is no option to make a batch job, that will be executed on a single click.

Posted by: Louise-Paisley on September 25, 2008 at 1:06 PM

Camera control pro is quite poor.

As karatedog says it only allows you to use features which are already available on your camera body.

I assumed it would allow me to do auto bracketing with my D40X and alas this is untrue.

However, there is an intendant solution being developed as I type, and what's even better is it does not rely on a PC it will use the nintendo DS.

This will mean computer control will no longer need a slow to start limited battery power laptop computer, you will have the convenience of instant on nintendo DS, AND you will get features not available on your camera body.

Currently on the cards is extremely flexible auto bracketing, time lapse photography, timed long exposures, and SOUND ACTIVATED photography!

The developer is looking at around $100 for the hardware/ software solution which is quite reasonable considering the expected feature list.

It will be available for both canon and nikon cameras, so no one is going to get left out :)

if you are interested visit his blog and register your interest, he will update you when further info becomes available

http://panocamera.com/blog/?p=26

If you have time also drop by my flickr page and say hello ;)

http://www.flickr.com/people/louise-paisley/

Louise - Paisley